Help with cause of leak

[Lori Bachman]

Hello!

I am new to well maintenance, we have lived with our well for 4 years but have lived blissfully unaware. We have had high ($450+) electric bills for months now and finally realized our submersible pump had been running continuously. When I shut off power to the pump we immediately lost pressure in our tank. So. We called our well company and this is where I need some advice.

A crew came out and told us we needed to replace our pump. We chose a variable speed Grundfos CU301 constant pressure controller with transducer system. Long story short, after replacing the pump and all drop pipe and electrical wire... Our new pump is still running constantly and not able to get up to 60 psi. We had two more guys come out (same company) and they were able to listen to the well while turning the pump on/off and told me the leak is not in the well but from the supply line to my house. The well company is planning to come out to dig around the well to see if they can find the leak.

What I know about the well:
4 inch diameter
400 feet deep
Pump is roughly 220 ft down
Grundfos pump
Pipe to house roughly 7 ft down
Merrill cap, spp pittless adapter (this is googling but based on what I saw I think this is right)

When the men were here to replace the pump they had considerable difficulty pulling up the pump. He had to call his boss who talked him through some steps. One of which was a bolt of some sort that I believe he had unscrewed (bolt up) when it should have been screwed in (bolt down). I know very little about wells so I may have this up/down wrong but I do know it was in the wrong position. The tech had the pipe hooked up to his winch and maxed out the power on the truck and was unable to get it moved. Even once the bolt was in the correct position he was unable to pull up the pump but eventually another tech was able to come with a very simple instrument (it was a metal tool that was about 2 feet long and had a circle on the top) and got the pump up with no difficulty. Once the pump was up it was clear that the pump was full of iron sediment and in need of replacement. No check valves were present on the piping (2 were installed on the new piping - one at the pump, one at the pittless adapter I believe). The techs made it seem clear the pump was the cause of our problem. I am a bit concerned the tech left with our pump still running and not getting to pressure as this should have been accomplished in a minute. But. Here we are.

My question is this... We have never had any evidence of a water leak. Is this something that we should have been able to see on the surface? No soggy ground, water, etc. Additionally, I find it odd that we have 2 simultaneous problems - bad pump and a leak. Is there any chance that the pittless adapter could have been broken by the incorrect position of that bolt when the pump was trying to be pulled up? The second crew that came up also said they pushed the pittless adapter a fraction of an inch further down and that it seems it was not pushed down all the way with initial install (if this makes sense?) Could this cause damage if the pump was pumping and the devices were not lined up correctly? When we dig is there any way to tell if the leak is new (aka damaged with work this week) vs months (like we have been seeing in our electric bill?)

This is already an expensive unexpected venture ($6000+) and the added cost of digging is not great... So... Looking for advice if this is plausible to be damaged by the tech or if we just have bad luck and need to bite the bullet for all repairs. I don't know the source of the leak so this is just a guessing game until we can see the equipment on Monday but I want to be prepared and knowledgeable so I can make sure I am an informed consumer.

I appreciate any and all advice or resources as I continue to dig into this problem!
Thank you!!

 

[VAWellDriller]

Sounds like a little bit of a tricky troubleshooting situation. You have really only 2 possibilies with the symptoms you described....either a leak somewhere or a worn out pump that can't build up enough pressure to satisfy the switch. The first thing I would have done in a call like that would be to lift the pitless up, and pressure test the line down to the pump. I put on a tee with a gauge and valve and deadhead the pump real quick to see 1) how much pressure it will build and 2) will the piping hold the pressure. It sounds like they didn't do this. If that held pressure, and everyone was sure the house plumbing was isolated, then you know you have a leak in the line somewhere between the well and the house.

Yes, pitless could have been damaged from pulling incorrectly. Damage could be inside the well or to the line outside the well. It would be difficult to tell if it was new or old damage. Yes, in the right soil conditions, especially with a deep waterline, you could have a leak and not ever see it at the surface. If pitless was not seated correctly after the new pump install, it could cause these symptoms. You should be able to both see and hear water spraying in the well if that is the case. I suspect you had and underground leak, and you still have an underground leak.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Reach4]

Look for areas in the yard that are greener or moister.

It would help if most of the grass had been turning brown, but it probably has not.

 

[Valveman]

Since you have a check valve below the pitless, which should not be there but, since it is, you can turn off power to the pump. With the valve to the house closed and/or making sure nothing in the house is using water, pressure decreasing would prove the leak is after the last check valve. Might also be a problem with the CU301 control as they are notorious for causing problems. I am guessing the CU301 has not started giving problems yet, but it will.