Water Well Problems 2

Then last night NO WATER.
Turn on the faucet and water comes out but goes to 0 pressure. Time I get out to pump house its working.

Then this morning NO WATER at all. Not even a burp.
I go out to pump house and pump is running; pressure gauge is at "0". Looks like its been running for hours. In fact the pump housing is hot. You can touch it without burning but it is hot. I notice the PVC pipe that screws into pump housing is even loose. I guess because the housing has expanded some from the heat or has melted the PVC threads some.
Sure hope I did not burn up my pump impeller.

So where do I go from here????? ????
I am thinking my check valve is leaking back into the well and causing pump to loose prime. The fact that I have had no water in the past and then water by the time I walk to the pump house reinforces this belief.
I am going to try to prime the pump to see if I can get it working for today and replace the check valve tomorrow.

MY SET UP..... ..... ..
I have a 2" or so PVC pipe coming out the ground. This pipe is reduced to 1 1/4" about a foot above ground and a check valve installed.
The pipe then turn across and down to the 1 hp jet pump bolted to a piece of R/R cross tie. (I would say the check valve is about even or a little above the pump.) Pipe then goes to tank and out pump house.

Looks something like this....

So..... ....
While I redoing this should I move the pump so it is above the check valve??
Any other Ideas?????

Thanks and Merry Christmas to everyone.

Is the 2" - 1 1/4" reducer really a reducer or is it an addaptor cover which the 1 1/4" pipe runs through and continues down to a given depth? I would be tempted to pull this open and find out.

I would then like to know what depth the water is at present (static). Is it close to the bottom of the suction pipe? Is there a crack in the suction pipe? And of course check the check valve again.

If this is indeed your set up, and there are no cracks in the PVC and the check valve was working, I would wonder if the water table has dropped for some reason (although this seems unlikley) and you are sucking your well dry or it is recharging slower than befor.

A low presure shut off is a good idea that somebody mentioned. Good luck. Let us know how it is working out.
Grant

• WELL Site

I don't understand something. You describe a one pipe system but say the distance from the check valve to the bottom of the pipe is 225 feet. My experience is that the one pipe system is for a shallow well and only good for a well depth of about 25 feet. From 25 feet to about 150 feet you can still use a jet pump but normally would use a two pipe system. In either case you have a foot valve at the end of the pipe down in the well to keep the water from flowing from the pump back into the well. The foot valve is really a check valve. Yours might have gone bad. Losing your prime is like a vapor lock in your truck.

After 25 years you might want to consider re-doing the whole pumping system. I recommend going to a submersible system where you don't have to worry as much about losing your pump prime. The only drawback is you have to extend power to the pump at the bottom of the well, usually 240 volts. But, it's still a one line system.

Hope you're having a good Christmas in spite of the water problems.

Dwight

First get and Tong amp gauge and see if you motor is pulling the right amps. Should be on the plate on the motor. If not look it up buy HP.

Not sure about you set up your setup. We have deep wells up here. Dump is at bottom of the well. But it; is screen pump, check valve pipe (plastic) control ( pressure switch) check valve, Tank.

Couple of Question?? And feel free to e-mail me at: llmtvm@hotmail.com

Is your tank water logged?

Well low on water?

Pump broken down in the well?

Check valve at both ends?

Are you getting any knocking sounds? May sound like a hammer (Water Hammer).

Tank how old is it?

Have a Good Day, And a Happy Christmas

Teddy

You didn't say what type well you have. Is it a sand point driven down? If so then you can't use a foot valve on it. The foot valve would break as you tried to drive the point.
The check valve at the top should work fine if you have no air leaks in the well pipe above the water table.

Your intake line from the well to the pump should not make a loop above the pump and down again. Air can get trapped in the loop. The best way is to come off the well with a 90 and go straight over to the pump.

If your check valve is leaking then the tank will drain down over a period of time but the pump will still maintain its prime and start ok as long as the tank doesn't go empty on you. Once all the water leaks down then it will also loose its prime.

If the tank is not leaking down but the pump is loosing its prime then you have a leak between the check valve and the well.
Did you change the point or well pipe recently?

Another problem may be the amount of lift you have from the pump to the house. You mentioned 220 feet. Is that horizontal or is part of that vertical lift? If you have a large vertical lift then the water in that pipe will provide back pressure and may be enough to not allow the pump outlet pressure to drop low enough to turn on. If so then you would need to change the pressure switch setting.

Prime the pump, get it working and watch the gauge to see where the pump starts and stops as water is run. Then turn off the power to the pump and open a faucet at the house and watch the pressure gauge to see how low it goes when there is no more water coming at the house faucet. That will tell you how much back pressure you have in the water line from vertical lift.

Regards
Gary

Thanks.

How far from the check valve to the bottom of pipe? My thought is that you should have a foot valve at the bottom of that pipe. It probably is leaking there or somewhere in between up to the check valve. Oh yeah, the pump is probably shot, sorry.

Hope you get it figured out, best of luck, Grant

I know there is some kind of thing on the end of the pipe the well digger put on. Thought it was a strainer though to keep sand out. Did not realize it was a one way valve.

From the best I can remember the last time I had the well pipe open the water was about 3 ft below ground level.
Should I have a pipe inside my well pipe stuck into the water????? ???
Can I get a new foot valve and install on a pipe and shove this say 100' down the 2" well pipe????? ?????
Right now I am sucking off the 2" well pipe itself and has been working like that for years.