Domestic water pump advice please

Hubby thinks there must be a leak after the pump. Excuse my explanations but if I've got it right, the pump comes on until it reaches a certain pressure beyond it and then shuts off. When water is used, the pressure drops and the pump switches back on until the usage stops and the pressure builds back up again. If the meter continues to run slowly even after all possibilities of the tank refilling are past then this confirms a leak which could be too far underground to show any signs above ground. Hope this helps.

Thanks, Cheryl. Effectively it is a booster pump, when water is drawn in the house, it pumps the water into the house from the tank. The filling of the tank from the mains is controlled by the ball valve in the tank.

The only way there is a leak, if it is that, is between the pump and the house, there are no visible leaks, so we are rapidly coming to the conclusion that it has to be in piepwork hidden in walls. However, presumably that would eventually become visible somewhere (as unfortunately it did last year when we uncovered a very longstanding hidden leak in the kitchen ceiling which required, eventually, most of the bathroom floor and walls above to be ripped up!!!)

Is all the pipework from the pump to the house accessible and visible apart from where it goes through walls? If it is you can categorically rule that part out but if you refrain from drawing any water for some time and the pump is still going on and off and the meter turning it does sound like a leak somewhere. It could be that this is another long-standing leak which could explain all the pumps packing up if they've been in constant use. Are ball valves in toilet cisterns shutting off properly?
If your place is anything like ours we are regularly shocked by what we uncover.

Yes, thank you for your thoughts, Cheryl. In effect, all the pipework from the tank into the house is visible - albeit with difficulty as it requires crawling up a mud bank from our underbuild to the rear where the footings meet the mountainside!! - Apart from, as you say, where it goes through the walls, floor and into the house,from whence it is distributed to kitchen and two bathrooms. 

Ours isn’t that old - only about 15 years - and in fact is very well built, more so than that which one usually expects! I know what you mean about being shocked though especially when we discovered during the buying process that we are ‘fuera de ordenacion’!!!! We’ve had the kitchen and both bathrooms done and nothing too untoward was uncovered.

I am beginning to wonder if by any chance the pump itself is being blocked by limescale as it is an absolute nightmare here and this is causing some kind of  internal switching problem. There is, unfortunately, no easy way of establishing this, because unlike UK Stuart Turner pumps, there are no ‘cleanable’ filters. The lack of these would, I imagine, have an effect.

You could install a filter in the pipework leading up to the pump to help with this but hubby can't see why the meter would still be turning if no water is being used. Would it be worth getting a leak detection company to visit?

Curiously we are about to do this. We have no gas here and everything runs on electricity - actually extremely efficient and I would now be reluctant to have gas again. However, we have a Heat Exchanger for the u/floor heating and an air to water Haet Pump for hot water - which has just packed up. The tecnico said part of the trouble is the limescale in these areas and that this has contributed to rust on the inside of the HP tank, which they say is not worth repairing. However, he did advise a filter onto the system partly to preserve the pump and also the new Heat Pump - given the astronomical cost, anything helps!!!!

If, when we’ve had all this replacement waterworks done, it’s still doing it, then we may well consider the leak detection. I’m also wondering if there is some kind of airlock somewhere in the pump, as having just turned on the kitchen tap, it ‘coughed’ and spluttered at me, which would normally indicate this. We may also go and consult the supplier of the pump, there is a local agent I believe,

Yes, I take your husband’s point re the meter turning, albeit incrementally, it’s just that there’s no evidence that we can find at the moment.

Thank you, Pete, for this very useful information. We will double check all pipework/taps/cisterns etc, which I am pretty certain aren’t the source of the problem. But a small leak on the pump would not be easily seen due to the position and difficulty of access, so we will check this.

When the tecnico comes back to install  the new Heat Pump and he installs the water filter also, he may be able to see if there is a leak on the pump as he has to install the filter just before it.

Of a kind, Ray!!! We’re NOT allowed a ‘hole in the ground’ pool here - see earlier, fuera de ordenacion!! - but we have a small above ground ‘tank’. However, everything to do with it is done manually - it’s not big enough for automated systems etc — Arthur seems to spend an inordinate amount of time messing about with it. Personally, I would empty it and use the local municipal facility!!!!!!

Stephanie, this might be a daft question and suggestion, but how big is your depósito and does it have to be underground? If you've got mains water, even at very low pressure, would it be possible to mount a depósito at a high point on or in the house. Water would obviously have to be pumped up, but if the tank is high enough then the natural head of water would give plenty of pressure. Our neighbour Teresa has this setup, and even when there's a cut of the water supply, she's got enough for a couple of days, plus her water pressure is excellent.