Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Well went Dry

#1

My water table dropped or something and the shallow well in my basement went dry.

Pipe didn’t want to come up so I hand drove it down 5 more feet.

Couldn’t seem to get pump to stay primed so used a pitcher pump…That needed new leather valve.

Trip into city to drop off elec pump to have it checked out, then to hardware to buy only new leather valve they had.

Back home, installed new leather in pitcher pump, tried it out but it didn’t work. Set pump in bucket of water to soak leather for several hours. Tried it again and pumped some really muddy/sandy water (about 4 gallons). Hand pump keeps loosing prime, so set it back in the bucket and will try it again tomorrow.

The amount of dirt I pumped up has me thinking I may have a hole in the screen. Still a possibility I may have to pull it all out. Should move easier now that it has been loosened up form driving it down.

On the bright side I did manage to install a new light in the washer/dryer room today… :unamused:

I’m pooped…

#2

I don’t know anything about your system, but if you were pulling solids, that could explain why the pump was not working well. I am guessing that replacing the screen won’t be easy?
I hope you get better results today. Good luck!

#3

It was completely dry to the bottom of the pipe at first. Then I drove it down and now am sucking mud. May have damaged the screen or maybe not, don’t know yet. right now

I am working on getting a consistent pump working then I can see if I need to do something else to the well. Hopefully soaking the pitcher pump last night will make it work a bit better. I won’t get the jet pump back until at least Friday.

My local experts seem to have differing opinions on what to do…go figure :laughing: :unamused:

#4

We’re still on well water here, too, so I feel your pain. Well problems are no fun. Hope you get it resolved without too much effort or expense.

#5

Still getting lots of sand and not much water this morning so pulled the thing up to start over. Only part of the mangled lower sections came up and they were packed full of sand.

Drove new point and pipe down at near old depth. Hooked up pitcher pump, primed it up and low and behold pumped about 30 gallons (which kept getting cleaner as things progressed) until the plunger in the pump came unscrewed. Seem to still have a supply of water there, so the problem could have well been the pipe was not intact and old point (still in ground) was plugged.

Won’t get my jet pump back form being checked until tomorrow at the earliest then I’ll giver her a good testing. I’m tentatively happy for now.

#6

That’s good news. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

#7

Progress is good!

#8

And…(drum roll)…WATER!

#9

Rock on! Did you get your pump back?

#10

Trip into the big city to pick up pump…3 trips to the local hardware and…WATER! now…bath, wash hair, dishes, laundry, fill emergency water jugs back up…I’ll enjoy it all!. :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

#11

— Begin quote from "fiddlewood"

…bath, wash hair, dishes, laundry, fill emergency water jugs back up…I’ll enjoy it all!. :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

— End quote

It’s the little things that make life worth living!

Glad you got things working again. Now, get back to pickin’

#12

Been trying to pick a bit at night but hands are very stiff from pounding well down so not accomplishing a whole lot. :neutral_face:

#13

Maybe while your hands are recovering you could write a song about the whole experience. “Well went dry” sounds like it could be a good song. Some might think it was a highly intellectual analogy for some other life experience, but it could just be a song about the well going dry, getting your pump fixed, working that pipe home and finally that sweet gush of water.

#14

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing: sounds like a sex song…

#15

Nothing worse than water problems but also there is nothing better than curing the problem and having water again. not sure what kind of system you have but if it is a shallow well pump system you have to make sure all connections are tight and if you have a double pipe system all you get is the difference between the two sizes of pipe 1 1/2 and 1/14 so all you get is the 1/4 inch of water . I used pumps and well water for years but never heard of a pitcher pump is it just a hand type thing or what . I hope the water comes and never ceases and you have plenty . of course with in reason

#16

I used the pitcher pump (Yes, old style hand operated) only to draw water at first to see if I had any. It is much easier to keep primed when there is air in the well pipe. Then hooked up my regular shallow-well pump once I had water coming past the check valve… Been 9 months now and still working great.

#17

— Begin quote from "ldpayton"

We’re still on well water here, too, so I feel your pain. Well problems are no fun. Hope you get it resolved without too much effort or expense.

— End quote

Working on water wells is almost like practicing an instrument you have to spend a lot of time and preserver or else you get no water nor music . I had water wells for 19 years and the problem I ran in to most of the time was the air volume control valve if it goes bad your pump kicks on an off all the time . The tank becomes full to the top or as they say in the business water logged . One other item is water tight fittings those have to be sealed because if not the pump will not work I am sure he has his water fixed by now . My brother and dad set pumps for a living for awhile and also drilled the wells I used to set up the machine and get it running . He sounds like he has a low water table not low as in volume but not at all very deep . my well was over 100 foot deep . In the western part of our county we have water at 30 foot and it takes but a small pump to draw the water . it is clean because there is a lot of gravel and pebbles under ground there. You should have the water tested about every six months for safety, you can die from bad water and you will not know it until you are sick. A gallon or two of pure bleach in the well every now and again is a good thing to do . of course buy drinking water for a few days before drinking it .