Posted by Marty on September 25, 2003 at 15:28:04:
The following as a long description, but given my problems I thought it would be better to try and provide as much detail to anyone who might be able to offer any insight. I like to thank all of you in advance that take the time to read and reply.
I have a weekend cottage that I've been having a problem with well and pump.
- Specs
The previous owner told me that the well is about 150 feet. I believe I have what is referred to as a jet pump (two pipes) in the basement with a pressure tank between the pump and the main hook-up to the house (not sure of the tank capacity, but it's about 3 feet tall and pretty old / kind of rusty). The pressure gauge on the pump appears to be stuck on 30lbs. The pipes leading from the well appear to be about 2 inches in diameter. One complicating factor is I don't seem to have access to my wellhead outside of the house. The pump is in a small enclosure in the basement where the floor is about 4 feet below ground level. The pipes to the well run out of the enclosure, through the basement wall - again about 3-4 feet below ground. Unlike my neighbors whose wellheads are accessible, mine is nowhere to be found. It appears that it was covered over when the area beside the house was filled in and landscaped. Point being that in order to get to the wellhead I'll have to do some excavating (I have an idea where it is, but it's going to be a few feet down)
- Background
I bought the house about 1½ years ago and the well was working fine. There was a water softener, but it had no salt at the time and was bypassed. The well worked as expected for the first year and a few months when we used the house on the weekends. One point that may be relevant - I always used to shut the off the power (breaker) when we were gone between weekends and some times it would be off for a few weeks at a time. When we would return, I would flip on power to the pump, it would run for 10-20 seconds and we were good to go. The only time the pump ever ran was we used water in the house, as expected. This last summer we decided to get the softener working so I had a service person inspect it and it too seemed to be working fine (we would cycle it once on the weekends when we were there).
- Symptoms
The problems began about 3 months ago. We showed up one weekend, turned on the pump and it would not shut off. I also realized I was getting air through the faucets and eventually no water at all. I figured I must have lost my prime so with some water from a neighbor (it took almost 8 full 2 liter pop bottles to fill it) I finally got it running again. I ran water on and off for a few hours (testing from the hose, running the bath) and all seemed ok, except a few hours later it lost it's prime again. I went through this a few more times before it kind of settled down.
At this point I decided to pull in some professionals and have them take a look. They all seemed to think I had "some kind" of a leak between the pump and the well or in the well, but without being able to get to the top of the well, could not say much more. They all also seemed much more interested in just re-drilling a whole new 5" well with a submersible pump. In my area they all indicated we would have to go down about 250-280 feet into the bedrock and the quotes are between $4500 and $5200 for the complete job – ouch!.
- Current state
Once I got the pump primed it seemed to be working but a few new symptoms appeared. About every 15-20 minutes the pump would come on, run for 10-15 seconds and turn off. This seems to be getting worse as the pump now kicks in about every 8 minutes, again for about 15 seconds. Another problem involves cycling the water softener. When the troubles started I once again bypassed the water softener. Once things seemed to settle down I pulled the softener back into the system and it didn't seem to change anything (pump was still kicking in once in a while by itself). A few weekends ago I was feeling a bit more courageous and decided to run the softener through a flush cycle. The process was going as normal for the first 2 hours of a 2 ½ hour cycle when all of a sudden the pump lost it's prime again. It only took about a half gallon of water to re-prime it, but I didn't dare cycle the softener again. Two other points, when the pump keeps it's prime I get plenty of water and pressure (long showers, toilets are running fine, doing dishes) so it seems to me I have plenty of water in the well. Secondly, if I cut the power to the pump for any extended time (a day or 2 - sometimes less) it will lose its prime. I now leave the power on to the pump all the time and it has held its prime during the weekdays while we are not there. This makes the cottage "usable" on the weekends, but the issues with the water are always on our minds.
- My current thinking and plan of attack
After doing a lot or reading and research I have started to formulate some ideas about the problem.
One possible problem seems like it might be the settings on the pump and pressure tank. I think this may be unlikely, but it is the easiest thing to start with and I should a least try. I plan on replacing the gauge on the pump so I can see the pressure and trying to see if resetting the pressure in the tank and checking the cut-in/cut-off settings improves anything.
A more likely problem is that I have some kind of a leaking in the supply line in the well or the foot valve is messed up. This is obviously a much tougher thing to deal with in my case. I could start digging to try and find the top of the well. Assuming that can be done, I could pull the line and possible find the problem. My concern is I have no idea what I am getting into. I read somewhere that pulling the line to get to the foot valve in a deep well is a tough job and requires a crane? Can anyone describe how this can be done and whether it is a job I can take on?
Failing that, my only other alternative is possible a whole new well. A number of my neighbors have actually gone this route over the years and I believe this is the actually what I should do for the long run. What I am struggling with is whether there is any way I can get a few more years out of the existing setup. Having someone professionally digging up the existing well and try to fix it could run well into the $500-$1500 range and I will go with the new well before I spend that kind of money on the old one.
I want to thank anyone that read this whole thing. Please reply with any insights, suggestions you might have, or other places I might seek advise.
Thanks again
Marty