well and water ?'s

[randy41]

my well is pretty far from my house which has not been a problem. but i would like to access the water by the well if possible. could i tap into the line that runs to the house at a point right next to the well? would it be best to have a pressure tank there too? the well is one of those 6" pipes with a blue cap sticking out of the ground. the pump is about 200' down the well. it has been working very well (ha!) for 20 years except for the time the wire got wore out.

this is part of my planning for shiitake mushroom production.

 

[Egon]

You should be able to tap into the present line. Another pressure tank will not be required.

 

[Jimbrown]

It depends on where your pressure tanks are and where the back flow preventer is. It sounds like the tanks are not at the well head if so and they are in your basement or some other place most likely the backflow preventer is there also. If that is the case there will only be water at the well head when the pump is running. If the backflow preventer is indeed at the wellhead then you can tap in anywhere past it.

 

[randy41]

assuming of course that there is a backflow preventer....which i have my doubts that there is. how would i know if there is?

 

[Jimbrown]

There has to be or all of the water would flow back into the well from the pressure tanks or the pump would have to run all of the time. Most all modern systems have a manifold device where the pressure gauge and pump controller connect and it usually contains a backflow.

Look here Tank Tee Fitting Kits for Water Pressure Tanks the thing with the bump is the backflow preventer or sometimes called one way valve.

 

[Egon]

The original poster mentioned wires going down the well. This information may possibly indicate a submersible pump which would have a check valve at bottom of the tubing.

 

[_RaT_]

The original poster mentioned wires going down the well. This information may possibly indicate a submersible pump which would have a check valve at bottom of the tubing.

It would be possible to have two check valves, one at the pump and one at the pressure tank. If there is one at the pressure tank also, cutting into the line going to the house really won't work since the pressure tank will not deplete and thus kick the pump in via the pressure switch. That pump switch is almost always located with the pressure tank.

 

[randy41]

i see nothing at the pressure tank to indicate that there's a check valve. i so i'd guess that it is located at the pump. a check valve allows water to flow in one direction and not the other...right?
the pump switch is at the pressure tank. the wires from the pressure tank run to the breaker box outside. i wired this myself. when the pump died because of the wire wearing out, the guy who fixed it also checked my wiring. he didn't change anything. this was a couple of years ago.

 

[Jimbrown]

It is not normal to have a check valve at the bottom of the well. Most submersible pumps in fact have a drain hole to allow all of the water in the down pipe to drain back into the well. This is done to reduce the load on the pump when it starts. If the pump has to start against the weight of the water and tank pressure it would probably stall or you would need a larger pump. Very much like trying to start your tractor in gear with PTO engaged or a back blade on the ground.

 

[tawilson]

I don't know about that, Jim. I've got two wells, one uses a submersible and one a shallow well pump. The shallow well has a foot valve at the bottom of the pipe into the well. The submersible used to have a check valve just above the pump, and I moved it to just outside the well cap( no pitless adapter, piped out the top) so I can break a union and let the pipe into the well drain down for the winter. If it drained down every time, wouldn't you get a lot of air into the system?
As far as the original posters question, I'd stick a 20 gallon bladder tank there just for the heck of it. Might save someone from getting low water during a shower if you decide to water the mushrooms at the same time.