Water pump constantly on

[Happierwithouthim]

Have a well for supplying water to house, it's is continuously on so my electricity bill is shooting up, who do I call electrician or plumber?

in your district, there are probably people who specialise in fittind and repairing well pumps.

find one by personal recommendation from a friend or neighbour

when I had one, in Suffolk, the control switch was in the loft in the cold water tank, and a long wire went off to the bottom of the well, where the pump was,

the float switch was the simplest bit, and a standard part branded with the pump company name. IIRC the connection deteriorated due to damp conditions.

I wouldn't have thought it used much electricity.

Thanks pigletjohn I'm in ROI, I hope that's the cause, my units have quadrupled & nothing else has changed in my house. Maybe I'll need both an electrician and a plumber

Where is the water going if the pump is running constantly?

@Otherpeoplesteens

Where is the water going if the pump is running constantly?

that's a very good point.

Turn off the power supply, so the pump stops, and watch the loft tank. Does it drain to empty? Then you have a leak on the house pipework.

If no, it is running out of the overflow pipe when the pump is running? If yes, the float switch is faulty (that was my first thought). When you lift the float, the pump should stop.

If neither, there is surely a fault preventing the pump from delivering water to the tank. Perhaps a clogged pipe or faulty pump. Well supplies may have a sediment filter, which might be clogged.

To add to PigletJohn's suggestions (with the caveat that my unfortunately-extensive experience with boreholes and pumps is in rural Portugal with large external cisterns rather than loft tanks, which is probably quite different from your setup in ROI) my first thought was a leak somewhere downstream of the float switch, hence my earlier question. The alternative is a leak somewhere between the pump and the tank, although something will still be telling the pump to pump - if it's not the float switch then it may be a short circuit - not impossible with outdoor, damp sections of wiring.

If it's not pumping water anywhere it would probably burn out within a few hours.

How deep is your well? Some pumps are under 0.5kW, but others are over 2kW which makes a big difference to your electricity consumption.

Also, are you sure it's the underground pump rather than a pressure pump between the tank and the house that's the problem?

I'm not sure of the answers to most of these questions come to think of it a few weeks ago I saw water on the ground & figured it must have come from overflow pipe but was in the attic & everything seemed fine.

An electric rewinds guy came this evening and replaced the pressure switch, it said to keep an eye to my electricity meter still because he couldn't be sure that there wasn't a leak somewhere.

Electricity usage back to normal phew