Ummm...our well just stopped working!!-EVEN BETTER UPDATE

[Kala]

We just had this well dug last fall and today the water literally just stopped running.

Went down to check the tank/pump in the basement and the PSI was at 0. So I turned the breaker off and the pump. A little while later I went back down to check it and the PSI had risen to about 20. Turned everything back on and it immediately fell to 0 again. And of course only a little bit of water would come out of the faucet and then it stopped again completely. I turned everything back off again.

I went outside and tried to check the water depth with string and a weight. Thought I hit bottom when the line stopped being tight. The weight was not wet at all. However our well is like 380 feet so I'm not sure that I actually hit bottom (still need to measure the length of the string). Gonna try again when it stops raining.

When I came back in I went down to check the tank and the PSI had again risen so I just left everything off and will try it again in a few hours.

So, any ideas??

 

[Denim Deb]

Something could have happened so that it lost it's prime. Or the pump itself could be no good. Hope it's not the well.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

Check the pump before you panic too much

 

[Kala]

I'm sure its probably just some mechanical issue. But I am still just a little worried...

How exactly can I check the pump??

 

[FarmerJamie]

I'm sure its probably just some mechanical issue. But I am still just a little worried...

How exactly can I check the pump??

Kala - when you say dug, was it drilled?


If so, you can look up the details on the ODNR website which will tell you how deep and what soils they went through. Then, by using the "by address" feature, you can check out the wells of your neighbors as a comparison.

We're going through well issues, too. At 99' we have some water, but most of the older houses here go down another 150' to hit a second, more solid source.

 

[Kala]

I'm sure its probably just some mechanical issue. But I am still just a little worried...

How exactly can I check the pump??

Kala - when you say dug, was it drilled?


If so, you can look up the details on the ODNR website which will tell you how deep and what soils they went through. Then, by using the "by address" feature, you can check out the wells of your neighbors as a comparison.

We're going through well issues, too. At 99' we have some water, but most of the older houses here go down another 150' to hit a second, more solid source.

Yes. Drilled. They had to go crazy deep here. Almost all of our neighbors have resonably deep wells too...

 

[FarmerJamie]

Hmmm, if it's a new well, did they put a new pump in?

How the well head capped? Meaning, did you have to work at taking the cap off to do your string test? I know if stuff like that isn't screwed down tight, the DS when he was younger liked to throw things down dark holes with water in them.

 

[Kala]

Hmmm, if it's a new well, did they put a new pump in?

How the well head capped? Meaning, did you have to work at taking the cap off to do your string test? I know if stuff like that isn't screwed down tight, the DS when he was younger liked to throw things down dark holes with water in them.

Yes. They had to put a new pump in. When we moved in we were running on cistern water (we had to drill a new well for the loan). It's capped with four screws with nuts. It took me several minutes to get them off. That was my fear as I lowered the weight down the hole...please dont break, please don't break....

 

[Kala]

And not that this has anything to do with the current situation but the old well is still in the front yard. And it is a WELL. I'm talking "Lassie, Timmy fell down the well?" kinda well. Stone lined and everything. The thing had been in use for YEARS. Just an interesting factoid....at least to me. It was really fun to look down.

 

[FarmerJamie]

And not that this has anything to do with the current situation but the old well is still in the front yard. And it is a WELL. I'm talking "Lassie, Timmy fell down the well?" kinda well. Stone lined and everything. The thing had been in use for YEARS. Just an interesting factoid....at least to me. It was really fun to look down.

That is cool!