Is my supply pipe leaking?

Greetings,

I have well water, and recently I've noticed that the well pump seems to come on when no water is being used anywhere in the house. Additionally there is a spot on the ground between the well and where the water pipe enters the house where the ground is soggy and squishy (<-- I believe those are the technical terms) even though it hasn't rained at all in over a week.

So my questions are: Does this likely indicate that the supply from the well to the pressure tank in the basement has a leak somewhere. (The pipe that protrudes through the basement is a black, slightly flexible, plastic pipe.) Is there any way that the pipe can be repaired, or does it need to be replaced.

Who should I call, to do this work? A general plumber? A well company? Are there any tests that I can do before calling someone to determine if there is indeed a leak?

Replacing the pipe might be quite difficult since there are bushes, a tree, and a heat pump compressor over where the line likely goes, as shown of the attached sketch.

You can call a well company or a plumber who knows and works on wells.

If you turn off the main valve to the house and watch the pressure gage it will drop if the leak is between the well and pressure tank. If it is on the house side of the tank the pressure gage will sit in one spot.

If you have a ball or gate valve you can close, to keep water from going to the house, and the pump still comes on, then you have a leak. The leak can be anywhere from the pressure tank to the pump down in the well. Even the check valve on the pump could be leaking back when the pump is off. From the location of the leak and "soggy" ground, I would guess that the tree roots have broken your underground pipe. If you disconnect the pipe at the well head, see if the pipes in the well stay full or if the water drops back down when the pump is off. If the pipe in the well stays full, then it is the underground pipe that is leaking. If the water goes back down the well, then the leak is in the well.

If you have to replace the underground pipe, don't worry about the old line. Just go way around that tree and everything else to install the new line.

edit; Sorry, I was typing while Cass was posting.

Repair or replace

One big difficulty with replacing the pipe is that the house is a ranch with a walkout basement. At the front of the house (where the pipe enters the basement) the pipe is probably 8ft below the surface of the ground. The ground slopes down towards the back of the house where the floor of the basement is at ground level, and the top of the well is another foot of two lower than that.

Digging down to the pipe in front of the house would be quite difficult since with the bushes and plantings it would be difficult to get any sort of power equipment in there, and risky as well since the heat pump line set parallels the water line, and ripping that out would be a very bad thing.

However if it does need to be replaced, what material should be used for the new line?

If you have determined that the leak is between the well & the pump & you aren't adverse to a little work I would dig down to the pipe where that soggy spot is . If you find the leak there a short piece of new pipe & a couple coulpings will likely solve your problem .

Thanks for your help.

I turned off the water just after the tank right after the pump cycled off, and could watch the pressure steadily drop.

I called a well company out, they looked at it dug around some to find the leak, and decided that a mini backhoe was needed due to all of the roots.

Before leaving the installed a check valve in the pipe where it enters the basement, before the pressure tank, and said that should lessen the severity of the problem until they can come back with their backhoe guy.

Thanks again for your help.