Well pump system question

Canadian Poncho · A Poncho Legend!

Well pump system question

Taylor55 · Poncho Master!

Todd, you tank should not be losing any air pressure. Sounds like the bladder has a pin hole in it. I drain my complete house, hot water tank and pressure tank on an annual basis before going south for the winter. I had to replace a defective pressure tank about 30 years ago and when the tank was disassembled for inspection the interior bladder had different thickness from side to side and was pin holed causing it to become waterlogged. The system now is over 30 years old and no problems yet. Is your well a deep drilled or a dug well with a holding area made of concrete tiles. If it is a dug well sediment can be leaching in from surface rain water or fractures in the tiles. My well is drilled and 125 feet deep. The only visible sediment I get is from the hot water tank and that is minimal because of the annual draining and flushing.

Al

67curves · Addicted!

Hi Todd. There should be a check valve on top of the pump to stop any water going back down the well. Also there is usually a valve after the pressure switch to shut the water off there. You can pressure up the tank without shutting the water off. If there is a hole in the tank bladder and it looses air the pump will kick on and off just by turning a tap on. if you get any water out of the valve stem then you know for sure its got a leak. Hope this helps. Dave

Canadian Poncho · A Poncho Legend!

It's a drilled well which I believe is about 250 feet deep. It is less than 10 years old. Previous owner had it drilled. I know the bladder has a small pinhole and I will replace when the budget allows.

DonSSDD · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Mine is dug, but bladder would be the same for. Mine and yours. I have a shutoff coming into the house, then the pump, then the bladder tank, then another shutoff, then the filter and a uv light, then another shutoff. You can isolate anything. Never have to drain the system or prime my pump, which is in the house for a dug well. You can never have too many shutoffs.
My bladder will need recharging every 6-12 months. I just drain the bladder tank and build up the air pressure to spec, it was like this when the tank was new. On the dug well, there is a foot valve in the bottom of the well, if it is too close to the bottom, it will suck sediment and clog the filter, just had to raise my foot valve this month. Not sure if you can have that issue with a drilled well.

Canadian Poncho · A Poncho Legend!

I did some more reading and it seems shutting down the system and restarting it can cause sediment in the pipes etc to break free and cause dirty water for a few minutes. Sounds normal. Just a real PITA. I also have the UV light. That's another thing that "grinds my gears". It states the bulbs last a year however my alarm starts sounding at about the 8 month mark. $100 for a bulb.

65 SD L79 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

ok I am new to a well when I moved here. There is a number of tanks, filters, salt tub and that expensive light bulp. Paying about $400 a year to replace ever filter , bulb and labour inclued

norontcan · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

In over 12 years I've never had to touch my tank ( touch wood ).
Did add a UV light about 9 years ago. It counts down exactly 365 days from when it is installed. After 365 it starts to beep but can be reset a couple of times for about 2 weeks each time. I do need to find a cheaper source for the bulbs.
Have 2 filters on the system a 25 micron and a 5 micron. Change them yearly at the same time as the light.

DonSSDD · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

I don't have an alarm on my uv, i clean the bulb and the tube it fits in when I change the filter, they last 2-3 years. We used to have to test our water twice a year and the tests confirmed how long the uv light is effective.
Todd, with all the shutoff valves to close down the parts of the system, you wouldn't be disturbing the silt in your well? See if you can raise you pump higher? The only source of silt is the well. But maybe a drilled well is different? The base of my dug well is 4 foot around, with the foot valve up 2 ft or so off the bottom, any silt settles out before the water is sucked up.

poncho62 · Poncho Master!

norontcan wrote:
In over 12 years I've never had to touch my tank ( touch wood ).
Did add a UV light about 9 years ago. It counts down exactly 365 days from when it is installed. After 365 it starts to beep but can be reset a couple of times for about 2 weeks each time. I do need to find a cheaper source for the bulbs.
Have 2 filters on the system a 25 micron and a 5 micron. Change them yearly at the same time as the light.

I hear ya on the bulb...$65. I have had mine about 8 years and am lucky to get 10 months out of it, although it seems to be lasting longer this year. Better order a bulb, because its gonna go now that I mentioned it....lol

I have a lot of iron in my water, so have an iron filter, its sort of like a water softener and back flushes regularly to clean the filter media. There is also an air injector on the pipe coming in from the well. It adds a tiny bit of air to the water, supposed to help filter it somehow. You dont notice it at the taps.

As for the tank, some do not have bladders in them, they just rely on an air cushion at the top. Mine seems to be this type. I think the air injector thing helps keep the air cushion filled.

-- Edited by poncho62 on Monday 29th of October 2018 05:33:28 AM

poncho62 · Poncho Master!

DonSSDD wrote:
I don't have an alarm on my uv, i clean the bulb and the tube it fits in when I change the filter, they last 2-3 years. We used to have to test our water twice a year and the tests confirmed how long the uv light is effective.

How do you clean the tube that the bulb fits into?

Canadian Poncho · A Poncho Legend!

They say you are supposed to replace the tube the UV bulb fits into every 3 years. I doubt I'll be doing that this year (it's year 3). I don't think it's an easy task to move the pump as it's at the bottom of the well. From what I understand you'd need a winch to move it. Funny thing is we've had numerous power outages and never had a silt problem when the power comes back on. I turn off the power and pump up the bladder in the tank and have a ton of sediment. Maybe the sediment was on the outside of the bladder? We've had a power outage since and I didn't get any sediment either.

Mike Ward MB · Addicted!

Todd, speaking from experience, if you have detected a leak in the bladder of your pressure tank dont delay changing it. Loss of air pressure is the start of imminent bladder failure. You will reach a point where water pressure will not rise at all, meaning that your pressure tank is full of water. I had to cut mine open to drain it so I could move it!

I had a problem with sediment in my system which just started to appear after after 30 years of trouble-free operation. We think that the grout may be failing where the casing meets bedrock. It just happened that my submersible pump was installed right at that point and over years of squirming around starting and stopping may have caused it. We raised the pump 2 and the sediment problem cleared up. Now we have to check the well depth periodically to see if the grout failure is significant enough to be filling up the well with sediment.

DonSSDD · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Poncho62, I run a clean soft rag up there with a long screwdriver, it removes some sediment.

Pontiacanada · A Poncho Legend!

If you are getting that much sediment in your water, you should probably drain/run-off your hot water tank also. Sediment kills hot water tanks.

Canadian Poncho · A Poncho Legend!

The water heater shouldn't be too bad as we have a sediment filter located before the water reaches the tank.