[Dano81]

So I recently bought my first home on septic and well. I found the filter and UV light systems installed with plastic braided hose and hose clamps, was a terrible job and weeped all over the place, took it upon myself to change this all out and hard pipe it in. I tried to isolate the pressure tank but found the valve was actually rotten and just spun on the seat, so I shut the well pump off, drained the pressure tank down and proceeded to swap everything out to new. Time line this took me about 2 evenings( the pump was off this entire time), and when I went to turn the well pump back on, I got nothing. So reading lots of these Q&A's on here I will do my best to provide some information.

The pump is submersible, there is only the pressure tank in the utility room.
I checked my breaker panel which is the screwed fuse type and could not locate any blown fuses.
I left the pump on for about 5 minutes thinking it needed to build its prime, I had read submersibles were self priming. Still nothing
When I first cut into the line after draining it all down I could hear a hissing/gurgling coming from the line when I had the drain open on the bottom of the pressure tank tee.
Did I lose my prime because my foot valve is faulty and leaking back into my pump?
Just trying to find ways to trouble shoot this before I call in a pro.

( I got the number off the well cap of the company, who hopefully installed it as the previous owner couldn't tell me anything about it, depth, when it was change, nothing)

[SkyRoller]

This sounds like the pipe, motor or wiring coming up from the well is shot. Since you have screw in fuses, your house is probably 50 to 60 yrs old. Pumps, pipe and wiring lasts about 25yrs. I replaced mine about 8 years ago. I found a large hole in the pipe right above the motor, I also found the aluminum wiring was very thin is some places. I decided to replace the pump motor, pipe and aluminum wiring. I used a red devil pump, 120 ft of pipe That's my well depth, and copper wiring going all the way up to the well cap, I also added a whole house filter after the tank and have been trouble free. You use the word rotten and weeping, which are indicaters of age of the water system. A pro should be able to set you up for around $2500 with new pump, pipe and wire, be sure they tape the wire to the pipe every 10 ft or so to support it, remember the well can be deep and the weight of the wire will cause the wire to break eventually. The reason the hole in the pipe usually is right by the motor is because of the weight of the column of water going all the way up. Also, care should be taken to pull the motor up, if it breaks and falls to the bottom of the well, you pretty much have to sink a new well.

[Dano81]

Thanks for the advice skyroller! The house is 29 years old, but again the previous owner has no information about the well except that he had the well cap extended 2 feet above ground and a wishing well decoration added around it. Is it even worth trying to put water back down the line or should I just quit and call someone before I break into the well cap.

Again thank you for your reply.

[jlisenbe]

Dan, submersible pumps don't have foot valves and don't need to be primed. I would disconnect the line going from the pump to the pressure tank, then turn on the pump. If you get water, then that's good. If you don't, then the pump is likely shot OR the water table has dropped below the level of the pump. A leaking wellpipe will not normally prevent the pump from delivering at least some water to the surface.

It would also be wise to make sure you are getting current to the wire going into the well. Use a voltmeter for this, or you can also use a little inexpensive lamp tester which simply lights up if the line tested is hot. It is possible that the points in the switch are closing, but not allowing current through. It's been known to happen.

[SkyRoller]

I would check out what jlisenbe said before calling in a pro, measure the volts at the pressure switch on your watertank.be sure to set meter to ac volts, or use the tester probe that jl mentioned.

The other possibility I forgot to mention is a faulty pressure switch/gauge on the tank. They should cut out at roughly 60lbs psi and turn on at 40 or so. If the switch it faulty then the pump motor won't turn on. You may need to clean the contacts, just be sure you pull the fuses before cleaning. If that still fails then I'd call a pro They should be able to have you back in service 1 to 2 days tops.

[Dano81]

First I would like to thank everyone for taking the time to answer me. I think I should have added that my pressure tank was drained completely because my isolating valve to the house had rotted out so I drained it dry. After asking a few friends at work they told me if I lifted on the arm on my pressure switch to override the low water cut off. Sure enough bang I had water after holding the arm up to the start position on the side of the switch box ( I never looked for anything like this at the time) I guess this was a valuable lesson to learn if I ever lose power and flush a few toilets and the tank goes below my cut in pressure and trips that low water mark and won't allow my well pump to come on.

Thanks to everyone who responded, I learned a metric ton of stuff about my well in the last 2 days.

[jlisenbe]

Too late, HK. Sounds like he solved his problem.