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Winterizing temporary well setup


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Well they recently drilled the well at the cabin.  about 150 further than they thought and more than 100 foot deeper than the other 10 of so in a quarter mile.  Anyhow, we have the well motor installed and plumbed out to the pressure switch and pressurized tank sitting outside temporarily until we rebuild the cabin.  With the tank currently sitting outside, what do we need to do to winterize the system for this year?

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I would ask the well contractor.   For sure drain the tank and all the pipes near the surface.   My question would be what about the pipe between the well and the tank.   How does that get drained?   That's why I said to talk to the installers.   You need to get all the water out of the pipes that are shallow enough to freeze. 

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On 8/2/2017 at 4:48 PM, delcecchi said:

I would ask the well contractor.   For sure drain the tank and all the pipes near the surface.   My question would be what about the pipe between the well and the tank.   How does that get drained?   That's why I said to talk to the installers.   You need to get all the water out of the pipes that are shallow enough to freeze. 

That's my question exactly.  Will call him eventually just figured someone else may have an idea.  

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I agree that asking the well people is the best way to go.  I would expect that it will have something to do with opening a valve at the surface to allow the water to drain back down.  The actual water level is probably within 50 feet or so of the pump and so at least 100 feet below the surface.  Typically that pipe would hold water as long as there was power to the pump.  With the power off and a valve open you would allow air into the pipe and the water would drain.  I am not sure what you should do with the tank.  A friend had a shallow well at his cabin with a surface pump and an old fashioned galvanized tank in a shed.  We would drain the tank and take off a fitting to drain the pump and that was it for the winter.  If it is a modern tank with a bladder I'm not sure if you could get all the water out.  But as long as the ice that will form isn't restricted it may not do any damage.  Sure would hate to have to use something like heat tape to keep it ok.

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On 8/5/2017 at 5:23 PM, delcecchi said:

Bladder no problem.   Wells have check valves.  Typically for submersible pumps they are at the bottom of the well.  I am not sure what they do if the line to the house is not below the frost line.

The check valve is my concern.  Calling the well guy this week so we'll see.

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Use a small, self priming electric pump, connected to a 20 ft piece of clear vinyl tubing down the vertical pipe and pump the pipe dry to 15 ft.  Just thinking out loud here.....

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On 8/5/2017 at 5:23 PM, delcecchi said:

Bladder no problem.   Wells have check valves.  Typically for submersible pumps they are at the bottom of the well.  I am not sure what they do if the line to the house is not below the frost line.

Del, glad you corrected me.  I was wrong.  The water is down as I suggested in the casing, not in the pipe from the pump up.  Sorry for the misinformation Moon.

 

Edited by Tom7227
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OK, I talked to the neighbor who recently had a drilled well installed at his seasonal cabin, two doors down from mine.  

His contractor installed a drain valve, gate type, about 10 feet down the casing that can be operated by a rod that extends near the top of the casing.   The rod is accessed by removing the cover of the casing.   Opening the valve allows all the water to drain back into the well from the pipe between the well and the pressure tank.  

 

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On 8/12/2017 at 8:35 AM, delcecchi said:

OK, I talked to the neighbor who recently had a drilled well installed at his seasonal cabin, two doors down from mine.  

His contractor installed a drain valve, gate type, about 10 feet down the casing that can be operated by a rod that extends near the top of the casing.   The rod is accessed by removing the cover of the casing.   Opening the valve allows all the water to drain back into the well from the pipe between the well and the pressure tank.  

 

Interesting, I have a valve up there too.  I wired the pump up this weekend and everything works great.  That top valve also pumped water just like the other valves.  I wonder if I was using it for a purpose other than intended(very likely!).  I gotta just stop putting it off call the guy to make sure.

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Problem solved... There is a pressure valve about 8 feet down.  Turn off the power, open a valve and when the line pressure drops below 15 psi it self drains to 8 foot down.  Extremely happy as this makes turning water on and off for the weekends sooo much easier than going down to the lake and priming the pump with 5 gallons of water poured into a 1 inch pipe..  

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Our well is submersible, what I meant was our previous water setup was a pump house down by the lake where we pumped lake water directly to the cabin.  That well needed a good amount of priming and with 20 year old plastic pipe and worn fittings, priming it hasn't been super easy lately.

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