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I bought a house that had the water converted over from a shallow well to city water decades ago. They hooked it up to a spicket, but I don't think they used it much. Currently, I get a mere trickle— then nothing.
The pump and the tank are in the house, and it pulls through an inch and a half galvanized pipe that leads to a 3 inch casing outside. There's no inner pipe or pitless adapter (although I do see an opening where the pump run comes in), so it's just trying to pull water through what I imagined to be a leaky casing. The water sits about 25' down which is probably only about 20' below the pump height.
I figured the bottom of the casing had a filter of some sort that either corroded or was clogged. To test this and possibly isolate the vertical casing from the horizontal run to the house and the pump, I put my 2" trash pump suction hose down the casing and sealed the top. It pumped some dirty water for about 5 seconds and then it was crystal clear and cold. Awesome flow. No need to drill!
However, I just couldn't prime the inside pump no matter what I tried. Is it possible that air leaks in the run to the house would prevent the pump inside from fully priming, or is it more likely that the old check valve or pump needs to be replaced?
I assume the casing doesn't have the airtight problem because it worked with the suction hose, but maybe the gas trash pump just overpowers whatever air leak might be present in the casing?
When I remove the cap outside and fill the casing with the hose, the water level in the casing drops steadily. Is this normal?
I'd appreciate your thoughts! I'm thinking about running new 2" PVC down the casing and using a pitless adapter with flex whip and fresh pvc to the pump, but I'd hate to do that if it's not necessary.
The pump and the tank are in the house, and it pulls through an inch and a half galvanized pipe that leads to a 3 inch casing outside. There's no inner pipe or pitless adapter (although I do see an opening where the pump run comes in), so it's just trying to pull water through what I imagined to be a leaky casing. The water sits about 25' down which is probably only about 20' below the pump height.
I figured the bottom of the casing had a filter of some sort that either corroded or was clogged. To test this and possibly isolate the vertical casing from the horizontal run to the house and the pump, I put my 2" trash pump suction hose down the casing and sealed the top. It pumped some dirty water for about 5 seconds and then it was crystal clear and cold. Awesome flow. No need to drill!
However, I just couldn't prime the inside pump no matter what I tried. Is it possible that air leaks in the run to the house would prevent the pump inside from fully priming, or is it more likely that the old check valve or pump needs to be replaced?
I assume the casing doesn't have the airtight problem because it worked with the suction hose, but maybe the gas trash pump just overpowers whatever air leak might be present in the casing?
When I remove the cap outside and fill the casing with the hose, the water level in the casing drops steadily. Is this normal?
I'd appreciate your thoughts! I'm thinking about running new 2" PVC down the casing and using a pitless adapter with flex whip and fresh pvc to the pump, but I'd hate to do that if it's not necessary.
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