Author Topic: Strong vacuum at well head? What does it mean?  (Read 1812 times)

jphalin

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Strong vacuum at well head? What does it mean?
« on: June 15, 2021, 09:38:34 PM »

First some background... planted a new lawn and added sprinklers this spring. Worked great for about 2 weeks and then I started to run the well dry. So I stopped watering for a week to let the well recover.

In the mean time I bought a sonic well level tester and I was going to install it today to see how much water I could safely use. When I pulled the well cover (turtle) off to install the sonic tester, I noticed a super strong vacuum at the well head. I turned off the pump (I did not think it was running but to confirm) and the vacuum is just as strong. I do not know if the vacuum existed before I ran the well dry but I don't think it did when I originally had the well installed 6 years ago.

I did a search on the internet to see what this means and did not find any info. Hoping you know what it means. Is my well toast and an air channel is running through where water use to be? I have not checked the water level yet, I am getting water for household use at an acceptable quantity so far.

Well is about 6 years old but we have been using it for about 2 years when we built the house. 253' deep 8" casing, 5-6 gpm. Originally the static head was 160'. I will try to get the sonic tester working anyways to see if I can figure out the current static level.

thanks.

Cary Austin

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Re: Strong vacuum at well head? What does it mean?
« Reply #1 on: June 16, 2021, 10:12:33 AM »
The well cap needs a screened vent. Not good for a well to be under vacuum.

jphalin

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Re: Strong vacuum at well head? What does it mean?
« Reply #2 on: June 19, 2021, 08:17:31 AM »

The turtle cap is vented but the vacuum was so strong it still slammed the cover down. After discussing with my well guy, he said it is rare to have such strong vacuum but called it a barometric well. We happened to have a storm front moving in on the day I opened the well head and the vacuum was really strong. The next day when I called him he said because a new high pressure weather system was arriving it would probably be less vacuum and maybe even become a blower. I checked it and he was right, the vacuum had decreased to a slight vacuum.

Cary Austin

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Re: Strong vacuum at well head? What does it mean?
« Reply #3 on: June 20, 2021, 03:40:57 PM »
Still need a vent as it is not good for a well to be under vacuum.