10 Year Well Owner, no problems until now.

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CADGuy79

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Hi all. New here. I've spent the last 4 days reading about wells on here since mine has developed a problem that I can't figure out, but here's hoping someone might be able to offer some help. No one in my area services residential wells. I could only find one company that will install me a new one for $4,500.00 or drill and install new casing next to the old drop pipe for $1,600 cash and leave, but they won't even come out and look at it. This tells me that even if they install me a well, they can't service it right? What good is that?

I started renting this place in 2010 and bought it 2 years later. It's always had the well and was running a Wayne 1/2 hp pump and what I believe to be a 6 gallon tank. It has been trouble free until about 8 days ago when it all went sideways. First of all, I know nothing about them other than what I've learned in the last 8 days. I think what I have is a driven well since we dug down in about 2 feet of pea gravel and could not find a casing, just more steel pipe.

It all started one day with the toilet pulsating while filling when I first noticed a problem. Started seeing gray colored sediment in the toilet tank. Thought it was the fill valve, so replaced everything in the tank, no change. Then went to take a shower later that day and noticed the shower pulsating, after shower checked sinks, doing the same. Then I went out to the well house and noticed the pump was running continuously and hot, so I shut it down. My dad came over the next day to look at it and did get the pressure back up (said the tank was too low). Okay. The next morning, ran out of water and pump running continuously. Shut it down again. After this song and dance for 3 days, I noticed the pump was leaking between the head and the motor right after it shuts off that we didn't notice before.

We decided to replace it all since the little tank was real rusty and my dad broke the PVC fitting to the house trying to loosen the steel fittings. Everything was replaced except the check valve all the way to the house connection. We still could not get it right, just kept losing prime. Finally after 3 more days, my dad says well, let's look at the check valve. Took that off and it was absolute junk, no spring at all. Ahaha! There's the problem! Or, so we thought.

I now have water, but sometimes, when the pump turns on it takes it a long time to build pressure. It's set at 40/60 with 38 psi in the tank. Sometimes, it will drop to 40, kick on and shut off at 60. Sometimes, when it drops to 40, it turns on, then drops to around 30-35 and hovers there for a very long time until I finally shut the pump off again. After about an hour, I can turn it back on and it will usually build back up pressure and shut off at 60. Was originally 30/50 with 28 psi in tank, but it kept dropping too low almost 5-10psi while running, so I increased it to 40/60 as a test. Now, it won't drop dangerously low, but it gets stuck on 30-35 and just runs constant a lot. This is with no faucets running. I don't have any pressure drop when it pressures up. I've tested with the valve open or closed and when it's built up, there is no drop unless I open a faucet. So, I'm pretty sure there are no leaks. No more sediment in toilet tank, but water has been cloudy for days. If you put water in a glass and let it sit it clears up, but it appears cloudy. Running out of water is common.

House is 700 sq. ft. Has bath sink, toilet, shower, washer and kitchen sink with 30 gal water heater. Also, have garden spigot on back of well house. Brand New Little Giant LG-SWJ Series pump with pressure gauge on front of pump and 20 gallon pressure tank, all new piping and filter. Original set up did not have a filter or a valve. We added the filter and a valve so you could shut off the house.


Pictures of setup for reference:
img_5069_640x480__fb4bc1df6fdb6fa48b75bf3abf6d4f5ce287b713.jpg


Don't know what else to check. Everything from the drop pipe elbow to the house connection is new.

Things I don't know: depth of drop pipe, whether or not there is a casing/foot valve. I'm thinking not since it has a horizontal check valve. Previous owner didn't know, just said it was a "shallow well."

Thinking about signing up for county water since I'm working on this thing daily and it has become unreliable. Appreciate any help!
 
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Reach4

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It looks like a light bulb at the bottom of the picture is hiding a check valve. If so, there is a good chance you have a sand point. I don't know if all driven wells use sand points , but I think that term will give good search hits. I would look in Youtube with this search: clean "sand point"

If you can get a new well drilled with 4 inch or bigger pvc casing with properly slotted screen and right-sized gravel around the casing, that would be nice. Submersible pumps don't have the drama of jet pumps. So DIY or maintenance by a plumber or other non-well-specialist would be very practical. The casing would come above ground. I would tend to use a pitless adapter. It not only prevents freezing problems, it gives the pump kind of a plug-in connection. A 1/2 HP 10 HP submersible would give you plenty of water if the well can deliver it, and you could throttle things a bit if you had to.

County water can be expensive on an ongoing basis. On the other hand, they come with pretty much iron-free water. Chlorine in that water can be a mixed blessing.

Any neighbors to compare notes with?
 
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CADGuy79

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It looks like a light bulb at the bottom of the picture is hiding a check valve. If so, there is a good chance you have a sand point. I don't know if all driven wells use sand points , but I think that term will give good search hits. I would look in Youtube with this search: clean "sand point"

If you can get a new well drilled with 4 inch or bigger pvc casing with properly slotted screen and right-sized gravel around the casing, that would be nice. Submersible pumps don't have the drama of jet pumps. So DIY or maintenance by a plumber or other non-well-specialist would be very practical. The casing would come above ground. I would tend to use a pitless adapter. It not only prevents freezing problems, it gives the pump kind of a plug-in connection. A 1/2 HP 10 HP submersible would give you plenty of water if the well can deliver it, and you could throttle things a bit if you had to.

County water can be expensive on an ongoing basis. On the other hand, they come with pretty much iron-free water. Chlorine in that water can be a mixed blessing.

Any neighbors to compare notes with?

Thanks! Yep, light bulb hiding check valve. Check valve is new. No neighbors with wells. Think I'm the last house on this street still on a well from what I've heard over the years.
 

LLigetfa

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The inlet of the pump is reduced probably from 1 - 1/4" to 1" and it looks like 1" or maybe even 3/4" going down the well. Do they even make any 1" sand points?

When a pump cannot build enough pressure, it could be due to a low water table, suction leak, or a clogged jet. It also could be any combination of those.
 

CADGuy79

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The inlet of the pump is reduced probably from 1 - 1/4" to 1" and it looks like 1" or maybe even 3/4" going down the well. Do they even make any 1" sand points?

When a pump cannot build enough pressure, it could be due to a low water table, suction leak, or a clogged jet. It also could be any combination of those.

Better picture of inlet:

img_5072_640x480__7ede50368786bfe79515a7c2a4f27c41808f06c9.jpg



It's 1" going in the well. I did notice right before I left for Thanksgiving dinner that the large union between pump and check is seeping water a bit. It won't tighten anymore though. Maybe this is causing my loss of pressure sometimes? The owner's manual does say it needs to be air tight and that even a pin hole leak can prevent proper operation. Could it really be that simple? If so, what kind of setup should I go to here. I suspect all of the Made in China unions will leak.

I also take it that if my Father put the check valve in backward by mistake, it would not pressure up no matter what, correct? That check valve has no flow arrow on it, but he says he triple checked before installing it which way it goes (I was not there that day). Surely that's not it.
 

Reach4

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I also take it that if my Father put the check valve in backward by mistake, it would not pressure up no matter what, correct?
Correct.

Those prices on a new well seem low to me.
 

Valveman

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Could still be a a problem with the well, but I am guessing that union is the problem. It doesn't even have to drip any water to still have a suction leak that will draw in air. Don't like unions on a suction line. Don't like Dresser/compression couplings either, but might be your only choice.
 

Reach4

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Could still be a a problem with the well, but I am guessing that union is the problem.

CADGuy79, I suggest that you use the search box above and look for this word for a tip in finding a potential vacuum leak:
index.php
 

CADGuy79

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Update. My dad came up with something and we gave it a shot and it actually helped. First up, we disconnected the pump/check valve and tied a string to a fishing weight and sent that down the pipe. After it hit bottom, we marked the string, then slowly pulled it back up and found where it began to get wet and marked that. My drop pipe is right about 35' and there was about 17' of water in it. Don't think I have a water table problem. He then connected a couple of fittings to the elbow and sent 150PSI compressed air down the pipe several times. At first, the pipe was pushing the air back through the compressor, but after a few times, the air was finally escaping. The thought was to try and blow it down. After reconnecting the pump, we flushed some really brown water for several minutes and while doing this, the pump continued to pump water and did not drop pressure this time, held steady. Now, as water is being used such as shower or faucet, once pressure drops to 40, pump kicks on and slowly climbs, not quite catching up, but if you turn off the faucet or shower, it will go right on up to 60 and shut off and hold it there. Does this mean I need to go back to 30/50 or is the point (if it is a point) at the bottom of the pipe probably still clogged up some? We also got the union tighter so it no longer seeps.
 

Reach4

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You might want to consider some stronger cleaning of your well point.

I don't know if going to 30/50 will help. The problem seems to be being able to get water thru the screen.

Have you read up on NuWell pellets?
 

LLigetfa

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It depends on how close to dead heading it is at 60PSI. You don't want to get to close and have it dead head if the water table drops a bit.
The pump runs on a curve so at the higher pressure it cannot move as many GPM so it stands to reason that it might not shut off as long as you are still drawing water. That is not necessarily a bad thing so long as it does shut off when you stop using water.
 

Valveman

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Yeah sounds like chasing some Nuwell tabs with some water would help. Looking at the pump I would back the switch down to 30/50. It may not build to 60 is the water level drops another foot or two.
 
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