water pump issues

[ShawnW]

First off, i'd like to say thanks to everyone for the great forums here, i've used them many times, I'm 22 and purchased a house last year and this forum has saved me from many mistakes.. On to the problem..

For the past week or so theres been a hissing sound coming from the vent on the well (it is inside under a built-on piece to the house). The pump has been cycling alot. It will come on for 1min, off for 2-3, back on for 1, etc, even when the waters not in use. There are no leaks at any of the joints between the well, tank, and pump (all within a foot of each other) The tank also looks really new, but doesn't have a pressure gauge.

About a month ago, upon waking up we had no water at all, just air coming outta the pipes, this fixed itself within an 8hr period of non-use, but since then this problem has gotten progressivly worse.

Sorry for the long thread, any insight or ideas on what/how to check would be good

Thanks,

Shawn

[Gary Slusser]

Shut the water off on the house side of the pressure tank and see if the pump still runs. If so then you have a leak on the well side of the pressure tank. Probably a split/broken pipe/fitting or a leaking foot/check valve.

No water is either the pump wasn't running or the water level was at/below the water inlet to the pump and the well had to recover.

Gary
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Doug Aleshire, Super Moderator 2

[ShawnW]

Thanks for the help Gary, really appreciated, wish u were a little closer. Looks like the foot valve or the pipe must be the culprit. Would replacing this be a job a novice could handle? It doesn't look to complicated except for the fact that the well is located inside the house which has me really stumped. Any ideas??

Here is a pic of the setup (http://swalker.servepics.com/Well/HPIM0610.jpg)

[Gary Slusser]

AHA yes... a deep well (2 line) jet system in under part of the house... and nothing but rocks to kneel on too! LOL I hatem.

You need to undo any bolts (I can't see them) going through the steel plates that the two lines coming up through/out of the well are held in with. If it's a sanitary well seal it's a sandwich of two steel plates with a piece of rubber between them about 1" thick and four bolts, two in each half of each plate (4 pcs of steel; 2 on top and 2 on bottom). I usually cut one bolt off with a torch on each half of the top plate and use WD 40 and beat pry heat the casing (top 1") with the cutting torch to get the one half of the top plate up and loose enough to take my freshly sharpened pocket knife and cut half the ruber out. All without droping anything down the well ya hear... And then the whole thing will come up once you get it all loose but you have to lift the two water lines to get it all out of the top of the casing.

I don't know what the two bent pieces are coming out of the well, it looks like metal the got that gray plastic (what is that?) over to hose clamp on to. Once you start lifting/pulling, it can be up to 180' of tubing, you have to get it all outside by taking it apart or cutting it up as you bring it up if you don't have a doorway etc.. I suspect the foot valve to be leaking so get yourself 10-515 gallons of water for priming before you shut down the pump and open the lines and then work on getting the well open and that will give the water in the lines to drain out so they weigh less for pulling.

I'd plan on replacing the stuff down the well and I'd use 125 psi rated PE tubing in a coil long enough to set the foot valve at about the same depth put I'd measure the depth of the well to see how deep it could go in case the well is not producing the water it used to. I'd set it a minimum of 5' of the bottom if tat's in the muck. Remember to measure what you bring out so you you get the new the right length; measuring the depth of the well should come up with the same length plus the distance they had off the bottom, and a wide difference may say something isn't right. You should replace the j-body and it is married to the specific pump you have. The j-body is specific to the depth it is going to be set at too. So you buy that after you know the depth of the well and where you'll set the j-body and that all depends on the static water level in the well and the pump.

Gary
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Doug Aleshire, Super Moderator 2