What Are the Most Common Problems with Residential Water Wells?

One way to have a bottomless water supply in your home is to install a private well. Private well installation is the perfect way for people who don’t like how chlorinated city water tastes.

Water well problems can render your well useless. By ignoring a well problem and not moving quickly to fix it, you can end up facing a real disaster.

No matter how you look at it, the bottom line is that water well problems can be caused by interfering due to your end.

While most of the water well owners realize that they need to do regular maintenance and even repair work on their drinking well, many of them fail to spot subtle signs of a problem with it and end up not calling their local water well contractor when indeed they should.

Common Signs of Water Well Problems.

Air in the Water Pipes

Is that one faucet always sputtering some inconsistent water flow when you turn it on?

One of the biggest water well problems people experience. It is activated due to air bubbles which are entrapped in the top sections of the water supply system. Turn on allwater in your house to flush out the trapped air.

Run all faucets and appliances for approximately 10 minutes. The bubbly water should be pushed out of your water pipes. But if nothing works, then your issue may lie in the fact that you have a low-water table or a well pump drop pipe is broken.

They sound like significant well issues, and they need to be addressed right away, so we suggest you contact a technician who specializes in well pump replacement in Petaluma.

Not Enough Water Pressure

You have numerous potential issues that can lead to low water pressure in your home.

A clog in the pump or well screen due to Iron bacteria build-up. An iron bacteria build-up in the pipe nipple going to the pressure switch would impact its ability sense pressure accurately. Clean Well to Eliminate Iron Bacteria Remove iron bacteria slime, scale and build-up at the same time with this special solution.

Low water pressure can also sort out by tweaking the pressures switch a bit high on pressure gadgets. The problem with this is that the well and well pump must be engineered to run at this higher pressure in order to do this. Until things go from worse to worst, then you call an expert in water well.

The Well is Pumping Sand

If your well is pumping sand, there can be two reasons behind it. Your well screen has been damaged, allowing sand or silt to enter the pump, or the water level has dropped and your pump is sucking in sand and sediment (this will happen with a bottom-of-the-well mount booster pump).

99% of the time you can have a professional install a Sand and Sediment Trapper or have them put in a 60 mesh filter screen with an automatic purge valve.

Well Pump and Pressure Switch Short Cycling

Some common causes of well pump short cycling are well pump control switch, air loss at the water tank, leaks in well piping, a defective water check valve (if it is used in your system), and clogging of pump or piping. There are a few reasons for some of these that in turn could make your well pump run 24/7.

Frequently, short cycling occurs when the pressure tank has lost its captive air pressure. Unplug your pump to see if this is the problem. Fully depressurize and bleed your faucets with the water running. Check the Schrader valve with a tire pressure gauge.

Be sure the pressure is 2 PSI below the cut in or lower. For instance, if you have your well come on at 30 PSI, the reading should be 28 PSI.

Sky-high Electricity Bills

High priced electricity bills are a classic sign of a clogged pump-based and even prime, not to mention shot/slug or weak pump. Overtime, the pumps get sand-blocked or bacterial (entities) blockages. A clogged pump has to work harder than usual.

If your pump is OK then it could be the check valve that has gone bad and water in tank is routing back into your well. When the pressure switch feels a drop in the pressure, it turns the pump back on. The sequence repeats at regular intervals so that your pump runs nearly the entire day, every day.

A Change in Water Quality

A casing, well shaft, drop pipe or pump problem will cause an abrupt shift in the quality of your water. If you have a lot of sand or sediment in your water or smell odors, there is a strong possibility that surface water has penetrated or leaked into your well.

Immaterial of what the issue is, Get your water tested. Since most well water systems are not visible from the outside, it can be difficult to identify problem with your pump until you see a noticeable change in your water quality or water pressure — if this is the case do not delay and call a well water professional or licensed pump contractor.

Well Maintenance Tips

• Keep paint, fertilizer, pesticide, motor oil and other hazardous chemicals from your well.
• Certified and licensed water well contractors should be used for maintenance ·
• Regularly inspect the well cover or well cap atop the casing. Pressure casings that have been damaged must be replaced immediately.
• Prevent back saponification. Install a concrete mixing and loading pad to contain accidental pesticide spills around the well. It is recommended to mix and load the pesticides on the pad
• Do NOT leave a pile of leaves, etc. around the well ·
• Do not hit or knock the casing while mowing around your well
• Store your records showing well-maintenance and installation in a secure location.

Boylan Water Well Service is a top-rated drilling contractor in Santa Fe. We know everything related to well and pumps like the back of our hands. Click here—> free price quote of your project, or call 505-438-3416!