Freeze Proof Vault?

[winesalot]

Looking at a below ground vault for a well pump pressure switch, pressure tank, and a couple of solenoid valves.

(See thread for project details: https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/low-flow-well-two-houses-pump-controls.75606/ )

In cruising the interwebs I see http://innovativeproductsllc.us/ but $2500 seems a bit steep for this application. Any advice on a DIY vault or something a bit more cost effective?

 

[ThirdGenPump]

I use concrete street manholes or septic tanks for smaller vaults. I usually have an excavator on site to set them. You'd have to check local pricing, they are heavy. If you aren't picking them up yourself the delivery can be more expensive than the casings themselves.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[winesalot]

I use concrete street manholes or septic tanks for smaller vaults. I usually have an excavator on site to set them. You'd have to check local pricing, they are heavy. If you aren't picking them up yourself the delivery can be more expensive than the casings themselves.

Do you insulate them? I am concerned about freezing.

 

[Reach4]

Looking at a below ground vault for a well pump pressure switch, pressure tank, and a couple of solenoid valves.

You should still extend the casing above ground, and make the water connection with a pitless adapter. The reason is that pits often flood.

 

[ThirdGenPump]

Do you insulate them? I am concerned about freezing.

5 foot frost level in my area. I set the top of the vault a few feet below grade with a few risers bringing the manhole access flush with grade. That puts the base at 6ft+. I usually have a foot of crushed stone below. Never any freezing issues.

 

[ThirdGenPump]

You should still extend the casing above ground, and make the water connection with a pitless adapter. The reason is that pits often flood.

It has to be a fairly large vault for me to consider putting the well inside it. Those designs usually incorporate a sump pump. On small vaults I set the vault at least a foot away from the well and have the well above grade with a pitless adapter and piping between.

Putting the well in a small un-vented vault in my area is fairly risky. Our wells usually have high statics and deep draw downs. If the well vents into the vault it'll leach the oxygen from the space.

When dealing with vaults it's very important to follow confined space protocols. It's entirely possible to climb into one of these pits and just pass out and die. Never go into one without someone else above, force ventilate the space.

 

[Boycedrilling]

Check with Steve Kriedler up the Methow. He used to have Town and Country Drilling. Don’t know what the name of his company is now. He is making a vault out of 24” PVC pipe. Like the septic tank risers.

 

[Boycedrilling]

Ahh, just looked at your link. That’s Steve’s company. I didn’t realize they were that expensive.

You could do a concrete manhole much less expensively. Check with H2 Precast in Wenatchee.

 

[winesalot]

Ahh, just looked at your link. That’s Steve’s company. I didn’t realize they were that expensive.

You could do a concrete manhole much less expensively. Check with H2 Precast in Wenatchee.

Thanks, that helps. It looks kinda like he uses the 24" pvc and has a pitless adapter in it to lower the tank, csv, small tank, and pressure switch in to place without going in the vault. Do you think that is what is happening?

 

[winesalot]

It has to be a fairly large vault for me to consider putting the well inside it. Those designs usually incorporate a sump pump. On small vaults I set the vault at least a foot away from the well and have the well above grade with a pitless adapter and piping between.

Putting the well in a small un-vented vault in my area is fairly risky. Our wells usually have high statics and deep draw downs. If the well vents into the vault it'll leach the oxygen from the space.

When dealing with vaults it's very important to follow confined space protocols. It's entirely possible to climb into one of these pits and just pass out and die. Never go into one without someone else above, force ventilate the space.

I wasn't thinking of including the well head in the vault since the well is on the neighbors property. And, yes, I will be very cautious about the confined space issue. That is a big deal where I work for my pesky day job. I like the idea the guy has with the 24" pipe as the vault and, what I assume to be, a completed ps, tank, csv, and tank in an assembly that is lowered on to , again what I assume to be, a pitless adapter.

 

[Boycedrilling]

Yes I know Steve’s set up is on some time of pitless adapter. You never enter the vault. Everything pulls out and you work on it above ground.

Over the years, I’ve probably installed more than a dozen systems in Chelan county that used a 1,000 gallon buried reservior, the pump was a 5 hp self priming centrifugal. The pump was inside 4 ft diameter well rings, with the pump 5 feet deep right next to the reservoir. Don’t know if the vault setup will meet current Dept of health regulations.