Restarted well pump - 2 angle stops popped off

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Safeire

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I wasn't sure whether to post this in the Plumbing or Pump & Well Forum but here goes...

Bought home through Sheriff's sale. It was a foreclosure that was vacant for some time. Mortgage company supposedly 'winterized' it late last fall.

Over the weekend, we made our first attempt to restart the well pump by turning on power and filling the 40 gallon tank. Almost immediately, an angle stop in the main floor laundry came off and water spewed everywhere. We were able to turn off the water to that location of the house. Shortly thereafter, the angle stop on a toilet on the second floor began leaking and then popped off as well. Of course, we turned off the power and drained the tank to control the flooding. I thought it was odd that both of them were angle stops.

We had the well pump inspected as part of our house inspection and the plumber indicated that we did not need to replace the well pump but he did replace the gauge. At the time these issues happened, I believe the pressure was a little less than 60 but I recall that it was 45-55 when he inspected it.

Did we do something incorrectly when we started it up - as in, should we have turned on all of the faucets and toilets to release pressure before turning it on or something like that? I'm afraid to turn anything back on again for fear that we'll flood everything and run the well dry.

I'd appreciate anyone's reference/link to a resource that instructs us on the proper steps to take to restart a well pump.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 

BobL43

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:eek:Just out of curiousity, were these angle stops compression fitting at the wall pipe side? Not that they should blow off from normal pressure, but maybe the winterizing process was not good enough and some water in the valve froze. Just curious.
 

Safeire

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Yes, BobL43, they were compression fitting at the wall pipe side. I also thought this may have been from poor winterization, especially given the bitter cold we had here in northeast Ohio this past winter. I'm glad to know that the pressure shouldn't have been an issue. I plan to do a thorough inspection of each and every one of these angle stops and map out the turn off valves through the whole house. Thanks for your response.
 

LLigetfa

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To ease your worries, you might want to consider getting a plumber to pressure test the system with air. It could bring to a head, any other weakness brought about by the freezing.
 

Safeire

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To ease your worries, you might want to consider getting a plumber to pressure test the system with air. It could bring to a head, any other weakness brought about by the freezing.

Agreed. Thanks to all for your input!
 

Safeire

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Agreed. Thanks to all for your input!

UPDATE
The pressure tank ended up being fine. Replaced the angle stops. Plumber reset pressure from 30/50 to 40/60. Had to have the Well Pump itself replaced along with the wire - went from 1/2 hp to 3/4 hp. Everything working great now. Thanks to all for your input.

Safeire
 
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