bud-- wrote:

On 7/18/2011 7:59 PM, Smitty Two wrote:
In ews.com,
"Pete wrote:

Ok, here are the basics:

You have a standard cased well with a submersible pump down hole. How
far down hole is anyone's guess since a submersible pump can be use in
both shallow and deep wells. The pump is what's known as a 3wire type
and connects to that control box at the top with a 4 wire cable (4th is
ground). The control box contains a starting capacitor and relay. The
fitting that connects from the control box is broken, and should be
repaired to both protect the pump wires as well as to prevent potential
contamination from getting into the well.

There is a check valve and a local hose bib connection by the well, and
then it is plumbed underground back to the house. At the house you have
the pressure switch which supplies power to the pump control box at the
well when the pump needs to run, and you have a large storage tank that
appears to be the older air charged variety. That tank will have some
variety of float valve / air intake setup to maintain a charge of air at
the top of the storage tank.

Everything you see on the other side of the tank is not part of the well
system, it is usage related. There appears to be a lawn sprinkler
control valve that is no longer connected, something that looks like it
could be a pressure limiter and/or back flow preventer, and a ball valve
that could be feeding most anything. You'll have to trace where those
pipes go to know much more about them.

Thanks, Pete, that's a terrific start. The pump was replaced 2 1/2 yrs.
ago as a condition of sale, and IIRC the well is about 2000 ft deep,
water level about 1200, and pump is at 1500 or so.

So the brass fitting in the horizontal run of nipples and unions is the
check valve, and the PVC pipe feeds the house, right?

Not obvious to me it is a check valve. In any case there needs to be a
check valve at the bottom. Else you are refilling the pipe to the
surface when you start the pump. A check valve at the surface can't hold
a 1200 ft column of water. Whatever the brass fitting is it looks like
it has a schrader valve.

The arrow on it implies that it has a check valve function. It may have
additional functions. The submersible pump at the bottom should have
it's own check valve.


Is the pressure
switch at the house the little box in picture 10 with 2 conduits and a
piece of romex going to it?

Yes.

I agree with others and am not impressed with the electrical.

Yes, the whole thing setup is a bit hacked together. If it were my place
I'd spend a day ripping it apart and redoing it in a much neater
configuration.


Don't think it was covered and it may be way to obvious...
The pressure tank has air in the top. When you pump water into the tank
it compresses the air. After the pump shuts off at the high pressure
setting the compressed air feeds water into the building. As the air
expands the pressure drops, until the pressure switch low cut in
pressure and the pump starts again. The tank air slowly dissolves into
the water and the amount of air slowly decreases making the pump cycle
more often. Pete briefly touched on controls to add air to the tank as
it is "used up". I don't see any in the pictures unless air is added
from a compressor through the schrader valve.

I think the fitting where the pressure gauge is attached on the tank may
be the air control. I believe I have seen similar ones and they have a
float inside and whatnot.


A better (and more expensive) way of making a tank is to have a bladder
between the water and air. The bladder moves up and down as the tank
pressurizes. The bladder keeps the air charge from dissolving into the
water. All the tanks like this that I have seen have a schrader valve at
the top to add and check the air charge.

Pre-charged bladder type tanks are certainly more common these days.