2stupid2fixit
Active Member
This is a very long rant. Skip to the photo if you want to tell me what pitless adapter I have and what o-ring or gasket it needs.
Before I post the rest of this let me say the following: I KNOW that I should have a well service company or at least a plumber that works on wells fixing mine. I would do just that except that my wife left me and I just don't have the money so I have to do it myself. I talked to lots of well guys and watched a lot of YouTube videos. Not an expert at all. Learning as I make costly mistakes. Ok on to the fun. I have a 2 bedroom house. One kitchen sink. One bathroom sink. One toilet. One bathtub with a shower. That's it.
The deep well pump was installed in the well when the house was built in 1973. It was a 1/2 horse goulds with a franklin electric motor. The well is 250 feet deep. Found this out by dropping a piece of brass tied to a fishing pole. When it stopped falling I took up the slack and measured the distance of how much line dropped. The pump was hung on 1 inch poly pipe 200 feet down. I know all this because the pump seized and when I yanked up by hand it was at the end of 200 feet of poly tubing and wire. The pump drew a ton of amps. I made a pitless puller and yanked 200 feet of poly and the pump out by myself. Don't do this without help. I did it because I did not know the pump was 200 feet down. I must have been out of my mind or drunk when I hatched the idea to attempt this. Anyhow. I bought a new 3/4 horse pump since a 1/2 hp goulds pump from 1970 something was probably made better than the best 1 hp pump money can buy nowadays. Anyhow, I dropped my new pump in. New submersible wire. New check valve on wet end outlet of pump. New safety rope. New pressure tank. New switch. New tank tee. New check valve in the house where poly meets tank tee. All is installed. Here is what happens: The pump runs for a little longer than a minute. I get a whole lot of minutes of water at decent pressure at any sink or the tub before pump cuts on. I'm happy with that. Let about 20 mins go by. Use sink or tub. Switch cuts on pump at correct cut on pressure. THEN: LOTS of AIR. I can hear it. So then I have to burp the system from a faucet. I suspect that since the pitless adapter was mated to the other half for like 40 years that the gasket is shot. It looked dryrotten on the face but I shoved the pitless back onto its mate anyway. When the pump runs I can see a little water leaking from the pitless in the well case. I am thinking when the pump is off, and the system is idle, the water sitting in the line between the house and the pitless drips down into the well. When the pump starts again it pushes all that air infront of the water into the house. The poly pipe going to the well casing holds pressure and vacuum, it held lots of inches of mercury for a while so I know there are no underground air leaks. Here's the real problem: I can't figure out what pitless adapter I have to get a new gasket for it. There are no markings on the pump side of the adapter. Can anyone tell me what adapter it is so I know which gasket or O-ring to get for it? Look at my photo. The water opening on the adapter looks to be 1 inch. Please help me ID this Pitless and get the correct gasket/o-ring, it is driving me nuts.
Before I post the rest of this let me say the following: I KNOW that I should have a well service company or at least a plumber that works on wells fixing mine. I would do just that except that my wife left me and I just don't have the money so I have to do it myself. I talked to lots of well guys and watched a lot of YouTube videos. Not an expert at all. Learning as I make costly mistakes. Ok on to the fun. I have a 2 bedroom house. One kitchen sink. One bathroom sink. One toilet. One bathtub with a shower. That's it.
The deep well pump was installed in the well when the house was built in 1973. It was a 1/2 horse goulds with a franklin electric motor. The well is 250 feet deep. Found this out by dropping a piece of brass tied to a fishing pole. When it stopped falling I took up the slack and measured the distance of how much line dropped. The pump was hung on 1 inch poly pipe 200 feet down. I know all this because the pump seized and when I yanked up by hand it was at the end of 200 feet of poly tubing and wire. The pump drew a ton of amps. I made a pitless puller and yanked 200 feet of poly and the pump out by myself. Don't do this without help. I did it because I did not know the pump was 200 feet down. I must have been out of my mind or drunk when I hatched the idea to attempt this. Anyhow. I bought a new 3/4 horse pump since a 1/2 hp goulds pump from 1970 something was probably made better than the best 1 hp pump money can buy nowadays. Anyhow, I dropped my new pump in. New submersible wire. New check valve on wet end outlet of pump. New safety rope. New pressure tank. New switch. New tank tee. New check valve in the house where poly meets tank tee. All is installed. Here is what happens: The pump runs for a little longer than a minute. I get a whole lot of minutes of water at decent pressure at any sink or the tub before pump cuts on. I'm happy with that. Let about 20 mins go by. Use sink or tub. Switch cuts on pump at correct cut on pressure. THEN: LOTS of AIR. I can hear it. So then I have to burp the system from a faucet. I suspect that since the pitless adapter was mated to the other half for like 40 years that the gasket is shot. It looked dryrotten on the face but I shoved the pitless back onto its mate anyway. When the pump runs I can see a little water leaking from the pitless in the well case. I am thinking when the pump is off, and the system is idle, the water sitting in the line between the house and the pitless drips down into the well. When the pump starts again it pushes all that air infront of the water into the house. The poly pipe going to the well casing holds pressure and vacuum, it held lots of inches of mercury for a while so I know there are no underground air leaks. Here's the real problem: I can't figure out what pitless adapter I have to get a new gasket for it. There are no markings on the pump side of the adapter. Can anyone tell me what adapter it is so I know which gasket or O-ring to get for it? Look at my photo. The water opening on the adapter looks to be 1 inch. Please help me ID this Pitless and get the correct gasket/o-ring, it is driving me nuts.