Hello all, what a great forum, this my first post- thank in advance for advice.
considering some well system repairs.
The existing system-
The well is 30 years old, 51 feet deep, 6" casing. 35 foot SL, i do not know the flow rate, I think it is low, as the pump installer recommended a low flow pump so the system would not cycle on and off rapidly.
The pump is a Berkeley B4AM8 1/3 hp 3 wire, I believe it is 220- have to check. The tank is a well x trol wx 252 86 gallon airbag.
The driller went down about 45-feet, hit a thin layer of gravel with water, went down another 5 feet and hit blue clay- around here that can be 500' thick, so he pulled back and developed the water bearing strata.
This system has worked perfectly for 30 years- it is very simple and reliable. I do not think it has a "motor control", the wiring is straight out of the panel to the pump.
15 years ago we built a house and spliced into the water line- formerly it went to a single wide.
The problem
For the past few years there has been a slight vibration in the house water lines when the pump comes on. Sometimes it is enough to create a like buzz in the floor.
There is a little iron in the water, probably from the old galvanized well plumbing.
A few days ago there was a a blocked toilet valve, there was an organic plug of small old rotted roots clogging it, which made me wonder where it came from. I don't think it came from the well. My belief is it was in the line for a long time and worked it's way to a plug point. The clog was dark brown and semi rotted- not mush but not new roots either-the faucet screens showed a few small pieces of similar material 1/8" long.
BUT-
In looking over the well system trying to figure out where the roots came from, I noticed the pump was coming on every 20 minute- the pressure is dropping from 60psi to 40 psi in 20 minutes, pump runs for a few minutes to bring the pressure up and it repeats. I have checked for open faucets ,hose bibs, etc.
The pressure tank is fine doing the tap test.
There may be either a leaky foot valve, or some pinholes in the galvanized drop pipe. or?
The plan
Replace the pump, plumbing to the wellhouse, (20' run ) tank,pressure switch etc and install a simple pump hand pump- we get a lot of power outages, voltage spikes etc and are at the end of the line, powerwise. So the hand pump would be a nice backup- and who knows, maybe those guys taking about EMP are right..!!
The charge for this about 5K , of which 2500 is for the hand pump- yikes-maybe I will delete it.-or do it later.
The replacement pump is a Grundfos 10s05-9 1/2hp. and a Franklin control box is indicated- is this setup going to be voltage spike resistant? I need reliable more than sophisticated.
All the old galvanized pipe and fittings are going away, they are all rusting. After reading the comments here about clogged 1/4" pressure switch nipples and blown up tanks, I got nervous!
PVC sch 40 is indicated, is this a good choice for the buried lines and the tank-switch plumbing?
The water has quite a bit of calcium and magnesium in it, it does build a crust over time.
There is room in the pumphouse for a softening system, but that will have to wait for money to be available.
This may seem like an overkill response to my problem, but I may stay here till I die, and I do not want to get bogged down in piecemeal repairs- hopefully this will last another 30 years.
The installer has a great reputation- he did say i could just go with it till it broke, aka "don't fix it if it ain't broke". But things have a way of breaking at very inconvenient times.
So am I nuts? Or does this sound like an logical way to approach the problem? Your comments are appreciated. Thank you!
considering some well system repairs.
The existing system-
The well is 30 years old, 51 feet deep, 6" casing. 35 foot SL, i do not know the flow rate, I think it is low, as the pump installer recommended a low flow pump so the system would not cycle on and off rapidly.
The pump is a Berkeley B4AM8 1/3 hp 3 wire, I believe it is 220- have to check. The tank is a well x trol wx 252 86 gallon airbag.
The driller went down about 45-feet, hit a thin layer of gravel with water, went down another 5 feet and hit blue clay- around here that can be 500' thick, so he pulled back and developed the water bearing strata.
This system has worked perfectly for 30 years- it is very simple and reliable. I do not think it has a "motor control", the wiring is straight out of the panel to the pump.
15 years ago we built a house and spliced into the water line- formerly it went to a single wide.
The problem
For the past few years there has been a slight vibration in the house water lines when the pump comes on. Sometimes it is enough to create a like buzz in the floor.
There is a little iron in the water, probably from the old galvanized well plumbing.
A few days ago there was a a blocked toilet valve, there was an organic plug of small old rotted roots clogging it, which made me wonder where it came from. I don't think it came from the well. My belief is it was in the line for a long time and worked it's way to a plug point. The clog was dark brown and semi rotted- not mush but not new roots either-the faucet screens showed a few small pieces of similar material 1/8" long.
BUT-
In looking over the well system trying to figure out where the roots came from, I noticed the pump was coming on every 20 minute- the pressure is dropping from 60psi to 40 psi in 20 minutes, pump runs for a few minutes to bring the pressure up and it repeats. I have checked for open faucets ,hose bibs, etc.
The pressure tank is fine doing the tap test.
There may be either a leaky foot valve, or some pinholes in the galvanized drop pipe. or?
The plan
Replace the pump, plumbing to the wellhouse, (20' run ) tank,pressure switch etc and install a simple pump hand pump- we get a lot of power outages, voltage spikes etc and are at the end of the line, powerwise. So the hand pump would be a nice backup- and who knows, maybe those guys taking about EMP are right..!!
The charge for this about 5K , of which 2500 is for the hand pump- yikes-maybe I will delete it.-or do it later.
The replacement pump is a Grundfos 10s05-9 1/2hp. and a Franklin control box is indicated- is this setup going to be voltage spike resistant? I need reliable more than sophisticated.
All the old galvanized pipe and fittings are going away, they are all rusting. After reading the comments here about clogged 1/4" pressure switch nipples and blown up tanks, I got nervous!
PVC sch 40 is indicated, is this a good choice for the buried lines and the tank-switch plumbing?
The water has quite a bit of calcium and magnesium in it, it does build a crust over time.
There is room in the pumphouse for a softening system, but that will have to wait for money to be available.
This may seem like an overkill response to my problem, but I may stay here till I die, and I do not want to get bogged down in piecemeal repairs- hopefully this will last another 30 years.
The installer has a great reputation- he did say i could just go with it till it broke, aka "don't fix it if it ain't broke". But things have a way of breaking at very inconvenient times.
So am I nuts? Or does this sound like an logical way to approach the problem? Your comments are appreciated. Thank you!