Tiny old house, old well with low pressure woes.

[Reach4]

Often one can just imagine a line between where the pipe exists the house and the well head. That will be the path where the pipe and wiring is most likely buried. If the pressure tank is not insside, it is most likely either next to the foundation or next to the well head.

Would the path tend to be pointed to by the wire-side of the pitless tend to be a clue? (7:30 o'clock in the first picture) Mine is that way.

In reply #13, the sketch indicates he thinks the water comes in around the corner from the well. But the straight line could be determined thinking the pipe may have been placed before the slab was poured.

With the frost line at maybe 40 inches, how deep would a pressure tank typically be buried? I know the thought is that the upper part of the pressure tank contains air, so it can be above the frost line. Maybe that tank could be probed for with a steel rod -- especially if the ground is soft from rain.

Marshallda, do you have a friend with a metal detector?

 

[marshallda]

I don't know where I would be without you all, sadly one of my weaknesses is that I can't think outside the box sometimes... Case in point... I am at work by the way not at the house but I just got a call from my wife at home.

We have sewer to take our nasty stuff away, when we bought the house, the inspector was pretty useless in all honesty, the seller's bought the house dead cheap and never really provided any information on it or even cared about most parts of the house, except for their nail gun, they were pretty obsessed with nails... They just flipped it, anyway.

I feel so stupid, on the side of the house that the well is located, there is this tiny raised square with a stupid manhole cover in the middle of it. The inspector walked straight past it and for the last year and a half, we have walked past it. We always assumed it was a manhole cover for sewer access.

What do they say about assumptions?

So a chap comes out today to look at everything, sees my digging attempt around the well last night to find a tank (tree roots are nasty) and walks up to the side door and looks to the right "Would you mind if I opened up the manhole cover?" he asks my wife, "Sure, feel free."

Down a ladder is a pressure tank, filters and a water softener... Pressure tank's ok, not brilliant, it's been under stress, the well pump's ok too. The filters? Black... We bypassed the water softener for now but I will have a look at that later, might be worth getting a new tank too. Hey but it's in a little room not in a load of dirt. Makes a load of sense, of course the pump doesn't run, there's plenty of pressure in the tank.

Thanks so much again you all did hint, saying things like crawlspaces, there must be a tank, filters. I just wish I didn't hone in to the well portion. You're all wonderful.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Reach4]

Down a ladder is a pressure tank, filters and a water softener... Pressure tank's ok, not brilliant, it's been under stress, the well pump's ok too. The filters? Black... We bypassed the water softener for now but I will have a look at that later, might be worth getting a new tank too. Hey but it's in a little room not in a load of dirt. Makes a load of sense, of course the pump doesn't run, there's plenty of pressure in the tank.

Nice surprise! You got more house than you expected.

I will be nice if you can get the water softener working. If you don't, you can replace that unit. You will like soft water. A picture showing the controller plus the overall softener system will let people provide info. Look into the brine tank. Maybe the unit just ran out of salt.

Look for signs of flooding in that vault. If you see any such signs, you can consider if that calls for some action.

 

[marshallda]

Sometimes a house on a slab will have an outside storage room that joins the house but you enter it from the outside. Sometimes those rooms have a pressure tank. I lived in a house like that once.

You called it

 

[marshallda]

We feel pretty lucky, but what's great is that I have learned so much about these systems through all of the wonderful advice on here. As soon as I am home I will pop down the hatch and take some pictures for everyone.

Thanks again!

 

[Reach4]

Given your filter photo, you may have already replaced the element, and that may have solved your immediate problems with low pressure. At first I was thinking the black one was just dirty, but I didn't think an element could turn all black , even on the ends, like that due to gunk.

When you replace the filter cartridge, you should very lightly lube the O-ring with plumber's silicone grease. Here is an example. http://www.menards.com/main/plumbin...oz-silicone-grease/p-1444428647855-c-8542.htm I like to wear some nitrile gloves when handling the grease. It is not the worst stuff to get on your hands, but I like to avoid spreading that because I then touch something. It does not wash off, so wiping it off is the best you can do if you are not wearing gloves.

I bought a 5.3 oz tube of MolyKote 111. It will last a very long time.

What are the dimensions on those filter cartridges?

Seek out a spare O-ring for your cartridge filter. If you have a bypass around your filter housing, that is good. If you do not, an O-ring failure would put your water out of action.

 

[Cacher_Chick]

It it pretty common for the filter to grow black when the system is not used. Notice I said "grow".

 

[Reach4]

It it pretty common for the filter to grow black when the system is not used. Notice I said "grow".

Missed that "grow" on the first reading.

Marshallda , note that you should not use a cellulose filter element on non-chlorinated water... That may be polypropylene (the right stuff), but still have the stuff that was filtered to grow stuff. I am surprised that the end caps would go black.

After doing your well work, I would sanitize your system. http://www.moravecwaterwells.com/index.php/maintainance/disinfection-and-testing is my favorite method. Since you have sewer, you won't have to worry about limiting the bleach into the septic. (you do get a sewer bill, right?)

 

[marshallda]

Thanks for that Reach4, an update for you all.

The laziness of some people is mind bending, so the layout went like this, the pressure tank to one very strange filter housing, strange enough that no wrench would fit it. With that in mind, clearly the previous owners couldn't get the element changed like I couldn't so instead of removing the filter housing, they just put another filter after that one instead, that one had the blackened filter in it. The line then went to a water softener that doesn't seem to be working and then into the house.

So last Saturday I went down into the pit, couldn't get the strange filter housing loose so I gutted the whole filter, leaving me with the smaller one. The problem then was the smaller filter housing had this obnoxious little bypass handle that got in the way of the shut off valve on the pipe, I thought crap, how am I going to get this on?

So I gutted both, went to the hardware store and bought a brand new filter housing the Culligham HF-360 along with the more premium type of filter, a Culligan P5-D Level 4 5 Micron Sediment Filter. The flow is incredible, the water smell has gone and life just seems great! I will probably change the filter every four weeks or so.

Now I have a strange observation, my warm water in the shower is terrible, the sinks are great but the shower, even with the cold tap off, doesn't get at all warm. I am guessing that there is some sort of valve for the warm water that the owners played with because the pressure was so bad. Not a serious thing, but a little annoying. Still at least thanks to you all we have water.