water pressure?? problems

[Greg]

A well that deep I would assume they drilled rather than drove. I friend had one drilled and they went over 500' before they hit a pocket (they may have missed a dozen by a foot). A driven well will break rock as it goes so if there is water near the well it will flow into it.
At my other house the well was only 40' and I had all the water I ever wanted.

Greg

[mrbb]

yes the well was drilled, back in the 70's
in the late 80's mid 90's it went dry, was at about 500 ft if I recall what I was told
and then they had to go deeper and deeper, was a very dry summer when it went dry
and several; new homes were build near by, which they(original owners) felt had tapped into the same water source/pocket

the place is at the top of a mountain, so to get to water its a deep drilling here

DOwn in Ihio where I stay when I hunt, the well there I was told at 1700 ft
I thought MINE was deep till I talked to owner of the place I rented, and then a few neighbors there I became friends with over the yrs, all had wells over 1,000 ft deep!
so, have to admit right NOW< I am glad I am ONLY as deep as I am
hate to be pulling 1500 ft to get to a pump LOL

[mrbb]

OK so, we pulled the well pump, was set at 200 feet only, BUT well was over 600 ft, (longest measure we had, and didn';t bottom out, so well is at least 600ft for sure)
Old well pump looked Terrible, entire cast iron top was almost all gone, rusted away
old well line also had a few poor looking connections and the old wires didn';t look good either
the connection at pump was about to snap off
so glad we got it done NOW, as not sure how much longer that was going to make it

got lucky too on weather, warmed up to above freezing almost 40 actually

replaced with a new 3/4 hp pump
dropped new pump, new wire and new well line, down to 225 ft
and replace check valve on pressure tank

and back up and running again
just under 2k for it all
but should be good for a bunch of yrs now , or I HOPE
thanks all for the feedback and suggestions
appreciate all the help you's have offered me here as I needed it

NExt thing will be the darn roof, as still haven't decided on WHAT or how to make it better???
but thats on hold till late spring/early summer!

[HouseMedic]

Glad everything worked out OK. Did you tie a rope on the new pump for safety reasons? That way if anything does happen later down the road if it came loose from the pipe the rope is there to retrieve the pump. Wires will act as the same thing but they have been know to break if the torque break gives way. I don't mean to scare you, you should be good for a long time now.

Ron

[mrbb]

NO< we didn't have w rope on hand and old one didn';t look so good
, lack of planning I think on my part and well , was also hoping plumber would have maybe had some I guess??

had a major ice storm roll in last night so, really glad we had the nice weather we did on Thursday
got lucky there

I will add a pic of the old pump tomorrow, if anyone wants to see it

and again
YES this was a drilled well, and drilled a second time when it went dry in late 80's early 90's

something else I don't know about or NOT
BUT old water line to pump, about every 15-20 ft it had a round split disc added to it all, to help center the line in the well
and new one, SAME plumber that did first too!
didn't use any this time
told me didn't need them and would just save me a few bucks to NOT use them, as he didn';t have any on hand??
I would have rather ed having then I think
but like he said, NOT REALLY needed

anyone have any feed back on this??
I can try and get a few pic's if any are still on old line, as have it yet, but most broke off hwne we pull the line, as he had a machine that pulled the line out, 3 tires and it broke most off as they got to the tires
wasn't happy seeing so much plastic drop down the well in the process either, but???

[HouseMedic]

With that depth I would definitely have liked to have the centering disc they also hold the wires straight, but did he at least tape the wires to the pipe every 20 feet or so? Also today they usually also add a torque suppressor that helps keep the pipe from twisting every time the pump kicks on. They did not have this problem with solid steel pipe back in the day. Did you use black polyethylene pipe to replace the old line pipe?

[mrbb]

thabnks again
yes he taped the wire about every 8 foot, and yes used all new Black pipe
BUT what do you mean by a torque suppressor, as that I didn't notice being used, unless I just didn't notice anything


as for pictures of my old one , here are a few
again, the old wires looked pretty bad, and opld pumpo wa sa 2 wire deal, and new is a 3 wire, so ran all new wires, and didn't reuse the old rope as that too didn't look so good, was a old and a little brittle,
so rather than it breaking off maybe and dropping down the well, we opted to just go without,
since we didn't have any new rope on hand??

here are some pic's
you can see the old one was pretty darn rusted out

[HouseMedic]

Man, surprised that was still running. They don't always use the Torque Arrestor but it looks like this and it goes on the pipe just above the pump.

Ron

[mrbb]

didn't notice them putting one of them on, so?? not sure if they did or not
been sucking up a LOT of rusty metal since new pump hs been in
flaking metal pieces, I am guessing from off the well casting pipe or??
wondering if the LACK of centering disc is allowing it to suck up off the side walls??

[mrbb]

OH and I also seem to have less water pressure since new pump was installed, like shower head doesn't have same amount of water pressure coming out as before with OLD pump
what can be the cause or fix to this??
NOT a big difference but can tell, can live with it as is, but of possible to get more, wouldn't hurt any!

[Greg]

It may be a little smaller GPM pump. check the pressure gauge and see if anything has changed.

Greg

[mrbb]

its actually a larger GPM pump than the old one, so I was some what expecting more pressure not less
pressure on the gauge at the pressure tank reads the same as before switching pumps
BUT pump is NOW a LITTLE deeper NOT much but a little
so maybe thats why??

[HouseMedic]

Are you actually getting metal pieces or just rusty water? Once air hits the old pipe that maybe you did not change farther up going into the house the rust on the inside will scale a little. That should stop after a day or two. Let the water run for while.

Also check the screens on your shower head and faucets for debris and scale, that might make it seem like the pressure is different. Also if you have a Fluidmaster style valves in your toilets you can take out the seal to clean them also or they might keep running from debris.
You can do what is shown here. Just rinse everything you don't need new ones unless you want to change them.
https://youtu.be/XOlK7X82EUc

Ron

[mrbb]

yes actually getting metal flakes up to a 1/4 inch or slightly smaller
so NOT rusty water, actual metal pieces
and yes been cleaning the screens every few times I use them on sinks faucets /shower head

they been blocked pretty good, but after cleaning NO more pressure , or again just NOT as much as before old pump came out!


I have also noticed a smell to the HOT water that I didn't have before to

I hooked up a outside hose and let water run for about 15 minutes or more, now, 3 different times to try and clean things up

I am almost thinking when the water first came on it sucked up a LOT of metal and is NOW In my pressure tank and its spiting it out at times, and you its again sucking metal off the well castings, maybe being a stronger pump??

NOT sure right now, but been 5+ days and still working the same with the rusty metal flakes ?

[HouseMedic]

I have a valve drain on the bottom of my pressure tank if you have one try running water out there to try and clean it out.

Hot Water heater smell could be higher iron in your water or even the same thing,that it has some metal chips in the tank. I would hook a hose on the hot water tank drain and let it run for about ten minutes or so to flush out the water heater and give that a try. I have a slight elevated iron level and get the smell sometimes by my water heater but you do not smell it in the water itself. Almost smells something like a new vinyl pool liner aroma.

Ron