Well Priming

[MinnesotaEric]

Sometime in the night the power went off and my 89-year-old mother, God bless her, attempted to wash her hands. Without any water from our well pump, she left the tap open allowing the water in the well to drop and draw a vacuum into the plumbing system eventually losing prime on the deep well pump. Then the power came back on and the well pump ran and ran until it overheated and tripped the 20amp circuit breaker.

Eventually I woke up to my mother explaining how we had no water.

After attempting to prime a 125 foot deep well by awkwardly pouring in 2 gallons of water through the hole in the wall in the photo and into a 1/4" bleeder hole without success, I went to back the Great Pumpkin and got a new battle plan. Drawing on my college years, I beer-bonged eight gallons in, primed the well and pump and was pleased that the pump had not burned itself out.

The trouble with the pump house is that some tiny human made it for other tiny humans and I literally cannot fit into the pump house to service anything. Another one of these, "Built it yourself, did ya?"

"Yeah, how can you tell?" deals.

 

[Zerk]

Have you had a problem with air after doing this? I have surface pump in a well pit, for a shallow well. A couple times I have had to go outside naked during a shower and bleed the air out. I had a shallow well with the pump not in the water.

 

[Zerk]

Could you have cracked a union or opened a valve somewhere to pour water in?

 

[STx]

You might consider putting a double-check valve in right there, minimal pressure loss and it will prevent water from draining all the way down again. The check in the foot valve should have stopped this but it's a lot easier to add a DCV than to pull the pump and repair the foot valve.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

You might consider putting a double-check valve in right there, minimal pressure loss and it will prevent water from draining all the way down again. The check in the foot valve should have stopped this but it's a lot easier to add a DCV than to pull the pump and repair the foot valve.

The whole thing is poorly considered and put together. With my fused back, I cannot fit in the hole to work on it.

 

[dickfoster]

Sometime in the night the power went off and my 89-year-old mother, God bless her, attempted to wash her hands. Without any water from our well pump, she left the tap open allowing the water in the well to drop and draw a vacuum into the plumbing system eventually losing prime on the deep well pump. Then the power came back on and the well pump ran and ran until it overheated and tripped the 20amp circuit breaker.

Eventually I woke up to my mother explaining how we had no water.

After attempting to prime a 125 foot deep well by awkwardly pouring in 2 gallons of water through the hole in the wall in the photo and into a 1/4" bleeder hole without success, I went to back the Great Pumpkin and got a new battle plan. Drawing on my college years, I beer-bonged eight gallons in, primed the well and pump and was pleased that the pump had not burned itself out.

The trouble with the pump house is that some tiny human made it for other tiny humans and I literally cannot fit into the pump house to service anything. Another one of these, "Built it yourself, did ya?"

"Yeah, how can you tell?" deals.

I don't understand what kind of pump you have. My well is 325' deep and the pump is hanging at 300'. The pump pushes water up out of the hole so doesn't have to suck it up or need to be primed. The pump also has protection on it so if it taps the well out and runs dry, it trips the protection and stops power to the pump which of course saves the pump from self destruction.

I put 5000 gallons of storage tank in last year as I was fretting about the drought and after tapping the well out a couple of times with over irrigation. A couple of neighbors completely tapped out and had to have new wells drilled, not a cheap proposition. Besides I figure you can't fight much of a fire with only a well pump when likely the power out too. There were lots of fires around then.
My well keeps the tanks topped up and I have gravity feeding the house. There is another pump in the tank to supply pressure but even with no power and gravity alone I still get 10PSI so we can flush toilets, wash clothes and dishes or take a navy shower. If the well pump takes a dump, I have enough water to have it all fixed and not run out. Even if both pumps take a dump and/or the power goes down along with my generator too, I still have some water. If push comes to shove I can have water hauled and the tanks filled for a couple of hundred dollars.
I figured a decent storage tank is cheap insurance for several reasons, maybe you should consider it.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

I don't understand what kind of pump you have. My well is 325' deep and the pump is hanging at 300'. The pump pushes water up out of the hole so doesn't have to suck it up or need to be primed. The pump also has protection on it so if it taps the well out and runs dry, it trips the protection and stops power to the pump which of course saves the pump from self destruction.

I put 5000 gallons of storage tank in last year as I was fretting about the drought and after tapping the well out a couple of times with over irrigation. A couple of neighbors completely tapped out and had to have new wells drilled, not a cheap proposition. Besides I figure you can't fight much of a fire with only a well pump when likely the power out too. There were lots of fires around then.
My well keeps the tanks topped up and I have gravity feeding the house. There is another pump in the tank to supply pressure but even with no power and gravity alone I still get 10PSI so we can flush toilets, wash clothes and dishes or take a navy shower. If the well pump takes a dump, I have enough water to have it all fixed and not run out. Even if both pumps take a dump and/or the power goes down along with my generator too, I still have some water. If push comes to shove I can have water hauled and the tanks filled for a couple of hundred dollars.
I figured a decent storage tank is cheap insurance for several reasons, maybe you should consider it.

The house was built with a cinderblock foundation. Then the homeowner-builder decided he should have running water and dug out a 3' x 3' x seven foot deep hole on the outside of the foundation wall, had a well driller come in and drop in a 125' deep well, and then the homeowner punched a half-arsed hole in the wall to run water in and power to the pump. It is hokey. There are no unions and the electrical service isn't armored.

The well pushes water down an inner sleeve to get water up an outer sleeve (it may be the reverse of that as it has been 15 years since my brother and I replaced the pump and manifold and my memory is fading).

Because it freezes solid in Minnesota, I've never heard of anybody storing water in Minnesota except in water towers. Because of our radical cold winter climate, the walls of the pump house are lined with spray foam and the light provides heat to keep things from freezing up.

 

[dickfoster]

The house was built with a cinderblock foundation. Then the homeowner-builder decided he should have running water and dug out a 3' x 3' seven foot deep hole on the outside of the foundation wall, had a well driller come in and punched a half-arsed hole in the wall to run water in and power to the pump. It is hokey.

The well pushes water down an inner sleeve to get water up an outer sleeve (it may be the reverse of that as it has been 15 years since my brother and I replaced the pump and manifold and my memory is fading).

Because it freezes solid in Minnesota, I've never heard of anybody storing water in Minnesota except in water towers. Because of our radical cold winter climate, the walls of the pump house are lined with spray foam and the light provides heat to keep things from freezing up.

I thought about that but realized it would take quite a cold spell to freeze 5000 gallons of water. Then again you can always insulate it or stick it underground if that's handy. My neighbor across the road built a storage barn around his with room for his tractor and other stuff. Many places locally must have tanks if their well pumps less than 3 GPM or so. It's code so you can't sell a house around here without it. My well does better and I didn't need a tank but I wanted one for the reasons stated.
Needless to say I'm happy to see some rain. Something you folks in Minnesota never have to worry about.
I've never heard of a pump setup like that. Just the old time hand pumps that needed priming and today's submersed pumps that hang in the well and in the water.

 

[Sprinklerman]

If the casing is 3 inches or greater I would install a submersable pump .

 

[MinnesotaEric]

If the casing is 3 inches or greater I would install a submersable pump .

That sounds great. The hole is too small for me to work in. :smiley_aafz: