CK30 BH being put to work

[IXLR8]

I have been out of town for 4 days, I was wandering around my property with my dog and just down hill from my well head the ground was soaking wet, puddles even!!?? I have lived here for 5 years and I have never seen it wet there and it has not rained for 2 weeks!! This can't be good. The ground was wet up to the well head. In the house, the pressure tank was at 50psi, the shut off is at 60psi. Twenty minutes later it was still at 50psi, pump still running, no water running in the house!!?? Shut off the pump and got out the CK30, I had just put the BH back on last week, and started digging. Ground was a sloppy muddy mess. The Kioti saved my back... or my checking account. Pipe connection was down over 4ft, I need to get the rest of the water out to see just what sort of a mess I am up against.

 

[Dave from GA & KY]

Bummer about the well. At least you got a chance to use the tractor so I guess there's always a bright side. Hopefully it's a simple fix once you dig it out of all that soup.

Dave

 

[Dmace]

Looks like fun!

Just be careful not to get any rain water or soil in the well and contaminate the pool.

 

[Gittyup]

I feel for you, Jim. I hate to have well problems. Worries me to death until it's fixed. I hope it's just something simple. But, I bet you'll be pulling up your pump at the very least. Well, at least the Kioti will make the digging easy. Good luck.

 

[IXLR8]

Well... I finally got down thru the water mud and muck to the pipe coming out of the well head. The 1" black well pipe is insulated and run inside a 4" PVC pipe. Unfortunately the leak is not at the well head, it is somewhere up inside that 4" PVC pipe. So I am presently digging back up the pipe trying to find the leak. It is 150' from well head to the house... I hope I don't have to dig the whole thing, especially since there is a shed sitting on the path between the well head and the house and that would have to be emptied and moved!! A contractor friend stopped by and suggested I just start digging from the house end of things as the chance of the well pipe breaking inside the PVC pipe is VERY small. At least I now have a few hrs of BH use so I will feel more comfortable digging next to the house.

 

[Gittyup]

Keep us posted. Be careful not to grab the pipe witht he backhoe. Hope you don't have to move the shed.

 

[Highbeam]

So you have a sleeved waterline. Is the space between the sleeve and the actual waterline filled with anything like foam? If not, I would start poking hole in the bottom of the sleeve to try and find the leak. Maybe you'll be able to hear it. At the end of the day you may be better off just abandoning the old line entirely and laying a new one right next to it. Don't bother with the sleeve if you are below the frost line, black poly is tough stuff. Black poly is also very cheap to buy.

 

[rimshot]

Probably the cause is going to be a rusted galvanized pipe nipple connector and deteriorated hose clamps. Hope you don't have to go to far to find it. We always like to include a strip of sytrofoam about 6"over the top of the water line. It can be used for more than just insulation. It can serve as an indicator of just where the water line is to a backhoe operator.

 

[IXLR8]

The digging continues. The shed does not have to be moved. The sleeve is not foam filled. I have been digging down to the water line every 30' or so, cutting a small hole in the side of the sleeve, turning on the pump to see if there is water flow at that point in the sleeve. I went back to the house and dug a hole there, at this point the water line and electrical line are not in a sleeve, they were covered with 1" of styrofoam. Sighting the sleeved line and the non sleeved line back to a point they intersect puts us under the concrete slab for the porch steps. More digging today.

 

[RexB]

buried water line problems

Hope the prob isn't under the slab, grrrr.

So much is dug up, and the digging continues, that Highbeam's suggestion to replace the old waterline is worthy. Maybe attach a new direct-bury PVC flex waterline to the old one and draw it through the sleeve . . .

You're getting a workout, good thing backhoes were invented for us