need help with water

[Jamiek]

A stupid question.  But how do you prime.  I have never been able to get water out by pumping it.

[wavery]

A stupid question.  But how do you prime.  I have never been able to get water out by pumping it.

Well....there's a few different ways. You could put your mouth over the faucet and suck (if it doesn't have a check valve). You could pull the hose off of the faucet and suck until you get water or pour water down the hose until it is full.

Basically, if your system is air tight, all the way from the pump to the tank (that includes the pump diaphragm) the pump will pull water up from the tank unless there is something blocking a hose or the tank is out of water.

One way to check for air leaks in the system is to pull the hose off of the bottom of the faucet, suck on the hose until you get water. Now hold your finger or plug the end of the hose. Leave it for about ten minutes. When you unstop the hose, it should be full of water and the water should reseed very slowly (if at all). If the water level in the hose drops as soon as you unstop it, You have an air leak in the line somewhere.

One way to find the leak is to be sure that the tank vent is plugged and the faucet end of the hose is clamped on tight. Pressurize the system from the fill end of the tank with the tank over 1/2 full of water. You should find water leaking out from wherever the air leak was occurring. If water comes out of the faucet, stop it with your finger. If it comes out from the inside of the faucet, you may have a bad diaphragm.