The pump and the pressure tank

2-2.1 How do the pump, switch and tank work together?

The switch runs the pump and the tank saves it from running constantly. Nebraska Extension describes the switch starting the pump when pressure falls to a set point, "often 30 or 40" psi, and stopping it about 20 psi higher. The tank stores pressurized water between those two points, so a glass of water doesn't start the pump every time.

Inside many tanks a cushion of air, called the pre-charge, does the pushing. Nebraska Extension puts it at 2 psi below pump start with the tank fully drained, so a 30 psi start means 28 psi. It treats that check as a licensed professional's job and notes that some makers void the warranty if anyone else removes the valve cap.

Amtrol's Well-X1 manual gives a factory setting of 40 psi cut-in and 60 psi cut-out for that one model. It also says a narrow differential can make the pump cycle rapidly and damage it. Your system may run differently, so ask the installer what yours should read and write it on your house card (§1-1).

2-2.2 What can the gauge tell you?

It can tell you whether the system holds pressure and how the pump is behaving. Watch it through a normal cycle a few times while everything is working, so you know what ordinary looks like on your house. Then the signs below mean something.

These readings come from Nebraska Extension. No water at all is a different problem, with its own checks in §E-5.

2-2.3 Does your system hold pressure?

A short test answers it, and you touch nothing but the house valve. Nebraska Extension gives the logic and no set time, so give it long enough to see a clear result and repeat it if you are unsure. The house valve is the one you found in §1-2, and the table above reads the result.

2-2.4 Who may work on a well pump?

Colorado's law treats paid work and work on your own well differently, and it isn't an open invitation. As published in Colorado's statutes, a pump installation contractor is licensed to install, remove, modify or repair pumping equipment for compensation. A separate section exempts "private pump installers" from license requirements, though they must still meet minimum construction standards and board rules.

The definition is narrow. It means an entity using equipment it owns to install pumping equipment on a well entirely for its own use on land it owns. Pumping equipment there includes the pump, seals and adapters, and waterlines up to the pressure tank. Another section says only a licensed contractor may install a cistern between wellhead and pressure tank. This manual doesn't tell owners to do this work, so take any question about your own case to the Division of Water Resources or a licensed installer.