Well and Water Help for someone who's never had a well

[blustery]

I live in southeastern Wisconsin and just moved into a home that has a well for supply of outdoor water only (ie, the well only supplies the water outside the house, inside the home is municipal water).

I've never had a well before at all and looking for some help on a few questions.

1) Over winter - I shut off the water, turned off the pump, and drained the pump. Anything else to do?

2) Under normal summer operation do I leave the water supply and pump energized or do I turn it on and off as I use it?

3) The pressure gage indicates about 50psi - the flow from the outdoor faucet itself seems ok. However, all the faucets have permanent vacuum breakers and I don't think they are closing off when I connect a hose because as much water comes out of the vacuum breaker as does the hose. So my flow from the hose is low and I'm wasting a lot of water against the foundation of the house. I have 5 outdoor faucets and they all do exactly the same thing. The hose is new, the pipes all look newer, no leaking pipes, no leaking hose - it almost seems like when I connect the hose, there is not enough pressure to close off the vacuum breaker and it thinks it needs to be venting. The vacuum breakers appear to be in decent shape and what drives me away from thinking they are at fault is that the exact same thing happens on 5 of 5 faucets. A failing or worn vacuum breaker I would buy, but all 5 doing it makes me thing it could be a pressure thing - but 50 psi also seems sufficient - any idea / suggestions? I think I have a submerged self priming pump - and with a 50 psi reading that doesn't seem like the issue either.

4) What should I expect for normal operation and sounds of the pump turning on, off, etc?

5) Again, this is outdoor water only so its not drinking water - any other maintenance to do on such on well and pump?

Anything else I should know, need to do, site where I can read up that maybe I haven't asked?
Thanks a ton for any help!

 

[Ballvalve]

Perhaps all 5 hose bibs froze on the same cold day and caused a fault internally.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[blustery]

Thanks for the reply.

I went ahead and replaced one faucet setup, but get the same thing. It slipped my mind that there is also one connection inside the house and even it does the same thing.

Am I missing something or is this normal operation? Like I said, I've never had a well water system. To me it seems like the vacuum breakers are venting because of low pressure, but 50 psi seems like it should be suitable.

So, I concentrated on one faucet that is on a straight run of pipe of about 20 ft.

If I turn the water on with nothing connected - the vacuum breaker seems to function.

If I connect a 25 ft garden hose, the vacuum breaker vents half of the water. Its a 5/8 hose. Is 25 ft hose plus the 20 ft pipe too long for 50 psi? My uneducated view says 50 psi should easily drive that.

 

[Masterpumpman]

If the faucets are all on the well and not used for drinking I would remove the vacuum breakers. I hate vacuum breakers. 50 psi is fine. Do you have a pressure tank on the system? If so it must work with a pressure switch. I'd remove the vacuum breakers from all the faucets. However be sure there is no state regulation on well sprinkler systems without vacuum breakers.
If there is no tank you probably have to turn the pump on when using and off when not. 50 psi is fine.

 

[Cacher_Chick]

If the hose is not restricted by a nozzle or sprinkler head, the vacuum breaker might not close.

 

[hj]

The well is connected to the water table which is used for MANY, MANY other people who have wells, and maybe even a municipal water supply. A hose bibb without a vacuum breaker can contaminate that water supply just as easily as it would a city main. DO NOT remove the vacuum breakers. I assume you do not have a storage tank with the pump. If the well supply is low that may be all the water it can supply, but a storage tank would give some reserve. IF that is not the case, then the pump may just be worn out and cannot pump any higher pressure, in which case a tank would be useless. Depending on how you water your yard, most controllers have a "master pump" circuit which will use a relay to turn the pump on before starting a watering cycle.

 

[blustery]

Thanks for all the replies.

The vacuum breakers are permanently installed so I'd rather not remove them all.

There is no tank, but yes there is a pressure switch. The gage is showing 0 when water and pump are turned off and 50 psi when the water and pump are on. I was assuming that this ultimately meant the pump was working ??

The things that have me not getting it are - 50psi seems like enough, if I just open the faucet with no garden hose connect then the vacuum breakers close and there is good water volume, however, if I put on a garden hose then volume out of the hose is poor and the vacuum breakers are venting 50% of the volume.

I tried brand new, old, indoor and outdoor faucets with the vacuum breakers and they all do the same thing. I tried with 1/2 in dia and 5/8 in dia garden hose at 25 ft both with and without a nozzle. I'm going to trying a 5 ft piece of hose, but I don't get why the vacuum breakers are venting - all signs point to working pump and good enough pressure.