Tank losing pressure back to well?

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drivingon9

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Hi everyone. Lurked on here for a while gathering valuable information, and now I have a specific problem that I'm hoping to get some help on.

We have a well that I've been told Artesians during the winter. There is a faucet sitting on top of the well housing that, during the winter, will expel water if opened. The other day, I noticed water accumulating around the pump house. Opening it up, I noticed water flowing out of the top of the well through a hole where the wires pass down to the submersible pump. My first thought was that it's just Artesianing (is that a word?) and that it might be a better idea to attach a hose to the faucet to drain the water pressure out away from the pump (and wires/electrics). When I turned on the faucet on top of the pump housing, I did see the water stop flowing out of the wire hole, but I also noticed a lot more water being expelled causing the pressure to drop on my holding tank, then kicking on the pump at 30psi (as it should) and then the pump trying to fill the tank up again, but with no progress (i.e. not building up pressure).

Also, I may be imagining it, but it seems like the holding tank pressure still drops verrrrry slowly when the faucet is closed and the water dribbled out of the hole on top of the pump housing.

My uneducated guess is that the pressure of my holding tank is actually pushing water back toward the pump/well. It's the only reason I can think of for the water flow causing a tank pressure drop.

So, not knowing much about this stuff, what should I do? Obviously I want to leave the pump housing faucet close, unless I want my pump on all the time (not good). Is everything working as it should (with the water dribbling out of the well)? Do I need to do anything else to "fix" this problem? One question I had was whether there ought to be some sort of a backflow vavle on the well side of the tank tee to stop water going back?

Thanks for any tips/suggestions.
 

drivingon9

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Thanks, Valveman.

For reference, here's a picture : http://www.flickr.com/photos/53007542@N00/4308834593/

The hole is the one with the wires going down it. It's not "leaking" now, because the washing machine is running in the house, pulling water.

Any tips on how I can plug that hole? Seems like it will be tricky with the wires needing to go through it.

Thanks, again.
 

Valveman

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That is not where the hole is. If water is coming out of the well seal where the wires come out, then the hole is in the drop pipe down the well. You don't want to plug where the wires come out, you need to fix the hole in the drop pipe.
 

Valveman

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On second thought. Turn off power to the pump and drain all the water out of the tank. If the water still leaks out by the wire, then it is the artisien flow that is the problem, and you will just have to silicone by the wires. If as you say the tank is leaking back down the well and that is what is causing the leak at the wires, then you will have to pull the pump and fix the leak or check valve on the drop pipe.
 
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