Help...Are my well lines air locked

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striperfisher

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I have a well with a frost free hydrant directly beside it... in line with the water line going to my house approximately with 800' of water line up hill to my house...where my pressure tank and switch is located....

Several years ago this well provided water to a doublewide located about 50 yards from the well...We removed the trailer and jst capped the water line from the well off and buried it when we built our house...We just added a T to the existing waterline to the trailer, and ran new water line to my current residence as stated above.

The hydrant at the well has always worked via the pressure switch at the new house....as it is tied into the same supply line...We had a shop built at the old trailer site...and I hooked up the capped off water line to my toilet in my new shop!.....The problem I have now is....the only time I have pressure on that line going to the new shop is when the pump is actually running!...

The house on the hill is working fine where the pressure tank and pressure switch is located....Why do I only have pressure on my line coming from the well only when the pump is running?.....Opening the hydrant beside the well does not work anymore....as it did for year's

Help lol...I have tried bleeding the line's to no avail
 

striperfisher

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I will also add...there is another hydrant right before the house on the line side of the pressure tank and switch....when I open this hydrant....I have water and the pressure tank operates normally....pressure goes down pump kicks on...
 

Reach4

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I will also add...there is another hydrant right before the house on the line side of the pressure tank and switch....when I open this hydrant....I have water and the pressure tank operates normally....pressure goes down pump kicks on...
Ouch. This would mean there is a check valve between the two hydrants.
 

striperfisher

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Ouch. This would mean there is a check valve between the two hydrants.
Can't be...I put the line in...besides when me and my brother were doing the electric on my shop...we drove a ground rod through the water line...drained all the water from my house including pancacking a 120 gallon fiberglass tank
 

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Can't be...I put the line in...besides when me and my brother were doing the electric on my shop...we drove a ground rod through the water line...drained all the water from my house including pancacking a 120 gallon fiberglass tank
Pump off. Pressure at hydrant by house. No pressure at hydrant by well. "When you have eliminated the impossible, ..."

I may not have understood the pancaking comment... You accidentally put a vacuum on the fiberglass tank, and it collapsed inward?
 

striperfisher

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Pump off. Pressure at hydrant by house. No pressure at hydrant by well. "When you have eliminated the impossible, ..."

I did not understand the pancaking comment... You put a vacuum on the fiberglass tank, and it collapsed inward?
No...we accidentally drilled into the buried water line that is now hooked to my shop...the elevation difference is alot from the house to the well/shop...house being alot higher....created a vacuum on the water system....as I dint have any check valves in the system and pancaked the tank
 

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The vacuum breaker would be to protect your tanks from a future potential problem, and not to address your mystery symptom of a big pressure difference between hydrants 1 and 2 when the pump is off.

I have no vacuum breaker myself.

This system worked perfectly 2 months ago...at least the hydrant at the well anyways....why no pressure now
My suspicion is that there is a check valve in that path, and you never noticed that symptom before. For example, if you opened hydrant #1, and it consumed more than the pump could supply, the pump would not have shut off once running. Or maybe you were using that water for something unattended largely. You walked away, and ran enough water in the house to get the pump to kick on.

You don't buy that as a possibility because you feel sure that you would have noticed the symptom before, because the pump is usually off. So when you opened hydrant #1, the odds that the pump was not running was high.
 
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striperfisher

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The vacuum breaker is to protect your tanks from a future problem, and not to address your mystery symptom of a big pressure difference between hydrants 1 and 2 when the pump is off.

I have no vacuum breaker myself.
Lol I understand...There is no pressure difference between the two hydrants...the one at the well has zero unless the pump is running....I can't figure out why!....Their both on the line side of the pressure tank
 

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Lol I understand...There is no pressure difference between the two hydrants...the one at the well has zero unless the pump is running....I can't figure out why!....Their both on the line side of the pressure tank
If pressurized water always come out of one when opened, and water will not come out of the other at times (no pressure), there was a pressure difference.
 

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If water always come out of one when opened, and water will not come out of the other at times, there was a pressure difference.
I agree....why won't water come out of both when the pump isint running is the question
 

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Agree on that.

My theory is there is a check valve between those two. The hydrant near the house could be being supplied by water that was already in the house, and got piped out to that hydrant. That one seems more likely than a check valve buried out in the yard.

Maybe post a photo that includes where the water enters the basement/crawlspace and the input of the pressure tank. If those are not together, use two photos of the path. To upload, pictures should be 900 pixels max and under 200 kB.

Your theory is that it is something else.
 
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striperfisher

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Agree on that.

My theory is there is a check valve between those two.

Your theory is that it is something else.
The fact that the hydrant and the line going to my shop use to be pressurized....It no longer is....Is my million $$$$ question...Why when I open the hydrant at the well...does pressurized water not come out like the one at the house?....The only way I can get water to come from that hydrant and flow to my shop...Is for the well pump to be running
 

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The fact that the hydrant and the line going to my shop use to be pressurized....It no longer is....Is my million $$$$ question...Why when I open the hydrant at the well...does pressurized water not come out like the one at the house?....The only way I can get water to come from that hydrant and flow to my shop...Is for the well pump to be running
How about the check valve was stuck open, and then became unstuck?
 

striperfisher

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The vacuum breaker would be to protect your tanks from a future potential problem, and not to address your mystery symptom of a big pressure difference between hydrants 1 and 2 when the pump is off.

I have no vacuum breaker myself.


My suspicion is that there is a check valve in that path, and you never noticed that symptom before. For example, if you opened hydrant #1, and it consumed more than the pump could supply, the pump would not have shut off once running. Or maybe you were using that water for something unattended largely. You walked away, and ran enough water in the house to get the pump to kick on.

You don't buy that as a possibility because you feel sure that you would have noticed the symptom before, because the pump is usually off. So when you opened hydrant #1, the odds that the pump was not running was high.
I will say that hydrant #2...At my house...If I open it too much it let's out more water than the pump can pump...and it kills my pressure switch...I have to manually reset the switch!...It didn't use to be this way!....The change may of come when we replaced the well pump about 2 years ago...
 

Reach4

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Possible....but I swear I don't remember putting any in..
The check valve could be part of the old installation
I will say that hydrant #2...At my house...If I open it too much it let's out more water than the pump can pump...and it kills my pressure switch...I have to manually reset the switch!...It didn't use to be this way!....The change may of come when we replaced the well pump about 2 years ago...
Most pressure switches do not have that lever. Consider changing for one with no lever.

Did you yourself do the full installation of the pressure switch and pressure tank, and bringing the water into the house?
 
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