Water pump coming on a lot?

[Mollie the cat]

We have noticed that our water pump keeps coming on every 5 minutes for a short time. We have turned everything off in the villa but it still comes on? I have been advised it could be a leak between the pump and the villa? I have no idea where to begin to detect the leak, there are no obvious signs? Any advise would be appreciated, thanks.

[Reyntj]

Tell me about it ...years of this in a villa I own..air in system or told some other excuse was told could never get to the bottom of it ..often replace the pressure controller and it works ok then needs replacing again ...the droughts play havoc as well when the tanks empty that seems to cause problems ...sorry much not use but you might need a new pressure controller

[come_on_aylin]

What a pain, it's so annoying. We've had this many times for differing reasons. I'm sure there are more than the below.

A problem with the press control unit of the pump which may need replacing.

A bit of grit in the non return valve or non return valve failing which allows your water to return down the inlet pipe thus emptying the tank and causing the pump to come on to refill the tank.

The ballcock in the tank not stopping the water coming in but you would probably see water leaking somewhere outside the house.

Try switching off your pump for a while, run some water, if possible, then switch the pump on again. It may clear a grit problem otherwise call out a plumber.

In the meantime for sake of your sanity (and your neighbours) leave the pump off...

Good luck

[Reyntj]

Yeah we used to switch off in the night when we went to bed

[benjaminbutton]

After about a year of having to switch pumo off every night I finally discovered that about a thimble full of water was running down the inside of a loo that we hadn't used for a year. Gave a tiny tweek to the cistern and it stopped immediately. I was amazed that such a drop of water could set the pump off.

[Mollie the cat]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions, will try them first, you are all right, wait a pain!

[kerry 6138]

If you've got room you can install a pressure vessel, to stop this.
The one on my system is about the size of 15Ltr water bottle.
https://www.durapump.co.uk/product/pressure-vessels/
[img]content://com.amazon.cloud9.FileProvider/images/screenshot/17160555658221675389883.jpg[/img]

[Kanonier]

Sometimes the push button on top of the cistern is touching the plunger on the inside of the cistern, easily adjusted. Another possible cause could be that if you have an outside tap with a hose permanently attached, the tap may be leaking but it's not noticeable at the end of the hose. The list is endless!!

[SussexBoy]

As benjaminbutton suggests, this may be a loo problem. Scale build up or flaking on/around the bottom outlet from the toilet cistern to the pan can prevent the seal from being fully seated and therefore there will be a small trickle of water into the pan. This in turn can cause your water pump to activate every few minutes.

[thornaby]

The w.c. are generally the main culprits. It can be the water inlet float valve, the flush valve or both. Small failures can be hard to see. Where the pipe comes from the wall you will have an isolation valve. If the valve is good try isolating the water to the loo with this valve. Best to do this with all your loos at the same time because you could have multiple small leaks!

[laptawrinkly]

We have the same issue, and also switch pump off at night. I would think this issue is to do with your system from the water tank (depo) as the mains water side (supply to the mains tank) is not normally pressurised, usually just the house system - happy to be proved wrong.

Agree with most the likely cause is your WC cisterns - the quality of the flushing mechanisms leave a lot to be desired here; especially the flap/valve that seals the water into the cistern until flushed. They are way too light in IMHO, and allow water to often trickle out into the WC. Often you cannot see with a cursory glance, but enough to drop the pressure and start the pump off.

Similar quality issues with the shut off taps to sinks and cisterns; often the tap cover breaks when trying to get a complete shut off, which is hard to achieve. Another possible culprit is the braided metal pipes to cisterns/taps - these often internal rust unseen, and can fail when least expected. I always change mine every 2 years max having seen the damage a failed one on a friends 2nd floor WC caused when they were away!

[Brazen]

The w.c. are generally the main culprits. It can be the water inlet float valve, the flush valve or both. Small failures can be hard to see. Where the pipe comes from the wall you will have an isolation valve. If the valve is good try isolating the water to the loo with this valve. Best to do this with all your loos at the same time because you could have multiple small leaks!

Agreed, and it’s usually the flapper valve that doesn’t seal properly. I have had many experiences of this.

[Mollie the cat]

Thanks everyone for your tips and advise. I have tried everything recommended but it still comes on. I was advised to switch off a large handle behind the pressure switch thing, sure enough that stops it, a plumber is calling on Tuesday to look, hopefully he can sort it. It looks like a leak from the pump to the house but cannot see any leaks? We even dug up the garden this morning where a pipe goes to the house, nothing, quite baffling!

[steveodp]

Repeatedly had the same issue, nothing obvious on all toilets etc, dug up pipework etc. Turned out to be the one way valve on the cold water tank on the roof. It can get dirt in it that stops it fully closing, causing the pump to regularly come on. Quick replacement and been ok since.

[thornaby]

The non return valve on the roof top tank can fail generally due to scale in the valve and the bottom of the tank. Instead of water entering the tank soley by the ballcock at the top it gets past the n.r.v. at the bottom of it. The tank will over flow and this should be evident by water coming down from the roof downpipes. I removed my plastic (cold) tank for a clean and got nearly a full bucket of scale from it..The valve has a small light spring inside that I would definitely pull out. The valve works absolutely fine without it. If left in the weight (head) of water in my tank was insufficient to fully overcome the spring resulting in a very poor flow from the tank.

[Soner]

I had the join to the under floor tank break. Pipe under floor so could not see leak. Cost £512 in wasted water.

[benjaminbutton]

Talking about water, paid our bill today, 432tl for water. 481tl for tax. BTW, the water bill is not that much normally, but two clever clogs left garden and pool taps on for total of 8 hours. The ravine was well watered.

[thornaby]

Again talking about water and the cost due to undetected leaks or taps been left on. Ours is one of those prepaid card meters so the meter should only let through what credit is on the card. Still hit with a tl 4000 bill. Which should be impossible. Could get no explanation how this could happen and at the time no water had passed through the meter but the electronics in the meter thought differently. The electronic parts have now been removed so the meter acts as a conventional one that will need reading by the meter man!

[Mollie the cat]

We finally detected the problem, it was indeed an underground leak. A guy came around with the special machine which detects underground leaks, without it we would never have found it. Thankfully its now isolated, no more pump coming on every five minutes, lovely.

[Soner]

Who was the guy? Would be handy to know if I got problem again.

[d1cxx]

Possible small leak from toilet cistern into the toilet

[benjaminbutton]

d1cxx If you read back through the messages, you will see the toilet cistern saga has well and truly been covered.