Long term problem with water well

[Perry Babin]

All of the system, well, tank, pump are in a 4ft by 4ft 'pump shed' (I don't know how that translates for the rest of the country). There is 220v there for the pump.

The well is 2".

As far as I know, no one in this area uses pump that's not above ground. I think you can generally dig down about 4ft and hit water. The well is, of course, much deeper. We're clearly not trying to draw up more than what a surface pump can draw.

 

[Bannerman]

Your 2" casing excludes a submersible pump as an option even as a submersible would be superior.

You said the well was drilled, leading us to anticipate the well casing to be likely 4" or larger.

A 2" casing will be usually driven, often equipped with a sand point on the leading end. Water will enter the casing through the sand point screen but if the screen becomes damaged or plugged with debris, water may not enter the casing as rapidly as the pump is removing it. A 2" diameter pipe does not offer much storage capacity, so if the incoming flow is restricted, the pump will not need to run for long before the casing's storage capacity is depleted.

You mention a foot valve. How deep is that placed?

Can the drop pipe and foot valve be pulled out from the casing to inspect for air leaks or other damage?

As Louisiana's highest elevation is close to sea level, the maximum distance possible from the top of the water in the casing to the inlet of the pump is approx 25'.

Is there any vent to allow air into the casing to equalize the pressure within the casing while the pump is removing water?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Reach4]

To review, I think your main complaints are that

• you are sucking more air than you can deal with
• you cannot build pressure

Having the well suck down to where the water level hits the intake could explain both of those. There could be plenty of water in the ground, but if the screen on your casing/drive point is clogged, that could make you run out of water. I am not saying that is your problem, but it could be worth checking out. There are ways to clear out a clogged screen, or you could maybe drive another sand point that will start with a fresh screen.

If your well was actually drilled and was deep enough, by putting the foot valve 35 ft down, you could never suck air. However your well is probably not deep enough for that.

I think you have maybe a 1 inch pipe with a foot valve on it down the 2 inch casing or 2-inch pipe that was connected to a drive point. I don't know if you were there when the well was put in.

 

[Perry Babin]

The well was drilled about 35 years ago.

When the pump was working (within the last month or so, it didn't appear to have any volume problems. There is a way to allow water to flow out before the tank and it could supply a stream of water from a 1" pipe at least 6ft. That's from about 18-24" above ground. Something may have happened in the last month.

I'm not sure on the foot valve. It was put down when the well was drilled. I know they replaced it at least once just after installing it because they were seeing the same problem (air filling the tank). The Fairbanks pump solved that problem so they didn't do anything else. Now, I'm trying to find a solution.

The drop pipe could be pulled out. It's something I wanted to avoid. If this were a well that wasn't important, I'd be a bit more adventurous but it's the only source of water we have so I'm trying to do the least risky options first.

As a side note, I thought about leaks in the drop pipe and came to the (possibly wrong) conclusion that if the water didn't flow back into the well when the pump switched off that it was likely OK (not leaky).

I don't know if there is a vent. I didn't see anything that looked like a vent on the piece of PVC that caps the well.

I know that it would be good to have someone look at it but we did and one guy said that EVERYthing needed to be replaced. I told him to go away. A 'trusted' plumber did some work on a simple sewer line (above ground). The first time he came, he said he solved the problem. A few weeks later, he had to come back and that time, he actually found the problem We were charged for both trips even though the first one was useless. The reason I'm mentioning this is because there are too few honest people doing service work. I did it for 30+ years (electronics) and never cheated anyone. I knew a lot of techs who weren't nearly as honest.

I'm trying to do this without calling anyone else in. I've learned a lot but am still not quite there.

This would be much easier to me if the pipes had gauges for inlet (suction) and outlet pressures and flow meters but those aren't an option. Virtually everything is done blindly.

 

[Bannerman]

I didn't see anything that looked like a vent on the piece of PVC that caps the well.

Photo?

 

[Reach4]

As a side note, I thought about leaks in the drop pipe and came to the (possibly wrong) conclusion that if the water didn't flow back into the well when the pump switched off that it was likely OK (not leaky).

That should be the case pretty much. The foot valve should be the only check valve. Will the pressure hold steady for hours if you don't use water? Air goes through smaller holes than water does.

Low pressure could be a clogged jet, but the jet is new. Still, running a wire thru should not be that hard assuming there is a plug for that purpose. L

So where does the surplus air come from? Try putting a car valve cap on that Schrader valve.

 

[Perry Babin]

Up until a few days ago it was working perfectly (except getting air in the tank). The pump ran a couple of minutes, then shut off (when triggered by low pressure during normal use). Of course, when the pump had to be re-primed and there was air in all of the lines to the two homes, it took longer to shut off.

I don't understand what a jet is in this context is or where it is.

There is a pipe with a second ball valve on the pump used to prime the pump. If I just cracked that valve to let a bit of water flow while the tank was trying to fill, there would be bubbles. That doesn't seem right.

The Schrader valve didn't leak water. I could put a cap on it.

I don't expect this to be easy because the people who drilled the well couldn't solve the problem using a standard pump.

I will try to find someone to rebuild the Fairbanks pump but without a model, it's going to be difficult. No one here seemed to have any information on it other than it was a shallow well pump. Since I found only one Fairbanks pump that looked similar, I didn't expect anyone to know much about it.

I appreciate the patience that people have had on this forum. I'm fairly ignorant on anything beyond the basics but I'm trying to provide enough information to get to the right solution.