Jet pump losing prime. Can't get to foot valve to inspect

[SilentNoise]

Hi there. First time poster.

I moved to my acreage almost 4 years ago. It's got a 44' deep x 20" diameter bored well with roughly 10' of lift above water level before the line goes through the casing and runs underground to the pump shed. I'm running a 3/4hp convertible jet pump in a single line configuration, just as the previous owners have run for years. Since buying the place, I've added a spin-down sediment filter, a couple of big blue micron filters, and replaced the pressure tank. I can see that I'm pulling practically no sediment and the over all water quality is great besides being a touch on the hard side.

With all that said, the pump has been losing it's prime on occasion since late August - it's nothing consistent, but obviously enough to be absolutely maddening at this point. I've gone over all of my lines, valves, fittings and clamps at this point, and all are good - I can't see anything leaking or even hear anything hissing anywhere. The only thing I haven't been able to look at is the foot valve, so I wanted to see if anyone had any ideas:

I can't get the foot valve because when they put the line through the well casing, they stupidly used a bulkhead, 90-degree elbow and barb to attach the down tube rather than a pitless adapter, and it's about 8ft below ground level to avoid freezing, so there's no reaching it by hand (and I don't think my 8-year-old nephew - or my sister for that matter - would be too keen on winching him down the well to see if he can disconnect the down tube from the fitting. LOL).

Any ideas?

 

[WorthFlorida]

Hire a well company and have a pitless adapter installed. It could be the foot valve where a small stone or other debris is bouncing around and it occasionally gets stuck keeping the foot valve from fully closing or its just getting stuck open. Not a good idea using your nephew.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[SilentNoise]

I'm obviously joking about my nephew.

Ya, securing the line, digging down, cutting things off and going that route is definitely an option. Just wanted to see if there was maybe something else that I hadn't thought of.

 

[Chucky_ott]

I was losing prime because a fitting was sucking air when running. It was not leaking water when pressurized though. You might be able to detect if a joint is sucking air by applying shaving cream.

If my system was maintaining pressure when I was not using water, I would not suspect the foot valve. Unless of course your well is running dry and you're sucking air from the foot valve.

 

[Valveman]

You should not be able to lose prime if the foot valve is the only check valve in the system. I am guessing you have an additional check valve at the pump, which is keeping the pressure tank from maintaining prime in the pump. Even if your foot valve is leaking, the pump should cycle on when no water is being used, but it should not lose prime. Remove the extra check valve.

 

[SilentNoise]

You should not be able to lose prime if the foot valve is the only check valve in the system. I am guessing you have an additional check valve at the pump, which is keeping the pressure tank from maintaining prime in the pump. Even if your foot valve is leaking, the pump should cycle on when no water is being used, but it should not lose prime. Remove the extra check valve.

Definitely no second check valve between the well and the pump.

I actually did do an experiment a couple weeks ago by adding a check valve before the pump, wanting just to isolate which side of the line to focus on. Everything after the pump was good, but the water in the line before the pump and check valve dropped off, leaving me an air pocket and caused the pump to lose it's prime pretty much every time it tried to cycle. By removing my experimental check valve again, the pressure tank helps to compensate for the slow drop off, but the pump cycles maybe a 2-3 more times a day than it normally would, and obviously the air that's still coming in from somewhere is causing spitting taps.

I was losing prime because a fitting was sucking air when running. It was not leaking water when pressurized though. You might be able to detect if a joint is sucking air by applying shaving cream.

If my system was maintaining pressure when I was not using water, I would not suspect the foot valve. Unless of course your well is running dry and you're sucking air from the foot valve.

I'll try the shaving cream trick. Guessing the previous owner had a freeze up at some point, and there's no way to remove it, but there is a splice in the intake line that had a decent drip happening earlier this year. I warmed up the line, re-seated things, and install some heavier clamps. It's been water tight since, but maybe there's still a very small air draw that I hadn't considered, but it's worth taking a second look.

I've never seen even a tiny ripple at the surface, and the foot valve has always been submerged, which is why I'm not really suspecting the well itself at this point.

 

[SilentNoise]

So, update: the shaving cream trick worked, and I actually found 2 tiny, tiny pinholes that weren't leaking water around one of the clamps, but must've have been the culprits. Cheers folks!