The post Homeowner’s Maintenance Checklist: Free Printable Download appeared first on Wellowner.org.

As a private water well contractor and well inspector for many years, I had the opportunity to observe and document a number of mistakes private well owners made to their wells and water systems. Some modifications were almost comical, while others I considered outright dangerous for the homeowner and others.

I have prepared here a short list of the most common mistakes I observed. Perhaps this list of mistakes will save other well owners from duplicating or doing something similar.

1. A foolish mistake for any well owner to make is to cut off vehicular access to their well for future service needs. I frequently saw where homeowners placed buildings over their wells with no access port in the roof. One customer enclosed his well in a rather distant building that required renting a large crane in order to pull the pump! It is not necessary, or even desirable, to enclose a well in a building, especially if it is a pitless adapter completion. Leave the well where it can be easily accessed and put the controls and equipment in a building.

Water well being pulled through the roof using a crane

One homeowner built and placed an elaborate steel sculpture right on top of his well. His metal sculpture over the well meant it took extra time to unbolt it and hoist it out of the way before beginning work on it. It took more chargeable time to put it back when the work was done.

A metal sculpture over a water well

Special scaffolding used to pull pump from a well

Another customer isolated his well by building a swimming pool between the street and the well. This required putting up scaffolding tall enough to pull the pump with an electrical chain hoist when it needed to be serviced. All the scaffolding had to be hand-carried in and out, along with the new pump and motor. In addition, it was somewhat dangerous to do it this way.

2. Doing their own electrical wiring of their well and/or booster pumps without knowledge of local, state, and national electrical codes. In most areas there are electrical wiring codes that apply to private water wells. They are not there just for the sake of collecting an inspection fee, but for obvious safety reasons. Electricity can be dangerous if not properly installed. I have seen some very sloppy and very dangerous homeowner wiring jobs.

Poor electrical wiring on booster pump

Example of bad owner electrical wiring

A very common mistake was not putting electrical wires in conduit when needed. Another common and dangerous practice I found was having unrestrained wires coming from well seals, starter-control boxes, pressure switches, and even out of cement floors. Without proper restraints or being placed in conduits, electrical wires can be jerked out of place and cause a short. It was also very common to see privately wired well installations where there was no safety disconnect within sight of 10 feet of the well or booster pump.

Electrical wiring coming out of the concrete floor

Electrical wires coming through a cement floor

3. Not maintaining water quality security of the well or water storage tanks. This is a mistake made by many private well owners. I have found openings in the top of well seals and pitless well covers that were not properly secured to the well casing. Openings in the covers of water storage tanks allow bacteria, insects, birds, and even rodents and reptiles to get into their drinking water.

Not taking water quality security seriously was the most common mistake I found. How so? By not maintaining tight security of their water systems and by allowing components of their system to deteriorate in place. Often the well owners were not even aware of the breaches in their water security until I pointed it out.

Water storage tank cover not properly closed

Stuff floating inside a tank

4. Doing their own plumbing of water from their well and tanks. Private well owners typically did not follow local plumbing codes. They also built delivery systems without consideration for future servicing needs. Most of the time, their work was done with PVC pipes that were glued together without unions or other means to take the system apart for servicing. While they may have got the water or electricity to flow in the proper direction, they oftentimes made it more inconvenient to service, or unknowingly, downright dangerous for themselves or others.

Plumbing without a union

Mixing PVC and electrical conduit set on a notched plate2

The few dollars homeowners might have saved doing their own electrical or plumbing work often cost them more when the serious work had to be done by a professional.

Summing up the common mistakes listed here, it is probably best that private well owners contact and use properly licensed and qualified water well contractors for building and servicing their wells. If they are not comfortable inspecting their system for these types of mistakes, they should request an inspection by a licensed contractor.

Taking proper care of your private water well makes good horse sense.

About the Author

Gary Hix is a Registered Professional Geologist in Arizona, specializing in hydrogeology. He was the 2019 William A. McEllhiney Distinguished Lecturer for The Groundwater Foundation. He is a former licensed water well drilling contractor and remains actively involved in the National Ground Water Association and Arizona Water Well Association.

To learn more about Gary’s work, go to In2Wells.com. His eBooks, “Domestic Water Wells in Arizona: A Guide for Realtors and Mortgage Lenders” and “Shared Water Wells in Arizona,” are available on Amazon.

The post Some Common Mistakes Well Owners Make Regarding Their Wells and Equipment appeared first on Wellowner.org.

Winterizing a domestic water well means different things in different states. Private well owners in Fairbanks, Alaska, will have pitless adapter well completions with the water outlet pipe set at a depth of nine feet or greater to protect it from freezing. Our wells have above ground completions with exposed pipe coming out of the top of well seals mostly without insulation around that plumbing.

When extreme cold weather comes to the Southern states it can impact the operation of private water systems. It can cause water well control systems and booster pumps on shared wells to freeze, bursting pipes and cast-iron chambers. Another weak zone inherent in southern states is the above ground use of PVC plumbing components. These are especially vulnerable to hard freezes.

Here are some tips for well owners in mostly southern states to prepare their water well systems for extreme cold weather events.

1. Make sure all vital above ground components are protected with some form of insulating material. The well head and casing may not need to be insulated but all the plumbing that comes from the well to either storage or bladder tanks should be wrapped with material and/or electrical heat generating strips.

Well plumbing insulated

2. Especially vulnerable are the smaller diameter pipe sizes like the one that leads from the manifold to the pressure switch. Pressure gauges are very vulnerable to freezing and can be destroyed in just one night of below freezing temperatures.

Above ground well insulation

3. Large water storage tanks and even captive air bladder tanks themselves may not need to be insulated but the plumbing entering and exiting them must be. The smaller the diameter of the pipe and the lower to the ground, the more likely it is to freeze.

4. Private and shared water systems associated with storage tanks often have booster pumps drawing from them feeding to bladder tanks. These cast-iron booster pumps are very susceptible to breakage if they hard freeze. Ice expands upon freezing and breaks cast-iron booster pump housings.

Booster pump insulation

5. Any exposed PVC plumbing is also very vulnerable to breakage from even the slightest freezing temperature. PVC may be plastic at elevated temperatures but it is quite brittle at cold temperatures.

6. Homeowners are always encouraged to visually inspect their private water system on a regular basis. They are not intended to be left alone in the way that hot water heaters are typically ignored (until they fail).

7. Visual inspections should include inclement weather protection for vital water system components. In the desert southwest we must protect our systems more from heat and direct sunlight with only occasional protection from deep freezes.

8. Good thermal insulation can protect from both extremes.

9. My preferred thermal protection from both heat and cold is to wrap all vital plumbing components with the insulating foam split tubing and then wrap the foam with the aluminum tape that protects the vulnerable foam from rodents and ultraviolet destruction.

10. All water carrying components need insulation protection from hard freezes, however most electrical components do not. I do not recommend covering electrical control components with foam insulation or draping them with insulating blankets.

11. Some well owners who have left their freeze protection go to the last night before the hard freeze warning comes of the news will go out and throw a number of blankets, towels or tarps over the well, bladder tank and other components to protect it for a few nights. If they don’t remove these coverings shortly after the freeze warning is over these coverings become attractive homes for rodents, insects and reptiles. It’s quite a surprise when these coverings are removed in the late spring finding mice, kangaroo rats, scorpions, toads and even rattlesnakes hiding under them.

For more winter tips and helpful information, check out this recent related article:

Keep your well safe and operating through winter weather

About the Author

Gary Hix is a Registered Professional Geologist in Arizona, specializing in hydrogeology. He was the 2019 William A. McEllhiney Distinguished Lecturer for The Groundwater Foundation. He is a former licensed water well drilling contractor and remains actively involved in the National Ground Water Association and Arizona Water Well Association.

To learn more about Gary’s work, go to In2Wells.com. His eBooks, “Domestic Water Wells in Arizona: A Guide for Realtors and Mortgage Lenders” and “Shared Water Wells in Arizona,” are available on Amazon.

The post Winterizing Your Well Southern Style appeared first on Wellowner.org.