I've got this antique water pump. 1/2hp electric motor, belt, gearbox, rod going back and forth, about 4 valves with copper rings and springs.Now, I've got a pressure switch on it that turns it on when I use water and the pressure drops. Problem is, it tends to quit pumping and just keep running indefinitely. Apparently it loses its prime. Sometimes I find an air leak. Sometimes the cause is it pumped all the water out of my shallow 30-ft well, and starts sucking air. Sometimes I can't find a cause. But it would appear that just wiggling the hose up and down (forcing water through the check valve at the bottom of the well) gets it restarted without any trouble. What I need is some sort of pressure switch that works in the reverse fashion: shutting the pump off when the pressure gets too low, like say, 5psi or less. That would shut the pump down when it loses its prime, saving on the electric bill and wear/tear on the pump. Even though cavitation on this pump doesn't seem to be an issue, I still hate to see it running dry. Thanks
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