Any water well experts here??

[Nitetimes]

I was just wondering if we have any deep well drillers, installers or maintainers around here.
I have always had a well, never lived where there was city water but this is something I have never encountered. A few years back I replaced my hot water heater and relocated the cold water tank and also re-plumbed the entire house with PVC. Now while I was in the process of doing all this I noticed something......now here is my question. When I had the water line from the pump disconnected I noticed what seemed like the water sucking back down in the line from the pump, is this normal?? for a deep well to do. I will say that I am aware that there is a check valve on the pump and the well is 320' deep. Should that be able to hold the water up when it's disconnected or will it drain back to an extent?
My reason for the question is I seem to be getting a little air in the house lines...well maybe quite a bit. The thing is I had to build a contraption of my own design to catch the grit coming out of the well... I think they've got it to far down.... but my contraption leaked a bit and I'm not sure if that was causing my problem (or if something else is wrong). My trap did it's job quite well except for the leaks so tonight I replaced it with a revised addition of said contraption and I'm not sure yet if it made a difference.
I hate to ask any of the well guys around here because they all just want to run over and pull your well for however many hundreds of dollars. I've got a skid loader, I can pull it myself just not sure if I should or wait and see what happens.

Said contraption...somebody who will remain nameless never considered that those clean out caps on top and bottom couldn't hold water pressure even with pipe dope on em.


New contraption... no caps on this one! Just a flush valve on the bottom.


Grit involved, only a small portion of what is in the old one.

[Lesbest]

The check valve should hold the water pressure anytime the pump isn't running.

The grit you get is probably caught in the check valve and causing some leakdown. I would lift the pump up 15 or 20 feet, and see if the grit problem goes away.

We had a well when I was a kid and the well was 110 feet deep, water at 35 feet, pump was at 66, and we never ran out.

Les

[mary and bob]

Sounds like dirt or grit in the check valve causing it to leak by. Think twice about pulling it up yourself cause if you drop it then you have a real problem. That much pipe with water in it is real heavy. We once lived where the previous owner thought he was going to install his own jet & pipe in the well and lost it all when it slipped out of their hands. A well driller had a tool just for that and fished it out for me, then installed a submersible pump. In our present house I had to install a cartridge filter [Sears] to keep grit from screwing up the water softner. Your pump may be just a little too close to the bottom of the well. How deep also relates to the water level and recovery rate of the well, think of the well as a tall storage tank, and how fast does it refill as water is used. Bob

[Micro469]

Looking at the picture of your new "contraption" You do realize that every 90 degree cuts back a percentage of your water pressure. I can't remember by how much, but it's signifigant.

[Jiminsav]

yep..grit in the check valve..you betcha.
and tell me again how you drive the skid loader down the pipe to pull the pump up?

[Nitetimes]

yep..grit in the check valve..you betcha.
and tell me again how you drive the skid loader down the pipe to pull the pump up?

I don't think it will fit down there. It just does the heavy lifting. We use them around here to pull wells all the time.

I don't have a problem with pulling it I just don't want to pull it. But this pretty much confirms my thoughts on it.
Cause after further review...using the shower a couple of times....there is still a problem. The leak in the original catcher was definitely the source of most of the air in the lines but it seems the water is still draining back down so if things go well I may just have to pull it before winter.

Looking at the picture of your new "contraption" You do realize that every 90 degree cuts back a percentage of your water pressure. I can't remember by how much, but it's signifigant.

Actually my water pressure is quite good since I changed the lines. I drop in size twice so it raises it enough to make up for the 90's. It starts at 1" drops to 3/4" after the trap and drops to 1/2" after the main feeders so pressure isn't an issue. And the trap is all 3" which while I was building the first one was what I wasn't sure was going to work out, it works fine tho.

Sounds like dirt or grit in the check valve causing it to leak by. Think twice about pulling it up yourself cause if you drop it then you have a real problem. That much pipe with water in it is real heavy.

The only good thing is if I turn the pump off for a couple of hours there won't be that much water in the pipe. It has to be draining down to at least the level of water in the well.
Like I said, pulling it with the skid won't be a problem, I've pulled deep wells before, just one of them things I like to avoid. Just can't justify $500+ to have someone else do it for me.

The check valve should hold the water pressure anytime the pump isn't running.

The grit you get is probably caught in the check valve and causing some leakdown. I would lift the pump up 15 or 20 feet, and see if the grit problem goes away.

We had a well when I was a kid and the well was 110 feet deep, water at 35 feet, pump was at 66, and we never ran out.

Kinda what I thought too.
The plan is to bring it up at least 5 to 10 feet, I thing they dropped it in the hole to deep. I will drop a fishing line down with a sinker and a bobber when the pump is out and see what the water level actually is in it.
I've never had a problem with water and I water my garden with it.

[Mark & Andrea Jones]

Sounds to me like you need to talk to a local well driller and ask them for their thoughts. Or find a GOOD plumber who also knows something about wells.

Re: air in the pipes. Something else you may want to do is to test your water for O2 or CO2. Its not uncommon for well water in our area to have O2 / CO2 in it. I don't have a clue as to what water conditions you'll find in Butler, PA.

NOTE: O2/CO2 testing has to be done on-site.

There are also filters called "spin-down" filters. You may want to look into them. They aren't expensive, they're easy to install, and there are no filters to change - just empty the basin periodically. But, I think that I'd get a well driller to lift your pump and replace a check valve or two.

Andrea.
www.clearcreekwaterworks.com