Any plumbers or well "experts"?

[KayJay]

I was wondering if someone might have any ideas as to what is wrong with our water.... I've called several plumbers and haven't been able to get anyone out yet. I apologize ahead of time for sounding dumb about this stuff.... I am! lol We are on a well, and have had some issues with inconsistent pressure for awhile, and sometimes the pressure runs out completely and we have to manually start the pump. More recently, we started losing pressure steadily, and the pump would kick on every few minutes as the pressure dropped. We've looked under and around the house, and all through the house for leaks, since we had a leak in the past that caused this issue, but have found none. We've made sure all water faucets/spigots are turned off, and still we lose pressure. A few days ago the bladder went out in our pressure tank, and since it will take two weeks minimum to get a new bladder, we got a new pressure tank so we'll have water while waiting for the new bladder (this is probably a pointless piece of info, but I don't know ). We thought maybe the reason we were losing pressure was because the bladder had been going bad for awhile. However, even with the new pressure tank, we are still steadily losing pressure. When the pump kicks on, I can hear water rushing/spraying into the water heater and thought maybe there was something wrong with the water heater, but could not find any leaks on or around it. When we run hot or warm water, the temperature and pressure are both inconsistent, with bursts of cold water at higher pressure, and warm/hot water at lower pressure. We tried turning the water to the water heater off, but we still lose pressure....
I've probably missed the addition of some things we've tried in here, and added in irrelevant stuff, but that's what I can think of at the moment. I hope someone can help, and thanks in advance!

[texican]

If you could find a used water meter and install it, you could see quickly whether you were using water.

Hard to diagnose a problem not on site...

You either have a water leak (checked the toilet, is it running) after the pressure tank, or insufficient water being pumped out of the well.

You've got problems if you hear water spraying into the hw heater, after using it... the pressure pump should come on and stay on (until the pressure tank is full)... if you're using lots of water, the bladder in the tank will deflate and the water should be running 'hard' while the pump is on... turn off the shower or whatever, the pump will run a while longer till the pressure tank is full, and then it'll shut off. If you're tank is working right, you'll always have water pressure... and under no circumstances should the hot water heater tank go dry. This could actually be very dangerous, as the tank could fail... they're not designed to work without water in them...

[agmantoo]

Put some food coloring in the water storage tank on the toilet. Then watch for the water in the bowl to slowly turn the color of the food coloring. If you see this happening then the flapper in the tank is leaking and the water is slowly leaking down the toilet drain. This is a frequent problem when you are loosing water pressure.
On the new bladder tank the pressure is to be set 2 PSI below the cut in pressure of the pressure switch on the well. This setting is done with the pump turned off and no water pressure on the plumbing. (open a spigot with the pump turned off and let the water drain). Before doing this tell me if you have a jet pump (above ground) or a submersible pump(below ground)

[farminghandyman]

a check valve in the well it self could be leaking back or an under ground leak, and it sounds like your may be in need of a new pressure switch, but that jsut by reading you post,

[KayJay]

Hey, ya reminded me of some things! lol We did think it was the toilet at first, and have tried turning the water to the toilet off, but that has not fixed it, and we did get a new pressure switch just a couple months ago. So I suppose the next step is to start checking the pump itself since we've found no leaks at this point. Thanks a bunch for your answers guys, and I know it's difficult to diagnose something like this without being right there, but I figured some info is better than no info. Thanks again!

[js2743]

sounds like the check valve isnt holding

[tamsam]

There should be a shut off valve at the pump going to the house. If there is close it and see if your pressure holds. That will tell if the problem is in the pump or house. good luck finding the problem and plz let us know what it was. Sam

[KayJay]

Sorry for not replying sooner, been so darned busy between getting this fixed, butchering 9 antelope (yes 9! lol) and having my cow give birth yesterday lol. It was in fact the check valve, my husband and brother in law had to pull the pump up out of the well to get to it and then were unable to get the correct size valve so had to put the new one in at the pressure tank. Anyways, thanks again!