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Spent 8 hours yesterday trying to figure out why my suction line kept losing prime on the old Erie SandSucker.
Turns out the check valve flap was just worn enough to let a tiny bit of air slip by... a $45 part and 20 minutes of work after a full shift of head-scratching.
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gavin_kim31mo ago
Man, that "full shift of head-scratching" feeling is the worst. I once spent a whole weekend convinced my compressor was shot, and it was just a loose wire.
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skylercooper1mo ago
My uncle's old well pump had the same check valve issue last spring. He spent three days pulling the whole line before he found it. @gavin_kim3 that loose wire story hits home, it's always the simple fix after you've gone down the worst case path. I read a forum post once where a guy said he always starts with the cheapest part on the system now, saves so much time. Does that approach actually work or do you still end up chasing the weird stuff first?
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cameron6841d ago
Three years back I had a sprinkler pump that kept cycling on and off. I spent two days swapping out the pressure switch and the tank bladder before I found a tiny crack in the suction line. @skylercooper that cheap part first rule works about 80% of the time for me, but sometimes the weird stuff like wire insulation rubbed raw by a cable tie gets you. I keep a list of the last five weird failures now so I don't forget the oddball ones. The trick is to check the cheap stuff while you're mentally running through the worst case, not instead of it.
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