Another OT I HATE Plumbing

So, the first wife wakes me up at 5 AM saying we have no water, I beat er on down to the pump house (shallow well jet pump with bladder tank) and the safety pressure switch had shut off like it should/does when pressure drops to low so the pump dont burn up,,,,,,,,,,,so I pull the lil lever n hold it till she pumps up and thought alls well as she then had plenty of water.

NOTTTTTTT later this mornin were out again so I beat er down there and she had shut off again. Soooooooooo I do some checking and the pump NEVER SHUTS OFF (but was still pumpin n holding decent presure just not enough to trip the switch high pressure shut off) UNLESS AND UNTIL I TURN THE OUTLET VALVE OFF GRRRRRRRRR So the pumps workin but theres a leak somewhere grrrrrrrrrrr and I cant find any leak anywhere in the house or buildings and its been rainin and all the ground is soaked so I cant see any water bubbling up grrrrrrrrrrrr

Okay wonder where in my 75 feet of buried line the leak is grrrrrrrrrrrr Its NOT a pump or tank probem, soon as I shut off the line out of the well house she pumps up to preessure n shuts off but with nothing on anywhere she still runs n pumps feeding the leak SOMEWHERE

Im gonna get mad n run a hose from well house to home n head to Florida after Christmas n fix it next spring grrrrrrrrrrrrrr I called my buddy who works on such things, him n his dad are the ones who spliced in the latest underground pipe some years back, maybe he can find the leak

John T NOT a plumber I DESPISE PLUMBING AND LEAKS ESPECIALLY IF I DONT KNOW WHERE THEY ARE

Going to Florida sounds like a good idea! If you can get by till Christmas the leaky line is probably not buried very deep. In N. MN we put them down 7-8 feet and very seldom have trouble.

Had the same problem 40 years ago. Borrowed a pair of geo phones. Did not work, could not hear the water flow. Had a guy with a portable pump and back fed with "wash bluing" and found blue snow. I do remember 33 degree water 1 inch below my rubber boots down in the hole.

Remember, plumbers walk through water, pipe fitter walk around it.

Ours are only buried 3 to 4 feet, if its dry a body might find the leak because the ground above it may be wet, but not now when the ground is water soaked.........Right now I just go to the pump house and shut it off when we arent using it, the leaks not so bad theres no pressure left here, its just bad enough the pump cant shut off.

John T

Most likely a rusted out connector underground,or a rusted out hose clamp screw.

I use ony stainless fittings and all stainles hose clamps(incl screw) for underground waterlines,anything else won't do.

In "the meantime" you might want to lower your pump pressure switch setting so that the pump will "cycle" while you have it on and are using it. Set it 5 to 10 psi lower than the pressure it will reach when running continuously. You still need to "turn it off" when not using water (and at night). But this will stop the pump from running "all the time" and save "some" water. (It might not leak as much at lower pressure.) Good luck and Merry Christmas

I finally had to go to all plactic. Including couplers. The last stretch to be changed was the line that runs under the road 2 years ago. That one rotted out once before back in the early 80s and bubbled right up through the asphalt,undermining the county road. The "new" galvanized line started leaking 3 years ago at a coupler right next to the road. That leak was right between 2 50 and 100 wrap phone lines and a fiber optic cable.
We used water pressure to force a 2 inch black plastic line over the old steel pipe,then pulled out the pipe and ran a new 3/4 inch black plastic water line inside the 2 inch. Now,if there ever is a problem again,we can get way back from the road and the burried cables,dig up both ends and pull another new plastic line in. And,if it does leak,it won't come up through the road.

I would enjoy the problems with my own water system. It will cost me 35,000.00 to connect to the city water system, when I divide my land into 1/2 acre parcels, and disconnect from the main house. Stan

JT,
When I was young and foolish, I would have grabbed a shovel and dug up the water line. 3 years ago I bought a small backhoe. The ones you rent, a terramite T5C. It was 4 years old and had 435 hours on it. Had to tune it up and fix a few things. I have 1150 hours on it. GREAT THERAPY! I have dug footers, ran water and electric lines, made water run away from buildings, landscaping. 99% of the work I've done was for myself. Spend some of your kids inheritance and enjoy being a dirty old man playing in the dirt. I have.
George

Those Terra mites are fun ! Just takes awhile to make it look like you know what your doing on them ,,lol

Have you checked the commodes to make sure they're not leaking water? Hal

My dad was a carpenter, and I think they were always a little jealous of the plumbers. Plumbers always worked out of a "shop", so had their tools furnished. Carpenters were pretty much free-lancers, had to buy their own tools, etc. The joke among carpenters was that plumbers didn't have to be very bright- all they had to know was that stuff runs downhill and payday is on Friday.

Now that I do my own plumbing repairs (usually), I think they earn their money. What a wet, cold and sometimes smelly business.

I had a frost-free hydrant by the well, in the line that goes to the barn. The weight of the hydrant (and leverage from turning it off and on) eventually cracked the PVC pipe it was connected to. I dug it all up, replaced PVC with galvanized for a foot on each side of hydrant to give it a little more resistance to movement, replaced another valve, moved some pipes, put in some unions, etc., etc.- turned out to be quite a project.

Finally got it all done, no leaks, and decided to put a steel fence post by the hydrant and lash it to the post, to secure it. About 6 inches below the level of my repair, I put the fence post spade right through another plastic pipe.

I hate plumbing.

FOUND IT...My buddy who is in the excavation business comes over,,,,,,,I knew about where all the buried lines were,,,,,,,,we leave the pump running,,,,,,,,,,he starts probing that big long rod in the ground all over he_ _ s half acre,,,,,,,,,,,,we were about to give up finding the leak location,,,,,,,,decide to check one last run that was the newest and didnt think thats where the leak would be,,,,,,,,,,,,HE PROBED DOWN PULLER HER OUT AND THERE UP SHOT A WATER STREAM WHICH STOPPED WHEN WE TURNED THE WATER OFF.........Hes bringing his backhoe tomorrow morning Wooooooooo Hooooooooooooo

Thanks for the responses

John T

(quoted from post at 10:17:45 12/06/11) Going to Florida sounds like a good idea! If you can get by till Christmas the leaky line is probably not buried very deep. In N. MN we put them down 7-8 feet and very seldom have trouble.

Click to expand...

LOL Russ you are right 8 ft here in west MN too......just when you have a leak underground it's a lot of digging to get at it....ROFL.....Makes me glad I have a hoe!

Rick

That might be the best piece of advice that has been offered latly.
Were I in the same situation I would probably dig half my place up before I thought of toilets.

Yep, those are the first thing I checked early this morning. Those and other house plumbing till it appeared the leak was outside underground WHICH WE FOUND see above

John T

My nephew had that problem with his water line. He had to get a man with a backhoe and had a new line installed. Hal

Yep, tomorrow morning the backhoe will be here and were diggin down where we found the leak and will make whatever repairs we find necessary

John T

If this is the first repair on the line you should be fine. But! If you havd fixed it before, I would be thinking about replacement.
Glad you found the problem.

I think i would replace the 75 feet if its open lawn

Just cause the water shot up in to the air there, don't means the leaks there, you won't know for sure where the leak is till you see it shooting out of the line.

Yep, we know that but were in the right area cuz very far on either side of the live hole we found theres no water shootin up...and when we shut off the pump it stops

John T

Just another part of country livin'. Been down that road a couple of times myself. Last time it was a failed check valve. Valve costs about $15, excess electric bill until we noticed it, about $250, cost to have the pump pulled and replace $200(which was very reasonable). Still better than lookin' at my neighbor 20' away.

Yous close then. good luck