Over a month ago we started having excessive air in our water lines. You turn the faucet on and air comes out and water sputters. Flush the toilet and you can hear the water surging.
We had a Well company come out to check the system. Figured since we have lived here 13 years and never done anything, who knows. They came out and found that the metal well casing was excessively rusty and breaking apart at the top. Told us that it it was that bad at the top, most likely it was all the way down. They then tested the well and found there to be 2 leaks in the well casing one at 24 feet one at 58 feet. Also said that the pressure tank was not working. Gave us the choice of digging a new well ($15,000 or replacing the casing and needed parts $4200) Money is tight we opted for the less expensive route)
Said that the pump was working fine. They replaced the casing so we now have a 4 1/2 inch instead of 6 inch casing.
Now when we flush the toilet we still have the surge noise, turn on the faucet 50% of the time there is air and the surge. We now have cloudy water when it first comes out of the faucet, takes about 45 secs for the air to work out and water to be clear. We never had this problem before with the surging and air this is why we had the well guys out and spent the $4200. I did call to tell them that I was not happy with this and they came out and check the system, said that the check valve at the pump was not working. Said that they replaced it, no charge to us (that was nice I thought) well we still have the same problem.
ANY suggestions? I really feel that we spend $4200 for nothing! We have less water, due to the smaller casing, the noise going through the pipes drives me nuts, not to mention when the water surges and gets me wet when turning the facuet on.
Thanks
Denise

I'm not following this. The well casing does two things. It holds the earth back so that the hole in the ground stays open so you can put your pump and well piping down. It prevents water in the top portion of the ground from entering the well. You don't want that water. You want water from down deep that has been filtered by the earth. Leaks in the well casing would not affect the operation of the pump or well unless you were getting contaminated water. I don't know how they would know that the casing was leaking. It would not cause air in the line. A defective check valve (assuming it is on the surface) could cause air. Could but not necessarily would. A leaking well pipe would, especially if the pump does not have a foot valve or built in check valve. A leaking well pipe could cause air even if the pump has a check valve. A leaking well pipe could also account for diminished volume. The reduced well casing would not cause reduced volume unless a smaller pump was installed.

If your well pipe is leaking, after the pump shuts off the water in the pipe will flow out and back down the well. Air will enter the pipe. When the pump comes on again the water that is being pumped will push the air through the system.

You say you have air in the line. Is that not when you first open a faucet, but after you empty the tank and when the pump comes on?

What was not working about the pressure tank. Do you have a pressure tank or a bladder tank? A bladder tank has a bladder inside to keep air and water separated. A regular pressure tank does not. It does not do anything except hold water and air. It could leak or it might have rust inside but other than that it can't not work.

I don't know anything about wells and how they work. Just went by what the well guys told me. I was standing there when he performed some of the tests on the well. They drained the water down out of the casing ( I guess) using a meter that beeped and told them the depth he pointed out the running water sound were he said the holes in the casing were. He said that was not good. We did get murky looking water after heavy rains.
The pump was not replaced, they did lower it 15 feet further in the well when they replaced the casing. The check valve they replaced was down with the pump and but the pump itself was not replaced.
They explained to me that when we use water it is the water stored in the casing that is being pumped out after the volume in the casing is used it takes about 10-15 minutes for the water to refill itself in the casing. During this time the pump shuts off (some safety switch they put on so that the pump would not run and burn out while there is not enough water)
Then after the water refills the pump turns back on and we have water again.

My concern is the air in the lines.
When we turn the faucet on surge of air, while the water is running there are surges of air from time to time too. I don't know if it is when the pump is turning on I have not stood back by the well and listened to the pump cycle and check the water at the same time.
How do I know if there is a hole in the pipe? What pipe? Should that have been something the well guys checked, since the air in the lines was my original concern!!

Thanks
Denise

So the well man is going to replace the foot valve or check valve which is at the bottom of the well. That should solve the problem. He should have checked that first. What he said about water in the casing is true, after a certain depth. As the well driller sinks the casing and after a certain depth, he passes through layers of sand. That's where the water is, in the layers of sand. He puts in a screen, a section of pipe with holes to let water in. That water flows to the bottom of the well. When he reaches the depth he is going, the last layer of sand, called strata, he pumps out the water real fast. That brings out soil, sand and mud. That makes a big underground hole or cave. The water in that last strata or layer of sand and the layers above is where the water comes from,it is collected in the hole or cave created at the bottom. You just don't want the water from the top. You don't know kind of contaminates are in it. As water seeps down through the soil is is cleaned of most contaminants. The leaking well casing did not cause the air in the well pipe, the one the pump is attached to. The leaking check valve most probably did. He should have checked that first.

Harold,
Thank you for taking the time to answer.
Well they told me when they came back last week to check it that they replaced the check valve at the pump.
Gurr... just really gets me that I spent the money we did not have to "fix" the problem and it is WORSE than it was before they came.
Guess I will be calling them back again in the morning to let them know our problem is not fixed.
Thanks again,
Denise

Dek, I'm not too sure about what your well guy is doing. The purpose of the check valve is to prevent the water in your pressure tank from simply flowing back down the wellpipe into the well once the pump cuts off. In other words, it is a "one-way street" type of valve that only allows the water to flow up the pipe, not back down. That is usually noticed by the fact that your pressure will drop when no water is being used in the house since the water, as I stated, is going "backwards" into the well. So the pump will cut off and on continually even though you are not using water in the house. Your well has two check valves, one at the top just before the pressure tank, and the other actually in the well a few feet above the pump. They obviously are convinced that one or the other checkvalve is not working properly. However, I don't think that a faulty checkvalve will introduce air into your lines. That normally would happen when the pump begins to pump air along with water due to a drop in the water level in the well. That sounds like your situation since they installed a cutoff mechanism to prevent the pump from continuing to run when it has no water. Another possibility is a leak in the wellpipe that allows air into the system, but that would normally not cause the air problem you are describing.

I would call them back and specifically ask about the air in the lines. Replacing the checkvalves has obviously not solved the problem. It's probably time to get a little tough with these guys and say, "I've paid you over 4 grand and still the problem is not solved."

I HAD air in my water lines, but with the help of a local well serviceman, we cured the problem. At first we found a small hole in a fitting at the top of the pump. I had him put in a new pump and all new fittings and pipe up to the pit-less fitting at the top of the well. But I still had air in the water. So the next time when he was pulling the pipes out we noticed the water level in the pipe was going down, so he assumed the check valve in the pump was not sealing. So he added two more check valves, one just above the pump and another at the top just before the pit-less fitting. I also have one at the pressure tank. Now, no more air in the water. I think what was happening was when the pump was off (not pumping) the water in the pipe was draining out the bottom from the weight of the water in the vertical portion of the pipe causing a negative pressure (vacuum) in the pipe below the check valve at the pressure tank and this was causing the water to cavitate (not sure that's the right term to use) or "gas out". Then when the pump turned on it pushed this bubble of air past the check valve and into the pressure tank and then into the water lines in the house. So the solution is to make sure that a negative pressure in the pipe is never allow to happen at any time in the cycle. Make sure you have no leaks and your check valves are all sealing.

Some of this makes sense to me... however, I have air in my pump lines right now, and the first thing I am going to look at is the air volume control. I seem to remember that there is an air entrainment system on these metal tanks that sucks in a certain amount of air to sit on top of the water in the tank, thus giving it a pressure to push the water to the house while the pump is off. A more common problem in my experience is the "water logged" tank, where the air volume control has failed, and NO AIR gets into the tank, so the air is all slowly absorbed into the water, and then the whole tank is full of water, no air, and as you know water is not compressable like air is. Then your problem is that every time you open a tap, one second later the pump kicks on because the pressure in the system falls so fast without the air pressure to hold it up for a few minutes. You can go out and turn off the pump, let the water drain out of the tank if it will, and then the air left in the tank will be compressable and the problem is solved for a few weeks, but eventually the air dissolves into the water and is lost, and the water logging reoccurs. A bad check valve at the foot of the well pipe sounds like a plausible cause for the negative pressure in the line that sucks in air, however, why does the pressure switch not turn the pump on when the pressure falls that low? It seems crazy to me to have more than one check valve in the system... why do you need more than the one at the foot of the well pipe?

Well, you are close to correct. The tanks I think you are referring to actually are part of a system in which some air is allowed into the wellpipe between pump cycles. When the pump cuts on, the air is pumped into the tank. There is a valve about halfway down the tank itself which opens when the tank has too much air in it, and allows some of the air to escape, which prevents the tank from completely filling with air. Is a pretty good system since it allows the pump to cut on with no head pressure.