Lining a well casing

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Cacher_Chick

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My home's well has a 6 inch galvanized casing that is about 50 years old. We have some issues with rust coming out of the well. I was thinking that in the future when the submersible pump is replaced it might be a good idea to install a new PVC casing inside the existing galvanized casing.

I'm wondering if this is something that is ever done or if anyone sees any problems with the idea? The one issue I see is that the pitless adapter will need to be dug up and fitted in the new casing. On the other hand it will probably be time for a new lateral (if we are going to do it right anyways).
 

Valveman

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You would probably only be able to get 3" PVC in that 6" casing. This greatly limits your choices of pumps. The worst thing is that you will still have the rust. Now the rust is between the two pipes and you can’t clean it out. I would either clean out the galv casing with something like Cotey Chemicals, a well brush, and bailer, or drill a new well for 5" PVC.
 

Gary Slusser

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And your casing my be only into the bedrock and the rest of the well is a hole in the rock or...

The "rust" in your water may be dissolved ferrous iron and not from the casing anyway.

Most casing is black iron pipe that can be rusted before it is used and I've never seen any galvanized well casing and now PVC is used too.

So get a water test for hardness, iron, pH and tell us if the water is ever visibly dirty etc. and describe your water quality problems. Then we can help you decide what the actual cause of your problem is.
 

Speedbump

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I would think you could get 4" PVC in that six inch hole if it's not all crusted inside. There should be room for 4" and it's couplings. Or go with 160 psi PVC with belled ends. I would use a rubber boot or a K-Packer on the bottom just to seal it off as well as possible.

bob...
 

tomjv

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line your well

Sorry to be responding so late on this but who knows, it may still help you or someone else.

MY PROBLEM: (if anyone cares! haha)
As it turns out, I have a different problem which requires a similar solution. I THINK I'm getting ground water into my well. My chloride levels are high enough to taste and I'm getting very cloudy water, especially after a soaking rain. We've been filtering our drinking water with R.O. and the whole house with a 20gpm particulate filter. Rather than drill a new well, I've been wanting to repair this one. First, I wanted to see what was going on down there. I ran the water to bring the head down, then lowered a camera/flashlight on a string. I used one of those helmet cams. I was able to get a great video of the inside. It looks like mine's leaking groundwater where the casing meets the bedrock. Anyway, that's MY issue. We both need our wells lined to fix them.

TWO SOLUTIONS: (according to my well guy with 40+ yrs experience)
1. Sleeve the well with 6" O.D. PVC. This is a "one way trip" as the PVC can never be removed. It must be done with a derrick. The PVC is pressed into the casing.
2. Insert a smaller Diameter PVC. I don't remember the size, but my well guy says it's plenty to allow for a pump. There's a rubber gasket between the PVC and the casing which seals out bad stuff. The way I see it is, even if it seals out 70 or 80%, it's WAY better than it was. depending on your problem, this may provide part of a two step fix, i.e. installing some filtration inside etc.

I haven't done anything yet, but will post when I do.
TomJV
..................

My home's well has a 6 inch galvanized casing that is about 50 years old. We have some issues with rust coming out of the well. I was thinking that in the future when the submersible pump is replaced it might be a good idea to install a new PVC casing inside the existing galvanized casing.

I'm wondering if this is something that is ever done or if anyone sees any problems with the idea? The one issue I see is that the pitless adapter will need to be dug up and fitted in the new casing. On the other hand it will probably be time for a new lateral (if we are going to do it right anyways).[/QUOTE]
 

tomjv

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Here's a good article on the subject!



My home's well has a 6 inch galvanized casing that is about 50 years old. We have some issues with rust coming out of the well. I was thinking that in the future when the submersible pump is replaced it might be a good idea to install a new PVC casing inside the existing galvanized casing.

I'm wondering if this is something that is ever done or if anyone sees any problems with the idea? The one issue I see is that the pitless adapter will need to be dug up and fitted in the new casing. On the other hand it will probably be time for a new lateral (if we are going to do it right anyways).[/QUOTE]
 

tomjv

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Oops, I'm too quick on the keyboard!
http://des.nh.gov/organization/commissioner/pip/factsheets/dwgb/documents/dwgb-1-9.pdf
TomJV



My home's well has a 6 inch galvanized casing that is about 50 years old. We have some issues with rust coming out of the well. I was thinking that in the future when the submersible pump is replaced it might be a good idea to install a new PVC casing inside the existing galvanized casing.

I'm wondering if this is something that is ever done or if anyone sees any problems with the idea? The one issue I see is that the pitless adapter will need to be dug up and fitted in the new casing. On the other hand it will probably be time for a new lateral (if we are going to do it right anyways).[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]
 

Craigpump

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Tom, we sleeve wells with 4" sch 40 pvc all the time here in western Ct, the 4" inside diameter leaves just enough room for a standard 4" pump (actual size is 3 7/8) to fit inside.


What I have done is to run my down hole camera into the well to determine where the water is coming in, could be the casing is leaking either at a joint or at the drive shoe, then I run enough 4" pvc in with a "jaswell packer" on the bottom to seal off the water coming in through the leaky casing or drive shoe. The advantage of the jaswell packer is that it can be moved further down the hole if you didn't get the bad water sealed the first time. Sometimes the pitless adapter has to be dug up in order to get the packer down through the casing.
 

GottsIslandWell

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Hi
I've got a related issue: +50year old well in summer house on a Maine island with 6" OD steel (cast iron?) pipe coming out of granite (no overburden)
Only ~2" of vertical pipe clearance from granite when installed. Was left exposed to salt air for 50 years. Now that top 2" is quite cruddy and split cap seal integrity is getting questionable due to corrosion of top 2" of pipe. Not in a place I can get a plumber or well installer to come anymore

I'm looking to add 6-18" of vertical to that 1-2" stub and want to sleeve into well pipe to give strength to joint as not enough good pipe above granite to grab onto.
Well is shallow - ~30' max and works great with a modest 24VDC 4.5A max pump - but pump is +3.5" diameter so any sleeve going down inside of pipe would have to be retractable to get pump out in future.
Wire and pipe come up out of top so no pitless adapter to deal with. (not a 4 season set up)

Is there steel or PVC pipe with an OD thats close fit to the ID of cruddy 6" OD pipe to get a stable vertical extension?
Clearly if I knew the ID of my well pipe it would be a lot easier but this is the joy of working on a very remote location - you make an educated guess and bring up what you think will work...

thanks in advance
Chris Baldwin
 

Valveman

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The ID of the well casing could be smaller than you think if it is rusted badly. 4" PVC would probably fit and has 4" ID so your 3.5" pump would still fit.
 

Boycedrilling

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Here are the well drilling regulations for the state of Maine. Review these regulations.
https://www.maine.gov/sos/cec/rules/10/144/144c232.doc

It appears that the minimum casing height is 8” above ground level. Steel casing may only be extended by welding or threading.

I’m not sure if you could install a full length 4” (4 1/2” OD) liner, extending it to the 8” minimum stickup. Install a Jaswell type seal on the pvc liner. Then place a bentonite or cement grout seal in the annular space above the Jaswell seal. I would be inclined to use flush threaded pvc pipe instead of bell and spigot pvc.
https://www.bakerwatersystems.com/monoflex
 
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