Pump continues to turn on and off?

[GenePA]

I have a Well-X-Trol holding tank (WX-202....installed in 2000) and earlier this week when I was attempting to run my outdoor hose for a while, I noticed a constant 'clicking' sound in my basement. I noticed the pump was continually turning off/on...every few seconds. From reading this forum, I thought I may have a waterlogged tank so I drained all of the water and air from the tank. I then pumped air back into the tank to about 30psi...that appears to be the proper setting if I read the manufacturers label properly (on the tank). This all appeared to work fine as with my outdoor hose on, the pump would run for about 25 seconds then stop for about 80 seconds and repeat this cycle.....I thought that seemed normal.

This morning (3 days later), I went to turn my outdoor water on and the process started again....this time with the pump turning on/off about every 6 seconds. This is also happening if I just turn on my internal water to the house. The pressure gauge jumps to about 48psi when the pump turns on and then quickly drops to 40psi....then steadily down to 28si where it will kick in again. My pump is in-ground and everything else above. I am getting water through all of my pipes in the house but the pressue of water jumps with the pump turning off/on. I noticed that when I drained all of the air and water out of the tank earlier in the week, the pressure gauge off of the tank stayed around 20psi.....didn't move.....even when all water and air was gone. Today, it sits at 28psi at rest.

I am very much a novice with all of this so not sure what my next step is? I can always drain everything again and start over but that apparently didn't fix my problem earlier in the week. Not sure what other information to share at this time. Any assistance would be much appreciated....thanks!

Oh, I did read on one of the posts if water seeps out of the air valve when I let air out it may be a 'bladder' problem but that is not the case here....only air is escaping from the valve when I depress it.

[Pumpman]

Drain the tank again and recheck the precharge. If the air you added isn't the same, then you have a problem with the tank. You might check the air valve on top of the tank for leaks using soapy water. They will leak there sometimes.
While you're at it, remove the pressure gauge and make sure the pipe isn't plugged up. Replace the gauge too, if it appears to be bad. Your pressure gauge should read 0 when the pump is off and tank drained.
Ron

[waterdoc]

If the tank does turn out to be bad, check the date code down near the bottom. Those tanks are warranteed for 5 years from mfg. date ( or from install date if a dealer installed it) Yours MAY still be just barely under warr.
Waterdoc

[Jack R. Jones]

I just replaced my well water tank because the old one sprung a small leak. Both are bladder types but I got the next sized bigger this time. I switched the piping from the original to the new one and was ready to start pumping water in a half hour - so I thought. The pump held it's prime but the new tank doesn't fill with water and the pump cycles off/on very rapidly. I opened a facet on the far end of the house to purge out the water but nothing comes out. At the boiler drain valve I get all the water I can use. What have I overlooked?

[rshackleford]

Check out this link. It states the acceptable number of starts per day for submersible motors.

http://www.franklin-electric.com/Manual/AIM_03.htm#frequency

A start every two minutes would be 720 starts per day. When motor are built at the factor they are preinstalled with smoke. You know when a motor goes bad becuase the smoke gets out (lol). Anyway, the motors have a sort of predetermines lifetime. This lifespan has more to do with starts than it does the running time. Every time a motor starts excessive heat is created and this heat in turn works to destroy the motor winding insulation. When the insulation is gone a short occurs and its time for a new motor. So, the longer you can run your motor or the fewer starts that you put it through, the better.