jayste
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2008
- Messages
- 1,740
- Tractor
- 2004 Kubota M4800 SU
Late Saturday's water supply seemed a little "airish". Not having worked on any water line to introduce air into my water system, I got a little concerned. The air was in both the hot and cold side and at all faucets and toilets so I knew it was in the whole water line. After studying on it a while I decided to take a look out side. We're on a water well system and has been pretty flawless other than the usual "seasonal" problems. The well was originally drilled and pump installed 14 yrs. ago. I've had small issues such as pressure switch failure/clogged 1/4" nipples and such but good service for the most part. This situation was different than most due to the air in the line similar to cutting into or "opening" the line to work on it. I first walked the area in the yard between the well house and the house to look for wet spots in our very dry ground. Even though this would probably just create a reduced pressure situation in the line I wanted to start out basic and work up from there. No wet spots so I went to the well house to check things out. All things seemed in order there except for the very obvious cycling of the pump. Noticeable only by the "humming" of the pump (it's submeresable), the pressure switch kicking on and off and the pressure gage going up and down. All of this with an average of about 10 seconds of pump on in a 50 seconds off time cycle....not good. Now, I'm thinking the system in not holding pressure. Just for giggles I check my pressure tank for air pressure and check for water in the tank. All seemed good there with no water coming out with the air. Now my thoughts are on the pump, check valve and stand pipe. I couldn't remember how deep this well is. (we have two well: one for us and one for the farm house). Let's face it, I'm getting older and it's been 14 yrs since we installed it! Anyway, I decide to concort with a fellow who I consort with on these kind of matters and after chewing on the same cud and getting the same juices we narrow it down to a split in the the stand pipe or a bad check valve. Something is allowing it to draw air. At this time things started come back to me like:
1) we used 20' joints of sch 40 PVC pipe not sch 80
2) we used sch 80 PVC fittings
3) pump was bought new and was 14 yrs old
4) A fellow I used to work with and I installed the pump and all workings to finish it out.
Now it's Monday morning and I've called in to my job to take a day of "vacation"! Thankfully, I didn't enclose the well head too much. When I built the well house (8'x12' storage/well house) I put it just in front of the well head and built a small enclosure to attach separately behind the well house and over the well head. Since that time I've added a lean-to on the back of the well house so I've got that to deal with. First things first so I had to remove one sheet of corrugated iron off of the roof of the lean-to to allow the 20' sections of pipe to protrude into the air as I pull and install the pipe. Next was to open up and remove the enclosure around the well head. After exposing the well head came time to disconnect the wires (after shutting off the breaker and insuring the power is off). Mine is the style where you have a well seal that installs in the casing at the top and the PVC pipe runs through the middle of it into the casing and the wires and well rope on each side of that. Not having a union I had to cut the pipe at the top in order to start pulling the pipe. Before I started pulling the pipe I knew I would need a "pipe block" for the fittings to rest on while I disconnected each 20' section as they are threaded together. As I'm pulling I'm having to cut loose each piece of tape where we taped the wires and the rope to the pipe with electricians tape. Thankfully the stand wasn't too heavy due to it only being 100 ft deep and void of water in the pipe! Which, by the way, told me, as I was pulling the pipe out, that the problem was down low being that each section of pipe wasn't full of water. Finally, as I reached the last section of pipe that has the pump attached I could hear water draining from somewhere which told me again it was in that particular section of pipe. Upon removing the pump from the well and observing it I noticed what appeared to be some pitting in the brass check valve that is inserted in the top of the pump between the pump and the stand pipe. For those who might not know the check valve is a "one-way" valve that allows the water to flow up, in this case, but not down. It allows pressure to remain in the stand pipe and water system. After removing the check valve from the pump and stand pipe I found the culprit. The brass valve had actually "washed out" and created a hole leading from the inside about the last threads (deepest) to the outside of of the valve allowing water to drain back down once the pump would shut off.
Wow! I just realized how long this post is! Anyway, sorry for not having any pics of the job (maybe I can add some later of a few things) and maybe this can help someone who might have this type of problem in the future.
1) we used 20' joints of sch 40 PVC pipe not sch 80
2) we used sch 80 PVC fittings
3) pump was bought new and was 14 yrs old
4) A fellow I used to work with and I installed the pump and all workings to finish it out.
Now it's Monday morning and I've called in to my job to take a day of "vacation"! Thankfully, I didn't enclose the well head too much. When I built the well house (8'x12' storage/well house) I put it just in front of the well head and built a small enclosure to attach separately behind the well house and over the well head. Since that time I've added a lean-to on the back of the well house so I've got that to deal with. First things first so I had to remove one sheet of corrugated iron off of the roof of the lean-to to allow the 20' sections of pipe to protrude into the air as I pull and install the pipe. Next was to open up and remove the enclosure around the well head. After exposing the well head came time to disconnect the wires (after shutting off the breaker and insuring the power is off). Mine is the style where you have a well seal that installs in the casing at the top and the PVC pipe runs through the middle of it into the casing and the wires and well rope on each side of that. Not having a union I had to cut the pipe at the top in order to start pulling the pipe. Before I started pulling the pipe I knew I would need a "pipe block" for the fittings to rest on while I disconnected each 20' section as they are threaded together. As I'm pulling I'm having to cut loose each piece of tape where we taped the wires and the rope to the pipe with electricians tape. Thankfully the stand wasn't too heavy due to it only being 100 ft deep and void of water in the pipe! Which, by the way, told me, as I was pulling the pipe out, that the problem was down low being that each section of pipe wasn't full of water. Finally, as I reached the last section of pipe that has the pump attached I could hear water draining from somewhere which told me again it was in that particular section of pipe. Upon removing the pump from the well and observing it I noticed what appeared to be some pitting in the brass check valve that is inserted in the top of the pump between the pump and the stand pipe. For those who might not know the check valve is a "one-way" valve that allows the water to flow up, in this case, but not down. It allows pressure to remain in the stand pipe and water system. After removing the check valve from the pump and stand pipe I found the culprit. The brass valve had actually "washed out" and created a hole leading from the inside about the last threads (deepest) to the outside of of the valve allowing water to drain back down once the pump would shut off.
Wow! I just realized how long this post is! Anyway, sorry for not having any pics of the job (maybe I can add some later of a few things) and maybe this can help someone who might have this type of problem in the future.
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