OT - Shallow well question

 

Hey Spodes -

Went to JayII camp to find a "no-water" situation with the pump
happily spinning away doing nothing.  I'm going to hate to see the
next electric bill.  Anyway, the well has water but the pump doesn't.
It looks like the foot valve let go, at least based on my futile
efforts to re-prime the thing - although I don't understand how a pump
can lose prime even with a bad valve - where does the air come from?
I'm planning on replacing both the pump and valve - I changed out the
pressure tank last winter, so if I have to crawl into the well, I
might as well make everything new while I'm messing with it.

So, here's my question - given that I have to climb down into the well
on a ladder, what kind of ladder does one use?  Pool ladder?  Ladder
suspended from home-made hooks?  Long ladder that goes all the way to
the well bottom?  Backhoe bucket and a rope?

JayC

 


Um, it would be highly unusual to go down into the well to replace the
foot valve. It's really... wet down there. Pull the pipe up.

Replace all the pipe in the well too. A leak in the pipe could cause
the same symptoms as a bad foot valve, and the stuff doesn't last
forever. Let's assume it's not a leak between house and well for the
moment.

Is it on plastic pipe or steel? How deep is shallow?

oh... maybe I get the drift of your question...
It may have a "pitless adapter". Probably, unless the stuff is really,
really old. You just have to make up a puller that screws into the top
with IP thread, and pull straight up.
http://www.pitlessadapter.com/

can you see the fittings at the top of the well?

If it doesn't have a pitless, you'll probably end up installing one.

HTH
Dean

 

In article <e5aeeabb-7197-4fe7-82c1-31cb290468c3
@j36g2000prj.googlegroups.com>, jwc@sysmatrix.net says...

I have a shallow well too. I had a similar problem a few years back when
the pipe from the wellhead to the house (underground) broke. I didn't go
inside the well at all.

We dug a trench from the house to the well and down to where the
existing copper pipe went through the side of the well, and drilled a
new hole. I laid 2 inch black pvc pipe from the well to the house
foundation and left about 6 inches protruding into each for access. Then
of course I sealed around it where it went through the side of the well
and the foundation too. Now I have a dry conduit running from inside the
house, to inside the wellhead. Leave the middle bowed up slightly so if
somehow moisture ever gets in, it can flow out... Then I snaked a 1
1/2" black pvc water pipe through. When it came out the end of the tube
into the well I reached down, grabbed it and attached the foot valve.
Then we secured a cinder block to it for weight with a 1 foot rope to
allow the foot to stay off the bottom, and lowered it down to the bottom
of the well, about 20 feet. Then I attached the other end of the 1 1/2"
pipe inside the house to the pump and voila, all set. If I ever have a
problem with the foot valve again I just reign in the tube from inside
the house till it comes up high enough to loop it and bring it to the
surface for service... or if I ever have to replace the pvc for any
reason, I just pull the old one out of the two inch tube and put in a
new one...

Might not work for you, but that's what we did...

--
Rowdy Mouse Racing - We race for cheese!

 

by shallow well: you mean pump in hut at
ground level and pipe going into well setup?
(most common shallow well setup)

if you have a pinhole leak any where from the
well up to the pump the pump would rather suck
up air than lift up heavy water until the pump gets
to free wheeling in the consume a bunch of electricity
mode... <grin> the foot valve is supposed to prevent
the water from draining back down the pipe while the
pump is resting. this would keep your head of water
close to the pump and preventing it from working
hard to re prime the pump.

over time well pipes develop leaks, envision
placing your finger on top of straw in glass of water
then lifting up, as long as you have no holes in the straw
the water stays in the straw... introduce air leaks and
the water runs out the bottom fast... now if you place a
one way valve on the bottom of the straw the system
no longer requires a perfect air/water tight system
to prevent the pressure in the system to drain back
thru the pump into the well.

I would replace the pipe& foot valve from
the pump to the bottom of  the well. use
metal if you happen to have any ground
wires attached to the plumbing, plastic if
you have nasty water that corrodes metal.

ah there's a link with photos of the well
http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/improvement/electrical-plumbing/1275136

i have a modified double drop setup
deep well with a booster pump up top
to bump up the pressure for the RO unit

 

  In the drawing which john linked, the shallow well pump set-up is
the first (left hand) drawing, and the deep well set-up it the "two
pipe" set-up to it's right.  These are both "jet pumps", as opposed to
the submersible pump in the lower photo.

  The deep well jet pump set-up is the water well system of which I am
most familiar.familiar. (Although, in the oil field, I have four 4"
submersible pumps running on wells that are set at the 1200' level. I
am familiar with them, also, as well as their great expense.)

  When I first married Deb, she had a river camp with a 100' deep well
with the deep well type of jet pump. I soon got my first experience
with them.  :-)
  When my daughter moved to the outskirts of Little Rock last year,
her new home had a 100' well with this set-up on it.  We set her foot
valve 40' under the water level at a total depth of 75'.
  When working on my daughter's well, we installed black poly pipe,
similar to the yellow poly pipe that is used for natural gas lines,
for well pipe and used a brass foot valve.  To keep from having any
leaks from "king nipples" joining the poly pipe to the galvanized pipe
that I used for fittings, I used compression fittings.
  We just used rope to attach to the downhole pipe, and raised it up
by hand. We use the rope to hold the pipe while connecting and
disconnecting the compression fittings.
  Before we start the well after service, we completely fill both
downhole pipes with water before starting the pump. (I installed a
"tee" on top, to make this easy.)
  
Good Riding and Well Working to You!

Jim

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