Well

[ByronBob]

Get a flashlight look down the well casing. You'll see where the pipe goes through the wall of the casing. Right on top you'll see a thread you can attach to and pull up on the pittman valve with. Most well guys have a T pipe they thread onto it with and pull up.
This most likely will be a 2 man job. One to hold a light and guide you while you screw onto it and lift.

Your bladder isn't the problem. It's either the switch or the pump. Like I mentioned for 10-15 dollars replace the switch first. Then evaluate the need for a pump.

 

[ByronBob]

Oops. I didn't see you mentioned that. Another question is what type of lines are you using to get the water into the house with?

How good is your water also?? Is it hard mineral or anything like that.

 

[Kevin_in_VA]

Bob,

Thanks again. I didn't think it was the bladder. I'm gonna pick up a switch at Home Depot during lunch today, and try that first.

When you say there is a pipe going through the wall of the casing, do you mean the well casing or the pump casing? The Well is a 30" diameter bored well with a concrete liner. I can easily see (without a light) a pipe and some wires penetrating the liner about 15 feet down, but cannot see the top of the pump, it is well below the surface of the water.

 

[mahlers]

I don't know if this helps or not - but here goes. I had a similar problem with a submersible pump in a shallow well that got fouled up with sand and dirt from time to time. The solution was to switch over to a jet pump with a 2" pipe going down into the shallow well, and a foot-valve at the bottom. With that, the sand never has a chance of getting up into the pre-filter or pump. That will work fine for your 25' deep well. If you start getting into the 30'+ range, then you either need a submersible or a very powerful jet pump.

 

[Kevin_in_VA]

The water is soft (pH of about 6.0).

I don't know what kind of lines are used to get into the house. They enter the basement about 4ft below grade. Inside the basement they look like flexible plastic. Don't know what ther are outside. I assume that the line direct from the discharge of the pump would be flexible though.

 

[Kevin_in_VA]

That's what I was thinking when I mentioned using a jet pump between the discharge of the submersible pump and the house, and leaving the old pump in place and using it as kind of a foot valve. There may be some fallacy to my thinking though.

 

[AntrimMan]

If you isolate the house from the tank and the pressure drops at all, you have a leak. You need to find where the leak is. There is nothing wrong with the switch, if it's set for 50psi cutout and the pump is making 35 it will never shut off, save your money. Since the pump is having difficulty making head, now be sure here, is the pump continually running or does it shut off? If it shuts off then it's making head greater than the switch cutout and there is nothing wrong with the pump unless the pump itself is the leak. There is a foot valve on the pump that closes to hold the system pressure when the pump shuts off. If the foot valve is leaking, a good possibility if you encounter sand, then it needs replaced.
The merciless pump people in my area charge $150.- to change out the $10.- foot valve, so if you have a friend or brother in law or some one to help you can definetly save some bucks to be spent on tractor implements. KILL THE ELECTRICAL CIRCUT AND BE ABSOLUTELY SURE IT CANNOT BE ENERGISED WHILE YOU ARE WORKING AND DO IT BEFORE YOU PULL THE PUMP. You may be going for a pump and foot valve, no biggie, use a 1" x 8' threaded gas pipe to pull the pitless adapter and fix the problem. If you have the black poly pipe like you said then there is not likely to be a problem if it is a continuous run without any buried couplings. When you put the new pump in be certain to use a propane torch to heat and soften the pipe before you tighten the hose clamps, you will get a better seal, and use two all stainless clamps, they are cheap. Make sure to wire the new pump correctly and use the waterproof splices made espicially for pumps. Keep the down pipe clean, no dog poop or any thing like that, you will be drinking it. And since your well is producing sand make sure you set the pump depth shallower than it is now, cut like a foot or so off the downpipe when you remove the old pump. Be sure to record the lenght of the total downpipe and pump assembly for future reference. Apply a light coat of clean vaseline to the seal on the pitless and put her back into position and then lean on the gas pipe, thats all it takes. When you are finished you will want to run that puppy a while from an outside faucett to get rid of some of the crap you will stir up.
Listen, if you don't think you can be sucessful then get professional help. It will cost a few bucks but you need water to flush the toilet and run the clothes washer and the missus is only going to be soo patient, I know first hand. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Best of luck,
Martin

 

[chucko]

chances are that the drop pipe has a rust hole in it. Put you ear to the caseing and see if you hear water running inside
The water comming out would cause the PSI drop and wash the trash is the caseing back in to the well. The water running all the time could be sturing up the sand and pumping it up.
They are not hard to pull but like others said if you drop it you will have a big problem

 

[ByronBob]

Kev,

The line comes up out of the water and goes through your casing into the ground. Where it goes through the well casing wall there is a pitless valve which makes the 90 degree turn. On this valve to split it apart is a threaded top to get a pipe on. This is lifted up to get the lines out of the well.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_improvement/how_it_works/1275136.html?page=3&c=y

If your getting sediment then why?? Is your pump that low to the bottom of the well and how much head of water do you have? My pump is at 48 feet in a 60 foot well. You should leave 5 feet from the bottom for a gap.

Stay with the submersible. I've had both styles and this is the better set up.

Odds are it's not the switch but 1) for the little amt it costs how could it hurt not to try it. Like preventative maintenance.

And 2) would you like to buy a $200 pump, put it in only to buy a $15 switch because that was the problem.

As others said is the pump running forever because it never makes it to 50psi? Thats a leak somewhere. And if the pipe is metal, all the more to worry.

 

[Kevin_in_VA]

The pump runs until I open the contacts on the pressure switch. Pressure then goes completely down to zero. I have a pressure gage just before the switch and it has not shown anything greater than 35PSI in the last two months (that I have seen anyway).

I have noticed one other thing, and I don't know if it is related to this pressure problem at all. After I change my filters, I notice that there is a lot of air in the system. It takes a minute or so for the air to purge and for a steady flow (albeit weak) to come from the faucets.

My filter change procedure is as follows

Shut the filter outlet valve then the inlet, vent and open the filter casing. After I clean the filter housing, replace the element, and close it up I then open the inlet valve while venting the housing. When I get nothing but water I shut the vent and open the outlet.

I still get air after that.

I don't know if there is a foot valve associated with my pump. It is a Grundfos submersible pump that has an internal check valve. I assume that has the same purpose as a foot valve (but will be the first to admit that I may be wrong). I have called a Well guy to give me some ideas as what I might be looking at dollar and time wise, but he has not called me back yet.