Pitless Adapter Fitting Question

[ACEschborn]

I'm currently experiencing water rising to the surface just outside my well pump-head/casing. We are in SE PA and have fairly acidic water. In the not too recent past we have had fittings inside the well replaced due to corroding out. The pump is set at 110', but I'm not quite sure how deep the well is actually drilled.

So, given the background, I suspect the barbed male fitting connecting the horizontal run to the pitless adapter has also failed. We have some warm weather forecast for this weekend so I'm hoping to get digging.

Questions:
1. Can I use a PVC male barbed insert adapter? Or, should I replace with brass? My thought was that the PVC would outlast the brass in acidic water.
2. When filling the excavated area back in, is it safe to replace with the same soil that came out?
3. Are most female pitless threads 1"?

Thanks in advance! Let me know if you need any other information...

-ace

 

[Valveman]

A 1" pitless has 1" threads. But a 1 1/4" pitless will have 1 1/4" threads. Use a brass insert adapter. The plastic ones will snap off when the ditch settles. Same dirt should be fine if there are no rocks.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[ACEschborn]

Thanks, valveman!

 

[Craigpump]

Go with a stainless pitless & stainless adapter, more money but won't corrode. You may also have to spchsnge the adapter of the pump is hung on poly.

 

[MI Well Drilling]

If you're just changing the adapter go with brass. The pipe coming to your tank inside should tell you what size adapter you're going to be dealing with outside. Make sure you have a brass insert coupling and a spare piece of poly before tackling the project. Hopefully the leaking fitting comes out in one piece so you won't have to chisel it out. Also double clamp each barb with the hose clamps opposite one another.

 

[ACEschborn]

Hi everyone, thanks for the help! Something came up yesterday, but we had another mild day in SE PA today so I was able to get to it.

As expected, it was the male insert adapter that corroded out.

Luckily, the fitting came out without too much trouble.

Due to the length difference of the male insert adapters, I did have to remove some additional pipe, and add a coupling with a new section of poly pipe.

I opted to only replace the male insert adapter (with brass) because a well company had recently advised that the pitless looked to be in good shape. After everything was buttoned up I did a 1-hour run-down test and the pressure gauge needle didn't budge. Problem solved.

One potential issue I ran into is that the soil was quite wet (obviously?), and I had a hard time compacting it. I'd step in one area only to have soil lift up somewhere else. The soil was almost entirely rock free and had some sandy parts and clay like parts. I'm not sure what I can do at this point, but is there any room for concern?

Thank you again for everyone's contributions. I really appreciate it!

-ace

 

[Craigpump]

When we see that, we replace the pitless, the male X insert adapters with stainless and never have to go back. On the flip side, I know a guy who made a small fortune putting nylon adapters under ground. He kept his backhoe busy replacing them, with new nylon adapters...

 

[ACEschborn]

Wow, that's awful. Stories like that are what gives me the encouragement to try projects like this myself.

Thanks for the SS advice. I was a bit strapped for time today, which led me to the big box store for parts. Needless to say, I hope it doesn't bite me in the butt too far down the road.

 

[Valveman]

Good job! The pitless will probably be fine. You would have had to pull the pump up to change the pitless anyway.