Well repairs

[Slackdaddy]

I have, and IMHO going PVC is stupid. Steel well casing are significantly stronger and frankly are going to last more than a century as is, unless the ground is extremely acidic or extremely basic. I love me some plastic in the ground for its resistance to most stuff, but for a well, I am at a big nope. I've seen too many issues of things like a tree falling and smashing the top of the casing to want one. All of that stuff CAN be fixed, but talk about a PITA having to excavate down till you find clean pipe and then gluing a connector and fresh pipe for the new cap and then reburying it all. Sure, a steel casing can also be damaged, but it is going to take a hell of a lot more force to do.

I have replaced more than 1 well due to the 4" steel casing rotting through.
We have bought a few years on a few by putting a "donut" on the steel supply pipe just below the hole in the casing,, but this only works if the pump is hung on steel pipe,, not poly

 

[wpage]

Have your well guy come and look at it for a reco...

 

[Squaregrouper]

I have, and IMHO going PVC is stupid. Steel well casing are significantly stronger and frankly are going to last more than a century as is, unless the ground is extremely acidic or extremely basic. I love me some plastic in the ground for its resistance to most stuff, but for a well, I am at a big nope. I've seen too many issues of things like a tree falling and smashing the top of the casing to want one. All of that stuff CAN be fixed, but talk about a PITA having to excavate down till you find clean pipe and then gluing a connector and fresh pipe for the new cap and then reburying it all. Sure, a steel casing can also be damaged, but it is going to take a hell of a lot more force to do.

To Bertfish comment, yeah I'd put something around it in this case. Mine is out of the way at the corner of where I mow in the woods but darned hard to miss so I've never bothered and it's out of the way enough I wouldn't care about using a string trimmer around it and potentially damaging the wiring. I just rip out the grass/weeds 2-3 times a season by hand for about a foot around it.

Take the cap off and look down. If it is broken, you'll need to excavate down to where the break is around it, glue in a new connector and fresh piece of pipe for a new cap. Even if the well pump is still working and all, you don't want dirt of other crap that get can down the well. If it did, you'll probably want to pull a water sample for bacteria and/or chlorinate your well once you are done with the work. Make sure you carefully follow directions on chlorinating a well. ALSO of note, chlorinating a well can cause problems with your house's plumbing. So be careful and also be on the lookout for leaks later. My water heater went **** up after 20 odd years (indrect water heater) about 3 weeks after I had to chlorinate my well (twice, once wasn't sufficient to kill off the bacteria. The 2nd time was the charm) because the well pump went up and I had to replace it.

Chlorine and stainless steel do not mix. Also high levels of chlorine can cause problems for PVC/CPVC (it embrittles it. The C in PVC and CPVC is "Chloride"). So you absolutely want to follow directions to ensure that the bleach added is not too much (so you'll need to know your well size and depth as well as water level) and do not let it sit in your pipes too long before flushing.

The levels of free chlorine required to damage PVC would be far higher than ever used in a well. PVC tolerates "pool bleach" (13% sodium hypochlorite) very well. Household Clorox (6-7%) will not harm PVC. CPVC is unaffected by chlorine.
The well pump would be chlorine damaged long before the PVC.
UV light/direct sunlight is PVC's biggest enemy in typical household applications.

 

[RRomig]

The levels of free chlorine required to damage PVC would be far higher than ever used in a well. PVC tolerates "pool bleach" (13% sodium hypochlorite) very well. Household Clorox (6-7%) will not harm PVC. CPVC is unaffected by chlorine.
The well pump would be chlorine damaged long before the PVC.
UV light/direct sunlight is PVC's biggest enemy in typical household applications.

And tractors

 

[treasurehunter]

And tractors

This is true.