Pressure tank/well house concerns - need advice

[smo0thie]

Hi everyone, my first post here. Any advise would be appreciated.

We moved into our new house last October and it’s the first time I’ve been on a well. Everything was working fine up until about a month ago when our water turned yellow-brown after a hard rain. I was surprised at this because we had several hard rains last fall and throughout the winter with no issues. Well, long story short, a build up of the surrounding soil and leaves (well house is built into the side of a hill) was causing surface water to run up to and against the well house and some of that water was finding it’s way into the well. There is a hole cut in the slab for pipes and electrical wiring to come through, and I am thinking that is where the storm water was draining and perhaps over the 40 years the house has been there, the water has tunneled down along the casing causing the problem. I have done some minor grading and that seems to have remedied the problem — until I went to replace the sanitary seal and shock the well (had a bacteria test done which came back positive). During the flushing process, when we filled a white bucket, the water again was dirty with sediment accumulating in the bottom of the bucket. I noticed the water that drained from disconnecting the plumbing was draining into the hole cut in the slab which again seems to confirm my suspicions that that is where the issue lies. So my plan is to dig out the gravel used to fill in the hole around the pipes and wires, fill in any tunnels as best I can, and fill in the hole with concrete. Should I take any precautions with the pvc pipe before filling it in? Should I try to install a small drain in this hole?

While doing my research, I also encountered another potential issue with the pressure tank set up. The well is a 50’ deep x 24” diameter bored well with a double pipe jet pump sitting on top of the concrete cover. It is not attached, just sitting on top of two bricks. On top of the pump, there is a small (5 gallon?) pressure tank attached to one of the pump’s ports. The pressure switch reads 30-50 under the cover, but when I run the water at the well house hose bib, the pump runs constantly and won’t shut off until I turn off the water. The attached gauge seems stuck at 20 psi. When I attached a hose bib style gauge it shut off at about 67 psi. Does this sound like a good set up? I don’t see anything that would resemble a CSV, so I was wondering why the pump doesn’t cycle with such a small tank. And shouldn’t there be a pressure relief valve between the pump and tank? I noticed they make tanks with a place to mount a jet pump, so that seemed like a possible solution.

Thanks in advance,

Jay

 

[Valveman]

Stopping the water from going down that hole would be a good start. However, wells should be sealed with concrete or bentonite around the casing as far down as you can get it. I usually dig down around the outside of the casing as far as I can, and fill it with a concrete bentonite mix. Rainwater should not be able to get into a water well or it takes the dog crap and pesticides down with it.

Most two pipe jet pumps build a lot of pressure, so I don't know why your pump isn't cycling with just one hose running. The pump could be worn down or the screen could be clogged with the sediment. As long as it supplies enough water you can keep using it. But when it can no longer get to 67 and shut off, the pump will most likely need to be replaced.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[smo0thie]

Thanks for the reply.

Would it be possible for the water to channel down below the depth of the concrete grout? The reason I am thinking the grout is okay is because the amount of rainwater we have gotten since we moved in seems like there would be more constant signs of contamination. Perhaps that’s just wishful thinking in my part. I was contemplating digging around under the slab around where the hole is cut for the pipes to see what’s going on. From what i read, the concrete grout should be 6” thick for at least 10’ down. The pipes coming out of the ground are not much further than 6” from the portion of the casing sticking out of the slab. So I am thinking this may have created a path for water that was draining through that hole to channel down along the pipes and eventually even further along the grout until at some point it got deeper than the concrete and could seep in through the casing. Is this heard of? Just wondering if this was a bad plan from whomever bored the well. Is it typical to not concrete around the pipes protruding through the slab and allow any water to drain through the same opening?

On the pump/tank side of things, would that be typical type of issue that would arise from that small of a tank? By just reading on tank sizing, it seems this setup is not at all done properly and if a new pump is in my future, wouldn’t the tank need to be much bigger and pressure relief valve installed, or a CSV installed with the same tank?

Thanks again,

Jay

 

[Valveman]

Concrete 2" thick is enough if the hole is only 2" larger than the casing. But the concrete needs to seal between the hole and the casing no matter how thick is has to be. Those pipes should have been on the outside of the seal for the well. Shallow dug wells are hard to seal. Water will find the path of least resistance, no matter where that is. Crack in the slab, bad seal on the well, gopher hole a few feet away, etc. Gotta find em and plug them all.

Oh and when you get a stronger pump, that tank is plenty large to use with a CSV1A. Without the CSV the tank needs to at least be large enough to hold as much water as the pump can produce in one minute.