Need advice asap

First, the history:
We bought a house last spring. The water worked fine, however the well pump did seem to kick on more frequently than it ought to. We had water nonetheless up until the pump quit working about 2-3 weeks ago. We called the guy we bought the house from as we were supposed to have a 1 year warranty. He had his fix-it guy (not a professional plumber) come out and install a new pump and bladder tank. We had water for a very short amount of time. We called the guy and he came back out, re-primed and we were back in working order. Well we thought so. The pump would run and we wouldn't get water. I kept re-priming it (now that I knew how from watching him and reading up on it) and we had water for an hour or two after, but that's about as long as it lasted. My wife then called a plumber friend of a friend who drove out and looked it over. He said it needed a check valve and that should fix it. I bought and installed a check valve. The water worked yay! Well it worked for about 24 hours then the same problem. Pump runs, no water. I unplugged it a bit and checked the prime. Was still full of water so I plugged it back in and it worked again... for about 24 hours, then it happened again. I talked to an engineer I work with and he recommended installing a pressure gauge to see if the leak was on the effluent or influent side of the pump. I did that and the pressure held just fine until we used water (We didn't use water for 2 hours or so after installing the gauge). So I called my plumber friend back home and asked him if I should try pulling the pipe and looking for a leak. He said I might as well, so I started tugging when I got home from work last night and it was in the ground pretty tight. I started digging some to see if it was cased or not. I found that it wasn't and as I kept digging I got to a bend. I thought that was strange so I kept digging. Lo and behold I found a check valve so I kept digging with my two boys (7 and 6 yrs. old) help. We found another bend and finally the pvc was tied into a metal pipe which mysteriously disappeared under the dining room of our house which was an addition to the original house.
Conclusion: It appears that when the addition was added they rerouted the well piping over to a new location and now we're sucking air somewhere along the line or either the pump is having a hard time sucking water through all those bends and piping (4 - 90 degree bends between the well and the pump and I'd say 6-10 ft. of 1" piping). The old pump sat on the ground and pulled water through it even though it ran more often that it should. The new pump is atop the bladder tank.
Question or otherwise desperate plea for advice:

1. Is the problem a leak or is the pump just too far from the well and too many bends and pipe in between?
2. Would moving the pump to the ground, and possibly closer to the well fix the problem? Should I do that?
3. If I did that should I move the bladder tank with it or would it be ok where it is?
4. Or should I just call a plumber or well company to come have a look and fix it all the while plunging into the depths of debt?

We need to get this fixed fast as we have 4 kids, a pile of dirty dishes, a mountain of dirty clothes and we're pretty much broke, at least until payday. Your help is much appreciated.

If you have a 1 year warranty call the owner and make this his problem.

Firstly, we are the owners. We bought the house from the guy. I really don't know if holding him liable in this situation would be prudent. He already replaced the pump and tank. I may end up giving him a call anyway if worse comes to worse, but for now I'd prefer not to.
Secondly, I'd just as soon learn more about it myself so I can do work like this on my own. This is our first house so we need to learn how to take care of it.

There are a few well guys who will be on at some point and perhaps they will be able to help.
While it may not be prudent it may be a whole less costly to you if it is under warranty.

I agree with Cass, make it his problem. Putting in a new pump and tank when it probably didn't need it was not a great solution. And if he built over the well, you may have to drill a new one sooner than you think. If this air leak is under the house, your out of luck. The check valves in line are going to give you problems and should be removed. Hopefully there is one in the well that works. If so, you will turn this problem into a leak back situation which may or not find the leak.

bob...

The old pump had pretty much quit working, or at least it wasn't turning on. That's where it all started. I've had two professional plumbers and one engineer tell me to install a check valve. Now you're saying to remove the check valves. Can you clarify why they should be removed?
Furthermore, is it for sure an air leak, or as in my previous question could it just be having a hard time getting the water through all the piping and bends?
Would moving the pump affect the situation in any way?
Bob, what county in Florida are you in? I see Riverview, but there are 3 of those in the state.

I'm in Hillsborough County where Tampa is located.

The check valves are allowing the water in the suction line to go back down the well or somewhere which is letting your suction line fill with air. When the pump kicks on the first thing it sees when that check valve opens is a lot of air. Since there is nowhere for the air to go since the system is still under pressure, the pump can't catch a prime. This is all assuming the pump is operating properly, turning on and off when it should.

Why did he replace the pump and tank. Was there something wrong with either?

Trust me on this one. I know you can get all kinds of advice from people who know very little about these things, but know just enough to get you into trouble.

bob...

If the old pump wasn't turning on then it was probably an electrical issue with the pressure switch, one of the starting components failed,or the pump lost its prime melting the impellar.Was the pump humming when you lost your water? I read your post on the DIY forum and read that this guy installed a flow tech pump. You might have vacume leaks in front of that pump if it wasn't installed right.Like i said in the DIY form, If you want this problem to go away have a well professional look at your system rather than someone that charges money for head aches. If this guy installed a flow tech pump i find it hard to believe that he has any experience diagnosing water well issues. The problem needs to be diagnosed right before the problem can be resolved.

SAM/HYDRO

The guy who did the work is more or less just a fix-it guy for the man we bought the house from who is an investor type. He buys houses, has this guy "fix" them up and then sells them for profit. The guy willfully admitted he knew little about wells, pumps, etc. I guess he simply figured that since the pump wasn't operating correctly it needed replaced and the tank was really old so he probably just thought it should go too. I have no idea where the old pump went to, either the garbage or his truck, but we still have the tank here. It's much bigger than the new one he got with the pump. When he bought them he simply went to Home Depot or Lowe's and got the cheapest one he could find.
I'm going to call the fella we bought the house from and discuss it with him. Hopefully we'll have it all fixed by the end of the day, cuz I'm starting to stink not having had a shower since Friday and more importantly my kids need to bathe.

So I called the guy and he's pretty much giving me the cold shoulder which certainly doesn't surprise me... Now it's take care of it myself or get a lawyer.

One thing that I can't help but think about. Why would the old pump pump water (up until the point that it quit running) and then when the pump was replaced we suddenly have the problem with pumping water? Wouldn't that old pump have not delivered water either? It worked when it ran, but the new one doesn't? That doesn't make sense to me. The biggest difference about the set up was that the old one was on the ground rather than on top of the tank.
The only thing I could think of otherwise was that perhaps the old pump was more powerful, maybe a 1 HP and then the new one is a 1/2 HP.

Any other thoughts or clues? What do you think?

I was out looking at the old tank I just noticed something else. The old tank has two pipes coming out of it rather than just one. The new one only has one pipe coming out of it. There is another pipe that goes into the ground where that old tank sat. What might that pipe and/or the second pipe coming out of the tank have been for??? I'm puzzled even further.

Perhaps the other pipe went to a nearby faucet somewhere close by, or maybe capped off underground?

Rancher

It didn't go to a faucet. I am sure of that much. I have no idea. It appears that it may have been connected to the tank. I'm attaching a photo of the old tank showing the two pipes as well as the current configuration.

Some of the older style tanks have one pipe going in and another one for the discharge. Your new tank only has one but is not going to make any difference on the performance of your system. If you have no idea what was wrong with the old pump then its anyones guess as far as what the problem is. I'll ask you again,was the old pump not running or humming when you lost your water?? If you get that pump primed,let it build to pressure,check for leaks in front of the pump,and also put your ear to the line on the vacume side of the check valve and listen for any water running back. I'll bet you have a vacume leak somewhere in front of that pump. Or call a well professional to diagnose your problem and send the bill to the previous owner.

SAM

The old pump wasn't running. Before it quit running it was still delivering water. That's why I'm baffled at the fact that it did deliver water and didn't lose it's prime yet we've had this trouble with the new pump.

I wouldn't be baffled, the rookie that installed the junk pump probably didn't install it right. Instead he installed a new pump and tank and you still have no water.Upgrading the pump and tank wasn't a bad idea seeing the age of it but he didn't do you any favors by installing the type of equipment he did. I would get a pro out there to make sure it isn't a well problem and if it isn't get that guy to return the pump and tank and maybe ask the previous owner to go halfs with you on some good equipment. With the type of pump and tank he installed will probably give you a year and then you will have no water again. A good system installed right can give you 15 yrs or more of trouble free service.

SAM

It is possible that the well is running out of water. Have you any way to check that?

If there is a check valve between the pump and the tank, then you are almost certain to lose prime from the slightest leak because the tank can't supply water to keep the pump primed.

You should have a foot valve (check valve at the end of the pipe in the well) at the bottom of the pipe if it is not a driven well. If there is no foot valve, then you should have a check valve between the well and the pump. Then the water in the tank will keep the pump primed.

Well I have explored several options over the last day or two. I called a well company and talked to a couple of fellas as well as talking to a couple of my engineers at work. At this point it seems there are three options.

1. Have the well company come out and try to locate and repair the well. If the leak ends up being in the well itself this would require either tearing out my dining room floor or possibly tearing out the entire dining room (it needs redone anyway as whoever did the addition did a poor job).
2. Have the well company drill a new well. This would likely cost a buttload of money as we'd have to do it to the newer codes which requires 75' clearance between the well and drainfield which it currently does not have. I haven't actually measured it out, but I'm nearly positive we don't have it. Since we don't have the clearance (it's a small lot) we'd have to grout-case it which would push the cost nearly twice what the standard well would be (according to the well company).
3. Try to get the local utility to give me a service line. They have a stub-out just down the street according to their maps so there is little reason why I couldn't get service. This would cost < 1k according to the lady at the place.

I think I'm going to start by having the well company come out and inspect the situation. It'll cost around $80.
After I discuss things with them I plan to either make a phone call or send a letter to the guy I bought the place from about the situation. If he knocks me down again my boss said he'd have his lawyer light a fire under him.
Being without water so long has been rough. I hope we can get this remedied real soon.

How close is the well to the septic system now?

I would strongly suggest you have a water test done to see what is in there. Be sure to have them test for E coli bacteria.

Just got up and got dressed. I went out to see if I could get the thing to pull up enough water to wash hands and/or flush the stinky toilet. I had left a towel on top of the pump last night and this morning it was soaking wet. The other day I had noticed a small leak of water on the effluent side of the pump where the connection is. I assume that's why the towel was wet, but the leak doesn't appear to be that bad. I guess there was enough pressure in the system to push the water out though. Could that be our bad boy that's causing so much trouble?
I haven't called in the well company yet as our church has offered to pay for a city hookup, but if we were to find that that small leak is the problem area then we could repair it. How would we go about repairing that anyway?

The well is probably in the neighborhood of 50' from the well. I'd have to measure it out or look on the survey for a more accurate measurement. After we had the system fixed (if it were indeed possible) I had planned to have the water tested. I have been told that the health dept. does water testing for free or really cheap as they like to know the quality of water that citizens are consuming and bathing in.