Help me with my well please.
 

I've been in my current house for a few years now and I haven't had a chance to correct my well situation. I'd like to have it running soon for the upcoming summer season as well as comfort level of having a water source other than municipal. There is an existing well here that I would like to try to get working. I tried to prime it and turn on the pump last summer, but water flowed out through all of the seals on the pump when tried to prime it. The pump does work and it spins smoothly when power is applied with no random noises. Based on my location, I am guessing that I have a fairly shallow well. The piping used is PVC and seems to be in good condition.

I don't want to sink a lot of money into a pump and I don't know if the well is any good so I was thinking about renting or buying a hand pump. If I get a hand pump to test, do I have to use it straight on the top of the well head or will it siphon through a couple of PVC elbows? Any other tips for determining if the well is any good? Any suggestions for re-building my pump?

Re: Help me with my well please.
 

Since you can SEE the pump on the surface, most likely you have a shallow well, as those type pumps are only good for up to something like 60-100' depths, I believe....can't say for positive as I have no experience with that type pump.....everything we use here are pretty much submersible type.....pump is down the well.

One thing I'd do is check the well. Lower an empty plastic pop bottle with the lid screwed on, and well tied to a string around the neck until the bottle hits water level (you see slack in the string )....then pull it back up and measure the amount of string....that will tell you how far down to the static water level. Then replace the string with a weight of some kind, and lower to the bottom of the well. That will tell you how much water reserve you have in the well....there is 1.5gal/ft in a 6" well ( most common well size drilled around here )

The above WON'T tell you what the well will produce....only pumping will tell you that. Once you get a pump that runs, you can use the floating pop bottle to measure how much the well draws down compared to measuring how much the pump puts out. This is a good thing to know because your pump may have been damaged by running dry....over pumping what the well could replace. Running it without water is what damages seals.

OR it could simply be old and worn out.

Most hand pumps that you would rent/buy will not work all that good in a well IF the water is very far down. Most pumps have a limited amount of suction "lift".....the water level has to be fairly close to the intake of the pump, but they have a lot more on the pressure side. A shallow well pump uses a foot valve ( check type valve ) on the bottom of the intake pipe....this keeps the pump from having to suck the amount of pipe down the well each time it runs....the pipe stays "primed" right to the pump. THAT is also something you should check...if the foot valve is leaking back down ( which I think is a common problem with them ), then the pump can't pump....it simply can't pull the water up on the suction side, or has to work a lot harder to do it...again, causing seals to fail for lack of water in there to lubricate.

You might find installing a small submersible is the way to go....you can get a 1/2hp and the wire/pipe/etc for 500 bucks.

http://www.do-it-yourself-pumps.com/

Re: Help me with my well please.
 

Ask neighbors what the avarege well depth in the area is and report back.

If water flows out the seals on a pump it means the mechanical seal is bad. I would remove the pump and take it to someone who repairs pumps. If there is no nomenclature on the pump indicating horsepower and GPM, maybe the pump repairman can figure it out. Then re-install, prime and try it again.

Re: Help me with my well please.
 

I am definitely working with a shallow well. The water table around here is probably 10' max. I have 1.5" PVC pipe for the well so I can't get a soda bottle down the pipe. I could drop a weighted item down it, but the well pipe takes a 90 degree bend to send it through the wall to the pump in my garage. I would have to cut the pvc pipe to get the elbow off and I would prefer to leave that intact if possible. My main goal is to see if I can get any water flow out of it and if so, then I can tackle the pump issue.

Re: Help me with my well please.
 

I live on the coast, and have more experience than I'd like with jet pumps and shallow wells, both at home and in pastures.

If you think you have water at 10 feet (my house well is 6), I wouldn't worry about the well, it's more than likely fine. PVC casings don't rust and fill in. The worst problem you might have would be if it was sanding up from the bottom, and even if it was you could probably air it out and be OK.

You need to fix the pump and go from there. You can probably get the seals locally and fix it yourself, or remove the pump and have someone fix it. Seals are cheap and easy, and if someone charges more than 100frns they're a con artist. My guy wouldn't be over 50. I think a whole new pump/motor is 150 +/-, depending on size/horsepower/horizontal/vertical.

BTW, you're not going to prove anything with a hand pump, it's going to pump so slow that the worst well in the world will keep up with it.

Re: Help me with my well please.
 

I have a well similar to this. Where is your foot valve located? if it is bad and on the well side of the elbow you will have to remove the pvc pipe to that point anyway to replace the valve. Mine is at the very top of the well casing. It's just threaded on with thread sealer and looks like a plain coupling from the outside. The old one had lost its sealing ability. That allowed water to drain back down into the well when the pump was off causing it to lose its prime. I replaced it and while it was out I dropped a weighted line down the shaft to measure how deep the well was (29 feet). I replaced the valve with a brass one for about $20 (they make cheaper ones out of plastic) and then made new pvc connections from it to the inlet of my pump.The only difficulty in my case was that whoever installed the system poured a concrete foundation around the well shaft and the foot valve itself requiring me to drill out the concrete to access the valve. Be careful not to crack the well shaft piping.

Tn..Andy is right.

As for the pump, sometimes when they malfunction its because of sediment build up inside (clay and iron oxides for instance, which gob up the internal filter) and they only need to be cleaned out work properly again. The local hardware store should stock replacement parts if needed.

Re: Help me with my well please.
 

I don't think the pump is bad, just the seals. I'll mess with it this weekend and report back.

Re: Help me with my well please.
 

Could the pump have been frozen and forced the seals out?

Re: Help me with my well please.
 

You likely have a servicer in your area that will swap your pump for a rebuild. The cost should be low and the convenience much higher than rebuilding yourself. Incidentally, a backup pump would also be in order. I'd have a small hand pump fitted in conjunction with the electric. In the event of a power outage, it's cheap insurance.

Re: Help me with my well please.
 

That's a distinct possibility. It is in the garage, but it isn't climate controlled.

Re: Help me with my well please.
 

test water for NO2 and NO3 ,shallow ground water may be polluted with fertilizer ,septic,you and especially your kids should not drink water with NO2(Nitrite)
Clean venturi inside the pump from any particles