I’m trying to get the water working in the house we just bought. In the basement, coming through the exterior wall 4 feet below grade are an electrical cable, a 1 inch i.d. black plastic pipe, and a 3/4 inch i.d. black plastic pipe. Neither pipe is attached to anything, they look like they were both hack-sawed. There is a pressure switch that is wired in but disconnected from the water system. There is also a small fuse box wired in that says “submersible pump”.
I turned the power on and held the pressure switch on and water flowed from the 1″ pipe and I could feel air being sucked in the 3/4″ pipe as the water flowed.
I’ve found enough info online to be able to integrate the pressure switch into the system, but I have no idea what the 3/4″ pipe is about. Can anybody help me with this? Thanks
Replies
Hmmm
It might be a sump pump that has an air space for the motor.
But if it is a submerged well then it is probably for inspection / service. Are these the only two holes or access points around?
At any rate dont trust mystery water being pumped from an unknown source under your house unless you can figure out where, what, why, and test the water. If the pipes where cut off there was probably a reason and getting a professional in to look at the system might be the best way to go for both sanitary and legal reasons. If the system was disconnected the pump could have been sitting stagnant for a long time, or installed wrong.
I know in some places it is illegal to have unregistered wells, and water from under your house is not something you want to be drinking if there is even a remote possibility something is wrong.
Yeah, at the very least it doesn't make much sense that someone cut the pipes like that (unless there was some copper there they were stealing). I'd want to look at the layout and see if I could figure out what was between those pipes and the rest of the plumbing. Normally, for a submersible well setup, all you'd have at that point is a pressure tank, and it wouldn't make much sense to take that out (unless you're stealing it).
The second pipe is a bit odd, but could be a vent. If so, it should not have been sawed off with the other one, but should terminate in a downward-facing elbow, perhaps with a screen over it.
Is there any other source of water (city utility, maybe?). I'd be suspicious that the well was ruled unsafe and needed to be disabled to pass health code (though a better job of disabling it should have been done, including properly sealing the well).
Very definitely, if you get this thiing working you must have the water tested.
(And why was the condition of the plumbing not discussed when you inspected the house prior to purchase??)
Thank you both for your input.
There is a separate sump pump in another corner of the basement, and there is a pressure tank plumbed in near the pressure switch. It looks like the fittings used to integrate the pressure switch and to connect the black plastic pipe to the pressure tank were removed.
The 2 pipes and the cable are the only things coming through the wall from the well. I have not been able to find the well head, which is supposed to be under the front porch somewhere. The well was drilled in the 70's.
This is the only source of water available and you're right, I'm kicking myself for just believing the seller that the water was good and not testing it beforehand.
I will take some pictures next week when I'm up there and post them.
I'm really baffled about the additional 3/4" black plastic pipe. I don't know anything about plumbing submersible well pumps except for what I've read on line but I haven't seen anything anything about needing to add a vent.
Thanks again
Generally a submersible pump is in a 6-12" diameter vertical pipe that is fairly tightly sealed at the top. It makes sense that an air vent might be required, so I would suspect that that's why you have the second pipe.
What I don't understand is why the pipes were cut -- it doesn't make sense. You need to do a bit of detective work -- look for stains on the floor, other severed pipes, etc, that would suggest what was there before. (Presumably there are also severed pipes going into the pressure tank.)
(It occurs to me that one possible explanation is that there was some object in-between the incoming pipes and the pressure tank that the previous owner wanted badly to remove, and the pipes were in the way.)
It could be a jet pump set up as shown below.
In this set up, the jet is in the well, the pump pushes water down the well, using a venturi at the jet to create a suction that "pulls" water from the well upward. This type of set up is typically used for wells deeper than 25' when a submersible pump isn't wanted. Obviously you have a buried well head, which is prone to contamination from ground water where the pipes from the pump enter/exit the well head. You might find it with a metal detector, if the well casing is steel.
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Except that he said that he turned on the pressure switch and water came out of the pipe. There's definitely got to be a pump elsewhere, presumably in the well.
(If my other post ever gets approved it might provide a bit more insight.)
In an earlier response he said the well is under the porch.
Just from how it is behaving there is a downhole pump, and the extra line is the air vent. I'd just build a screened inlet for it by sandwiching some fine mesh screen bewteen two flanges, and screwing one onto a barbed poly to threaded pipe adapter.
It hasn't been legal for quite a few years to bury the well head, and in most jurisdictions they are required to be two feet above the surrounding ground. And, if they are in the flood palin must be sealed to prevent contamination by flood waters.
I'd be concerend if I were the OP about whter or not I'd just bought in the flood plain.
If the well head is under the porch it probably isn't buried.
Is it possible the 3/4-in. pipe goes to a lawn hydrant or outbuilding? This doesn't explain the suction though...