In article ,
Woodworking Smarter wrote:

Hello,

Q-1: We have a 1.5hp, 230v well pump at around 360ft. I was in the pump room
today and the pressure switch kicked in. There was a slight humming and no
pressure increase for about ten seconds. The humming suddenly got a little
louder and the pressure started rising.

I have checked things as recommended on the Franklin control box sticker and
all measure OK.

Anyone care to offer ideas on what might be going on? Should we be saving up
for a $700 pump pull? Four well companies around here and they all seem think
that's a fair price for two hours work. New pump about four years back for
$1400!

Q-2: I am thinking of changing over to polypipe so we can lift and lower it
ourselves. The pump has a stainless steel cable running down with the wires
so I am thinking I may be able to use that with an electric winch then
man-handle the polypipe into a large coil as it comes out.

I believe the polypipe can handle the depth/pressure but all the well people
I talk to here want me to stay with the 21' or 25' lengths so they can rob us
blind pulling it I suspect.

Anyone care to offer some ideas on that? preferably from personal experience.

Q-3: Kenmore softener is not softening so I checked the resin. The container
is near full of a sand-resin mix. The resin looks in god shape and about
50-50 mix with the sand.

The bottom and top strainer baskets in the resin are not clogged as I can
siphon water out and pour it back in quite fast. Previous owner must had run
it without filters, bummer. I can post a pic of the mix, but the little gold
balls look like they may still do some work. Or will they?

I have pulled it from the plumbing but the boss is not happy with the taste
of real filtered water. LOL

Anyone care to leap in here?

Thank you all.

Walt

Mine is at 300 feet and on 200 PSI Polyethylene. I put it in my darn
self - pulling it would be a bit more work, but for $1400 I might just
do it, or invest in some tooling (primarily "top of well pipe clamp") to
make it easier and then do it. Don't think "coil up the pipe" think "run
the pipe out in a loop about 175 feet", there will be less agony.
Biggest issue is not tearing up the pipe and wires on the edge of the
well casing. At $1400 you could afford to only be careful inserting the
new pump with new pipe and new wires and _still_ be money ahead, but I
prefer to not ding up the old if it's still serviceable.

IMPE, careful shopping of internet water system suppliers saved me a
bundle over the local folks - I hired them for the hole, and between
being backwards and too costly, they did not get my business for the
rest of the job.

21/25 foot threaded pipe is so old school it's backwards, particularly
if it's galvanized iron. If it's schedule 80 PVC it's workable with a
top of well clamp, just haul up that much, clamp securely, unscrew and
repeat. Iron is heavy as heck and prone to be rusted solid when you need
to remove it, so you end up decoupling it with a sawzall, and you'll
need a good hoist to haul it up. The major issue with either is always
making sure that the clamps are good EVERY tiem, so you don't drop the
string and get to pay the well drillers even more. With poly, you just
make sure you buy a single roll long enough for the whole depth without
joints.

If you have a three wire pump (seems likely if you have a "box to check
in your well room") I highly recommend getting out of the old-school on
that front as well and putting in a two-wire pump. The logic on 3 wire
(without 3-phase to the house) ran out 30 years ago, but well folks live
in a miasma of mythical reasoning AFAICT which perpetuates the use of
the things.

If you have sand coming out into your softener, a "spin-down filter" is
wonderful at getting the big crap out. Mine is the second thing after
the overpressure valve when the pipe comes into the house. Collects in
the clear bottom, flip a valve to dump it and backflush the screen
(since the pressure tank is upstream.)

My personal experience with keeping old softeners alive is that buying a
new softener is less hassle, works reliably, and has a warranty for a
while, unlike fussing with the old one. The parts that are reusable from
an old one are the parts that cost the least, so you can spend as much
(or more) refurbishing an old one and it takes more time. Up to you.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by
Please don't feed the trolls. Killfile and ignore them so they will go away.