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I have read through other similar posts and it doesn't quite match my problem, so bear with me lol.

We had a massive leak under the house and our landlord called a plumber out to fix it. He turned off the main, fixed the leak (we have old copper pipes that poop out constantly), and the guy forgot to do something before leaving because he left us with no water for 24 hours. He came back out and said he forgot to turn a valve somewhere. This was about 2 or 3 weeks ago. Ever since then, whenever we run showers or the sink, we almost always lose water pressure, usually completely until there is no water running. It takes about 5 to 10 minutes for what I'm guessing is the pump to come on or cycle because the lights dim for a split second and then the water comes back to full pressure within a few seconds. It has gotten to the point where we prestart our showers to let it lose pressure, stop, then come back before we actually take the shower.

The other posts similar to mine all suggested that the pump was failing, or the pressure bladder. Our pump was just replaced last year, and considering this guy was sort of well...incompetent, I'm kinda guessing that the pump or bladder isn't failing. I would like to try to fix this problem ourselves if possible because our landlord is a nice lady, but going through a lot of problems and we would like to spare her the stress of yet another problem in this house. What are some simple things we as non-plumbers can check or try that this idiot plumber might have screwed up or left undone when he fixed the leaks under the house?

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    Sounds like the pressure switch, which turns the pump on when the pressure gets too low, is either set to too low a pressure, or being sluggish about turning on. Follow the wires from the pump back to something attached to a pipe or the pressure tank; that "something" is probably the pressure switch. Commented Jan 13, 2016 at 22:07

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Check the water pressure & air pressure of your system when the water almost stops flowing as you've described (i.e. before the pump engages). You may have a small hole in your bladder. The other possibilities are:

  1. The valve that your incompetent service person opened is not opened completely. That would cause the incoming water to not keep up with the outgoing (shower) water & therefore need some time to recover before it will give you proper water flow. Ensure the water valve is open properly.

  2. Your pressure switch isn't working as designed. It may not switch on at the proper pressure level. If it is adjustable, try to adjust it to the proper turn-on pressure. If it isn't adjustable, then replace it or have it replaced.

  3. You may have an electrical wire/connector that is intermittently working.

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  • Thanks. I'm less inclined to think it's any sort of mechanical or electric failure as the pump is brand new, it was just replaced last year, and the problem didn't start until the plumber came back out after he forgot to turn everything on. If the pressure switch and water valve aren't the issue, we will move on to the other possibilities you suggested. Commented Jan 14, 2016 at 23:37
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You may have a pump protection device controlling power to your pump. If you have this device there may be a problem with it or you pump causing it to act like this. Search "Pumptec Franklin" ours acted similarly when the device faulted.

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