Water Well Check Valve Failure

How to troubleshoot residential well problems.

Water well check valve failure. Symptoms of a serious problem like no water in the house can be caused by either the well or the pump and sometimes both. A common cause is a failed check valve. A different common cause of a higher energy cost happens when the check valve from the well goes bad. When your well stops pumping water it doesn t necessarily mean you have to purchase a new well pump or dig a new well.

Each of these problems requires a pro. A foot valve is only used in a jet pump situation where the pump resides above ground and shoots some water down the well to help lift more water back up. The check valve or foot valve prevents the well pressure tank from sending water back down into the well after it has built up with water pressure. If the valve fails water streams back down the well and the pressure switch turns the pump on again.

On a submersible well pump installation if your well water pump does not have a built in check valve many submersible pumps do have a check valve a line check valve should be installed in the discharge pipe within 25 feet of the pump and below the drawdown level of the water inside the well. Troubleshooting well problems is also complicated by the fact that almost all the action takes place far underground. This enables water from your pressure tank to flow back down into the well which then reduces pressure and signals to the pressure switch to turn the pump on again and pressurize the pressure tank. A foot valve is located at the bottom of a well and acts like a one way check valve allowing water to go up the pipe toward the house but not drain backward into the well.

The well has only been in service about 12 years. It seems like the 1000 or so that it s going to take to lift the pump and replace would be better spent by putting the check valve farther up the system and adding a vacuum break to allow the well to drain. What they are how they work and why they must. Diagnosing problems with a deep water well can be difficult.

Is that a normal amount of time for a check valve on the pump to last before failure.