Well / water shutoff question.

Ken_f · Nov 6, 2004

I see that we have well related questions all of the time here and I have learned a great deal from the different topics.

I am in the process of finishing my basement and I want to make sure that I don't have a pipe burst and flood all of my sheetrock / carpeting.

My well is a submersible type and I have a pressure tank in the basement. I see that they sell shutoff valves that will lose a valve if the wires that you place on the floor detect water. But, with the well pump still on, if you had a break on the black line entering the basement you would still have a flood.

My question is has anyone seen a device that just shuts off the pump ??? It would be easy to hook up and if you did have a break you would only have to worry about the pressure tank and the lines in the house.

I searched the web but I can't seem to find a electrical type.

Thanks for any info.

Ken

thcri · Nov 6, 2004

I am not sure if I totally understand your question, but if you can turn off a valve electrically, you sure should be able to shut the pump down electrically. Instead of your device turning off the valve have it turn off the pump. Now you may have to put a relay in the system since your device may not be able to handle a pump.

murph

turnkey4099 · Nov 7, 2004

That is correct. Shut off the pump power, not the valve or you might burn out the pump trying to pump against a blockage. I made the mistake of trying to prime a pump with the valve shut. Pump just hammered at it, on/off repeatedly in less than a second.

Harry K

Junkman · Nov 7, 2004

This is like worrying about an earthquake. They seldom happen unless you live in a fault area. I have never had the black pipe rupture in over 30 years of well operation. In fact, I only know of one person that had a black pipe develop a leak. It was the drop pipe in the well, that wasn't properly centered by the well spacers. It rubbed on the well wall and developed a a leak that required the pump to be pulled and the pipe replaced. I don't believe that the black plastic pipe is very problematic in actuality. The tank leaking is a greater possibility.

turnkey4099 · Nov 8, 2004

( This is like worrying about an earthquake. They seldom happen unless you live in a fault area. I have never had the black pipe rupture in over 30 years of well operation. In fact, I only know of one person that had a black pipe develop a leak. It was the drop pipe in the well, that wasn't properly centered by the well spacers. It rubbed on the well wall and developed a a leak that required the pump to be pulled and the pipe replaced. I don't believe that the black plastic pipe is very problematic in actuality. The tank leaking is a greater possibility. )

Quite true. The most likely failure is the hot water heater (yes, yes, I know, you don't heat hot water) Either from tank itself leaking or blowing up from lack of a PRV or even failure of the PRV valve not shutting off after it activates. Even those failures are not common.

Harry K

ByronBob · Nov 8, 2004

Ken
I'd say make sure you have water damage insurance against a rupture and be good with that. We all live with this type of situation even if we have public water. I just remember to tun off the pump in the breaker panel if were going away for longer than the day. If your home or even away for the day and you have a break your sump will take care of it.

I've never heard of a switch as you mention. My well is submersible also.

bczoom · Nov 8, 2004

Ken,

Have you considered the sensors that just have an audible alarm? Sensor goes on floor and has about 6' of wire to a 85db alarm. If I recall correctly, they're only about $5. I put one next to the hot water tank, another where all the water "stuff" is (pressure tank, water conditioner...).

If you turn off the power for the pump as Bob is suggesting, make sure you consider the equivalent to any water conditioner as well. Watch out for battery backups also. Don't know what would happen if the conditioner goes into its recycle mode but no water is coming through.

thcri · Nov 8, 2004

( Ken
I'd say make sure you have water damage insurance against a rupture and be good with that. We all live with this type of situation even if we have public water. I just remember to tun off the pump in the breaker panel if were going away for longer than the day. If your home or even away for the day and you have a break your sump will take care of it.

I've never heard of a switch as you mention. My well is submersible also. )

We all hate insurance claims. Sometimes things can't be replaced by insurance. We use to many years ago, not so much any more, install 24volt valves on the incoming water line of houses. When people would leave during winter vacations they use to just flip a switch on the way out the door. This was on city lines. This way if the house did freeze up it would not make a major mess with the water running for a week or so. From the valve to where the line went into concrete it was insulated and that protion never seem to freeze up.

murph

Bird · Nov 8, 2004

Even if you're not worried about a freeze, some of us are just a bit more cautious than others. Just before we left a week ago Friday to go out of town for a week, I flipped off the breaker for the water heater, then turned off the water at the meter. It only takes a minute or so, and I'm sure was completely unnecessary, but since it was so easy, why not be sure. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif