# Pump Slow To Pull Water



## wsamon (May 8, 2018)

My pump currently takes about 12 minutes of continuous running to prime itself before pushing enough water through the system. If I manually prime it first, it takes 2 primings and about 4 minutes of runtime to start working. I recently replaced the broken check valve which improved the situation and got me to this point, but am not sure what my next steps should be, or how bad the situation is. Would I risk damaging my system if I just added 12 minutes to the time of the first zone, allowing it to prime? I assume so.

I live in Tampa Bay FL with very sandy soil and a system that I believe pulls water from a natural well / the water line. I'm not sure how deep it is though since it was installed before I bought the house and there was no documentation provided.


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## Redtenchu (Jan 28, 2017)

I know we have a few people that pull from a well for their irrigation. Maybe @J_nick has an idea?


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## J_nick (Jan 28, 2017)

Something is definitely not right. Once primed the pump should stay primed and not need to do it every time you go to use it. Running it for the 12 minutes dry will put a lot of wear and tear on the pump. I'm assuming you have some kind of jet pump?


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