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How to Prime a Well Pump Two Line Jet Pumps & Drinking Water Wells WaterAPedia © Enter your search terms Submit search form   Search This Website - InspectAPedia.com

• How to get the water pump working again when the problem is lost prime
• What types of water pumps are most likely to need to be primed?
• Well pump & water tank diagnosis & repair procedures

This article describes how to prime a water pump to restore water pressure to a building. Readers of this document should also see Water Tank Types and before assuming that a water problem is due to the well itself, see Water pump and pressure tank repair diagnosis & cost an specific case which offers an example of diagnosis of loss of water pressure, loss of water, and analyzes the actual repair cost. © 2008 Daniel Friedman, All Rights Reserved. Information Accuracy & Bias Pledge is at below-left. Use links at the left of each page to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website.

If your water pump is a two-line jet pump and if it's running but there is no water delivered to the building, the problem could be that the pump has lost its prime. This pump needs to send water down into the well (and through a special valve at the end of the water pickup-pipe in the well) in order to bring water back to the building. See   WATER PRESSURE LOSS DIAGNOSIS GUIDE for help in determining why you have no water or no water pressure in a building. If the diagnosis determines that you need to re-prime the water pump, the instructions are provided in this article.

If your water pump is a submersible unit the pump is located down in the well itself. In this case if you have not got water pressure, the problem may be with the pump or the well itself, but it's not a loss of prime - submersible water pumps are self-priming.

If your water pump is a one-line jet pump, it is sucking water from a shallow well; you probably don't need to do so, but the instructions below will work for either a one-line jet pump or a two line jet pump.

How to Restore Lost Prime in a 2-Line Jet Pump? - How to Restore Water Pressure in a Building

If we have no water pressure, absolutely no water in the building water supply piping, and no water in the water pump, we've lost prime and the two line jet pump may be unable to bring water back from the well.

Of course other problems can cause loss of water pressure, but if the problem is lost prime in the well pump, below is the procedure for restoring water pressure in the building. We discuss various causes of loss of water pressure at WATER PRESSURE LOSS DIAGNOSIS GUIDE.

But where a two line jet pump is installed, you may have lost prime at the pump. The pump motor will run but no water is delivered. If this happens it is possible to re-prime the pump with water from another source. Check valves installed at the proper location at the pump and perhaps elsewhere can help prevent loss of prime on this system. (Other problems that can give the same symptom include internal damage to the water pump, a well that has run dry, or a piping leak between the well and the building it serves.)

If your 2-line jet pump loses prime and cannot draw water from the well, don't let it keep running as you may burn up the pump motor or damage the pump internal parts. Take these steps:

• Find the water pump and water pump electrical switch
  
  
• Turn off electrical power to the pump
  
  
• Release any remaining water or air pressure in the system by opening a nearby faucet or drain, then close it again.
  
  
• Obtain a gallon or two of water to use for re-priming the water pump. If you have a little water pressure remaining in the system just run the water into a couple of clean one-gallon milk cartons (or any clean container in an emergency). If you don't have any water pressure you may be able to draw some water out of the bottom of the water pressure tank or the hot water heater using the drain valve at the bottom of each of those - but be careful: sometimes old drain valves are stuck or will break and then leak. We keep a garden hose cap around to screw over a drain valve to handle the emergency case in which we could open the valve but it leaks when we try to close it.
  
  
• Find the water prime opening at the top of the mechanical pump body (this is not the electric motor) where you can pour water into the pump assembly. Often there is a pipe plug that can be removed from the top of the pump mechanism, or it may be necessary to remove a water pressure gauge that has been screwed into that opening. Don't try to remove a water gauge by twisting the gauge body - you'll break it. Use a wrench on the brass gauge base where it screws into the pump.
  
  
• Remove the water prime plug discussed just above.
  
  
• Pour water into the pump prime opening until the pump housing is filled. Then screw the pump prime opening plug (or water pressure gauge) back in place. If water seems to get lost without ever filling the pump housing, water may be running past an internal check valve and down piping into the well. In this case you need to be nimble: pour water into the housing to get it as full as possible, quickly screw in the prime opening plug and quickly turn on the power to the water pump.
  
  
• Replace the pump prime opening plug or pressure gauge that you removed to pour in water. You may need a little teflon tape or pipe dope to be sure the plug won't leak.
  
  
• Turn the pump electrical power back on
  
  
• Listen to the pump and watch the water pressure gauge. If the pump prime operation was successful you'll hear the pump start with a horrible noise, then get quieter as water begins to return to the pump body from the well, and you'll see the pump pressure gauge climb. If the pump keeps making a horrible noise for 45 seconds to a minute you should turn it back off and try priming again.
  
  
• Check the pump, water tank, and piping around the pump for water leaks.
  
  
• Fill and keep a couple of pump priming water jugs handy for next time.

If you keep losing prime at the water pump where a two-line jet pump is installed, it's probable that a check valve at the pump or more likely at the foot valve in the bottom of the well needs to be replaced.

Carson Dunlop's sketch at left shows how a foot valve works and where it is installed. Replacing a foot valve in the well requires that the well be opened and the well piping be pulled out to permit removal of the old valve and installation of a new one.

After replacing the foot valve you should shock the well since you've probably contaminated it by laying your well piping and parts on the ground (and foot valves at the plumbing supplier are not kept in sterile containers). We discuss how to shock a well at When & How to Shock or Chlorinate a Well our WELL SHOCKING GUIDE

Water Tank Maintenance & Repair Chapter Index

Use links just below or at the left of each of the pages at our website to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website.

PLUMBING TOPICS
OIL TANKS
SEPTIC SYSTEMS
WATER PRESSURE REPAIR GUIDE & COSTS
WATER PRESSURE LOSS DIAGNOSIS GUIDE
  WATER PUMP PRESSURE CONTROL ADJUSTMENT
  WATER PUMP PRESSURE CONTROL REPAIR
WATER PUMPS & TANKS & WELLS
WATER PUMP CONTROLS & SWITCHES
PUMP TYPES & LIFE EXPECTANCY
  PUMP, ONE LINE JET
  PUMP, TWO LINE JET
  PUMP, SUBMERSIBLE
WATER PUMP & TANK SAFETY
WATER SUPPLY & DRAIN PIPING
WATER TANK TYPES: WATER, OIL, EXPANSION, ALL
WATER TANK LIFE EXPECTANCY
WATER TANK REPAIRS
WATER TANK AIR, HOW TO ADD
WATER TANK REPLACEMENT
WATER TANK PRESSURE CALCULATIONS
WATER TANK SIZE & VOLUME
WATER TANKS HOW THEY WORK
WATER TESTING
WELLS CISTERNS & SPRINGS
  Basement Wells
  Cisterns
  Drilled Wells - steel casings
    Drilled Well with Submersible Pump
    Shallow Well with One Line Jet Pump
    Well with Two Line Jet Pump
  Driven Point Wells
  How Much Water is In the Well?
  How to Test Well Water Quantity
  How to Get More Water From a Well
  Hand Dug Wells
  Springs as Water Supply
  Well Pits
  WATER PRESSURE LOSS
  WATER TANK TYPES
  WELL CLEARANCE DISTANCES
  WELL, PUMP, TANK LIFE EXPECTANCY
  WELL PUMP PRIMING GUIDE

Technical Reviewers

Particular thanks are due to experts and also consumers who read these articles and suggest corrections, changes, and additions to the material. Content suggestions, technical corrections and content critique are invited for any of the content at our website.

• Daniel Friedman - principal author/editor of the InspectAPedia ^TM Website
• Thanks to Alan Carson and Bob Dunlop, Carson Dunlop, Associates, Toronto, for permission to use illustrations from their publication, The Illustrated Home which illustrates construction details and building components. Carson Dunlop provides home inspection education, publications, report writing materials, and home inspection services. Alan Carson is a past president of ASHI, the American Society of Home Inspectors.
• Critique, contributions wanted: Contact Us to suggest text changes and additions and, if you wish, to receive online listing and credit for that contribution.

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