Scolabird
New Member
Have an extremely shallow 4" diameter well casing washed down to only 16feet in NW FL sand . 1hp pump and typical pressure tank maybe 20gallons...The well is 2"PVC with a traditional screen point, a top side 2inch check valve and no drop pipe. We put well down a year ago and run it regularly with no troubles it fills a 5 gallon bucket with clear non smelly water and in about 40 seconds. Now in the last month I have extreme air bubbles and sputtering. The pressure switch is set at 30/50 and it will eventually check and seem fine. Up until this month i could be watering garden and it would maintain 25psi and be able to fill its pressure tank and check itself at 50psi within minutes (while I was using water hose) now well kicks on at 30psi and will fluctuate down to 12psi and hover there for a while then suddenly after say 2 minutes it will surge in pressure and get up to 40 psi then slow back up for maybe 3 minutes to get the additional 10 psi and check at 50psi. There is a massive leak on top of pump at the outlet port. (I used pvc male threaded fitting instead of a section of galvanized like I would normally use, the threads were ate up and allowing water to squirt out a small section at top of pump outlet) Could the big leak at outlet coupling be to blame or has the static water level likely fallen and well point maybe have a section of screen in water and some screen out of water drawing air??? There doesnt appear to be any leaks anywhere on intake side of system? Any other possible culprits to cause these issues? Even when pump runs for 15 minutes it never gets warm to the touch? Any help greatly appreciated Please note I have started washing a different shallow well for a seperate garden within 100 yards of this location and could only wash the shaft hole 8 foot down before all 200 gallons in my washing tank vacated into the ground. That new shaft has been left open over a month and the static water level is a mere 4 foot underground. I understand that underground cavity of water may have a different static level than my 15 foot well but I figure I'd mention it to offer perspective on just how high the water table is all around our home.
Last edited: