Water Water Well Life FAQs

What's the life span of these well components: casing, and piping?

What is the lifespan for these alternative well materials?

1. PVC Well Casing (and / or piping)
2. Galvanized Iron Well Casing (and / or piping)
3. Stainless Steel Well Components
4. Cast Iron Piping

- On 2016-06-17 by MOHD NAZAN

by (mod) re: life span of galvanized vs pvc vs stainless steel piping for wells vs Water Chemistry

Mohd,

The life span of both well casing and piping materials depends on the quality of the metal and the water chemistry, flow rates, temperatures and a range of other factors, so no single answer is absolutely right for all situations.

In general ANY of the opinions you find on well casing or piping life will be a generic opinion because the writer cannot know and thereforer has not considered the corrosivity of the particular water aquifer or the chemistry of surrounding soils or the risk of mechanical disturbance or other factors that can greatly affect well component life, and

NO opinion we might find on the expected life of the water source itself can be given without knowing the specifics of the geography and hydrography of the specific well in question.

• Black ABS well piping has a very long life span, as much as 50-80 years;
• Cast iron well casings were used in 2" to 12" wells for many decades but again a 50 year life expectancy
  
  It's common for us to hear readers who have an older cast-iron well to report problems with rust particulates and we have some reports of cracked cast iron casings having to be repaired or replaced.
• Galvanized iron pipe (20-40 years) if all other conditions remain the same and the pipe quality, thickness, gauge, workmanship, etc. are comparable. My photo above shows a galvanized well lift pipe in a well drilled in Two Harbors Minnesota back in 1960; those rust blisters show pipe that's about to fail - this piping was replaced just a few years ago after roughlys sixty years of service.
• PVC well casings are often used on modern wells and are rated fora 50-100 year life span; none of us old-timers has lived with PVC casings long enough to report first hand on that estimate. But virtually all of the well service companies whose opinions we surveyed toguth that PVC will have a longer life as a well casing than steel or cast iron.
• Stainless steel has a longer life span (50-100 years) but I haven't found instances of people installing a stainless steel well casing, possibly because of the expense. Daniel F.

Other well bore lining materials include concrete and, less often, fiberglass or composite casings.

References

Here are some interesting reports on life of well casings from more (not always neutral) experts

• SoCal Well Service, PVC vs Steel Well Casing: Complete Comparison Guide (Website) Southern California Well Service, 1077 Main St, Ramona, CA 92065 USA, Tel: 760-440-8520
  
  offers life expectancy data for the casing material NOT on how long the water supply itself would be expected to last

Impact of Tank & Pump on Water Well Life Q&A

Will adding air to the pump give me more pressure and longer well water life?

How long does well water usually last in lifetime, and if I add air to the pump will it give me more pressure or not? On 2018-12-03 by elena

Explanation by (mod) - sorting out water pressure, pressure tank air charge, and pump life vs well life

Elena

The article WELL LIFE EXPECTANCY gives our best information on how long a water well will last. Individual well conditions abd sites have so much variety that no simple single number would be correct for your well about which we have no facts.

Watch out: Adding air to a pump itself will probably cause loss of pump prime and then you'd have no water at all.

Now if what you meant to ask was "will adding air give me better water pressure or a longer pump life" the answer is yes and no.

You need to have the correct air charge in the water pressure tank (not the pump) to avoid water pump short cycling which, if that happens, can shorten pump life.

And a proper air charge in the water tank will mean that when you first open a faucet water will run for a longer time, perhaps a minute or two, before the pump has to turn on.

None of these things has to do with how long your water well will continue to deliver water.

That really depends on your specific well: including the factors given in the well life expectancy article I cited above.

...

Separate Equipment Malfunction from Water Well Life

Our water pressure at the shower has begun to vary between fast and slow every half minute

We read all the articles on pressure variance. We are rural.

Three years ago we had our plumber put in a pit-less adapter and moved our 40gal pressure tank into the basement with a new pressure switch, so we wouldn't have to heat an outside well house in NE winter.

Water pressure had always been low, so we had the plumber increase it a little (the gauge shows 37psi right now). The last 3 months the water force spraying out of the shower began noticeably alternating every 5 minutes or so - increasing dramatically (almost stinging hard), and then going back to regular.

We haven't noticed it elsewhere because that's the only place water runs that long.

Articles say if the bladder is going, it would alternate every 30sec to 1 min, but this is 5 minutes, so it doesn't sound like the bladder broke.

We want to fix it to protect our submersible well pump, but don't want to replace the pressure tank (they're expensive) unless necessary. Any suggestions where to start?

P.S. We have a tankless hot water heater, so don't think that's related to the issue.

Answer / suggestion by (mod) - this isn't a well life problem it's a water tank problem

I don't assume from your description that "the bladder is going" in the tank. 5 minutes is a pretty good draw-down time - unless your cycle used to be much longer.

If a well pump begins short cycling on and off every 30 seconds or less then the tank is waterlogged, it has lost its air charge, which in the case of a tank using an internal bladder usually means the tank or bladder is leaky and shot.

But you say the pressure is abnormally high - have someone watch the gauge to confirm that the gauge is showing a high pressure at that time.

Watch out: a debris-clogged pressure switch may fail to respond properly to the actual water pressure - turning the pump on too late (pressure drops down below the CUT IN pressure ) OR - turning the pump off too late (pressure goes above the CUT OUT pressure) - that could explain the now stinging too-strong shower pressure.

Watch out too: debris that clogs the pressure switch will often also clog the gauge so that it doesn't respond accurately to actual water pressure. Sometimes if I see a gauge not responding I try tapping it gently.

See the diagnosis and repair details given at WATER PUMP SHORT CYCLING - home

by Paul

Thanks for your quick response! It didn't sound like the bladder to me either.

I didn't know pressure switches could get clogged, but I bet that might be it. We put a whole house filter between the switch and the water softener, and after pulling the well pump to install the pitless adapter,

we were surprised to see what looked like mud in the bottom of the filter the first couple times we changed it, so it makes perfect sense the switch could have residue in it. It is interesting it took this long before it started doing this, though, but always possible.

I suspect tapping on it may not resolve the issue, although I'll give it a shot tomorrow. (I'm on my way to work and don't get home till after midnight.)

If tapping doesn't resolve the issue, how would I flush it out or clean it?

by (mod) - rebuild the pressure control switch?

No, tapping the control won't fix anything - it'll still be fouled, but sometimes that's a useful diagnostic of a switch that's sticking.

There are rebuild kits for pressure control switches but most plumbers would just replace the control and clean or replace the tubing that conducts water pressure to the switch.

Well Diameter vs Water Delivery Q&A

Will a larger diameter well give more water pressure?

Would an eight inch well as opposed to a six inch well deliver more water pressure? Are plastic or metal pipes better for a residential well? - On 2017-08-22 by di

Explanation by (mod) - No; but here's why would we might want to drill a larger-diameter well bore or put in an 8" casing rather than a 6" well casing?

Di:

THANK YOU for asking a great question: why would we want to drill a larger-diameter well bore or put in an 8" casing rather than a 6" well casing?

Bottom line: No, a larger diameter well casing will not have any direct effect on water pressure (how fast or how hard water flows out when you open a faucet)

Water pressure is determined by the type and power of your water pump (the machine that moves water from the well to your plumbing fixtures) not by the well diameter.

There is a very subtle possible answer that leans slightly towards "yes" however. That is, IF your well flow rate is limited and you drill a larger diameter well then the static head - the reserve of water in the well when it is at rest and fully recovered from last use - will be a greater water volume. That might permit you to run your pump at a higher pressure so then you'd see "more water pressure" but at the cost of using the water up faster.

Detailed Explanation

Let's separate

water quantity - how much water can you get out of a well

water pressure - what is the highest water pressure in psi that a pump can deliver

water flow rate - how many gallons per minute can you get out of a system or will you see at a faucet

The pump determines both the water pressure and water flow rate - as it is taking water out of the well and sending it to the building.

The pump's flow rate in GPM to the building is limited

first by the capacity of the pump itself, its design and horsepower

second by the lift height - how high the pump has to lift the water to get it to you since lifting higher reduces the flow's output GPM

third the flow has an upper possible limit of the well's own flow rate - the rate at which water flows INTO the well while you're taking water out.

A pump that has a GPM rate GPM-PF that is higher than the well's flow rate-into the well GPM-WF can still deliver at GPM-PF as long as it is
drawing water out of the well bore itself - the static head or volume of water that is in the well bore when the well is at rest and fully recovered.

But if GPM-PF is higher than GPM-WF, once the pump has drawn water down to where the pump's intake opening is in the well, one of two things happens:

1. the pump starts to suck air, or runs dry, or burns up
or

2. a pump limiting device built into the water system right at the pump or at other controls that may be elsewhere will actually begin to operate to slow the pump's output to protect it from running dry and being ruined.

NOW with all that fantastic dancing about, what does a larger well bore do for you?

It increases the volume of water in the well bore or the well's static head.

Static head is explained in detail at WELL DYNAMIC HEAD & STATIC HEAD DEFINITION - volume of water when the well is at rest (also static head pressure is explained)

THERE - I found it by searching InspectApedia.com for “volume of water in a well casing” )

we explain that

one foot (12") of six-inch well casing holds about 1.5 gallons of water

one foot (12") of eight-inch well casing holds about 2.8 gallons of water

That means that your 8-inch well casing gives you almost double the volume of water in the static head (actually 1.86 times as much as a 6 inch casing if my math is right).

So you will NOT get more PRESSURE from your fatter casing but your well will have a larger static head.

Whether or not that makes the slightest difference depends entirely on the total well depth and even more-so on the actual height of water in the well at rest - the true static head.

If your particular well were just twenty feet deep (chosen to make the math easy) and if the static head were ten feet, then you'd have a static head of (2.8 x 10) = 28 gallons instead of (1.5 x 10) 15 gallons.

Now suppose somebody actually installed that not-very-deep well.

Suppose the installer also put in a pump that has a capacity of GPM-PF just 5 gallons per minute GPM of output. And let’s pretend that the lift height nd piping and other restrictions were zero.

Then the pump in the 6-inch well could run for just 3 minutes (15 gallons / 5 GPM-WP) before it would depend entirely on the flow rate INTO the well - not so nice, right,

But suppose the well has a well inflow rate GPM-WF that is 10 gallons a minute.

A pump with a GPM-PF of 5 is sucking water out at 5 gallons a minute but the well admits water in to its static head at 10 GPM-WF - the well is always ahead and the pump can keep sending water to you.

Hot dog!

For that case, an 8-inch well casing and the 28 gallons didn’t buy you anything because the well flow rate was already greater thant hte pumping rate.

BUT

What if the well flow rate is terrible, say 1 gallon per minute.

In our well with a 10 foot static head holding 15 gallons, during the 3 minutes we are sucking water out at 5 gpm and getting water in at 1 gpm so over 3 minutes we took in 3 gallons and sent out 5.

We have 2 gallons spare - that gets sent out in a jiffy and the pump falls behind and either runs dry and burns up or gets limited by a controller to 1 gallon a minute - and that’s all you’ll ever see in the house after the first 3 minutes (approximately)

So what does the well driller do about this mess?

She drills a deeper well AND / OR she uses a larger well casing (perhaps both) so that she gives you a well with a huge static head, maybe a 100 foot static head holding 150 gallons of water, figgerin’ that you’ll usually turn off the shower well before you’ve sucked out all of that 150.

THAT’s why a driller might want a bigger diameter well casing - you might get a bigger static head without having to drill deeper in nasty ground.

Well flow rate is explained in detail

at WELL FLOW RATE

The total water quantity that can be gotten out of a well is explained

at WELL YIELD, SAFE LIMITS

 

Well Not Working: Repair vs New Well

Driven Point Well Un-Clogging vs cost of driving a new driven point well?

I have a driven point well. I believe point screen has gotten clogged, you can pump water up but it seems to create a vaacum so pump runs longer. Runs out of water and then recharges. Can I put NuWell pellets in to hopefully unclog the screen? It's cheaper than $3000 for new driven point. On 2016-06-29 by Dave Duggan

Suggestions by (mod) re: diagnosing a clogged driven well screen and how to un-clog the point using acid products like Nuwell

Dave: your diagnosis sounds like a good guess.

The National Groundwater Association NGWA http://www.ngwa.org/ has published (unfortunately just part of) an article by David Schafer, "Less Time, Fewer Hazards with Pelletized Acid" (March-April 1971 in an un-named publication) that argues that this approach to clearing well screens can be effective.

NuWell pelletized acid is (I think) provided by Johnson Hole Products, having offices across the U.S. and whose products are also distributed by plumbing & well suppliers.

According to the company

NUWELLTM 100 is a pelletized acid designed for pouring directly into the well. NuWell 100 is best for wells with short to moderate lengths of screen at the bottom.

Here's one contact

California Office
1413 E. Philadelphia St.
Ontario, CA 91761
844.573.0854 toll free
909.939.2581 phone

The National Groundwater Association can be found at

National Ground Water Association
601 Dempsey Rd.
Westerville, OH 43081
USA
800 551.7379 (614 898.7791 outside the United States)
fax 614 898.7786
Email: ngwa@ngwa.org
Website: http://www.ngwa.org/

Our 30 year old well is leaking and we lose water pressure: which of these fixes should I try?

I have a water well that is more than 30 year old. Now, the water leaks to outside of house and cause the water pressure drop. The pump is currently in a cycle of running 20 seconds and resting 5 min even with no water usage.

I have been given 2 options from well-drilling company to fix the problem.

1. Try to pull the line and the pump/check valve out to replace them. It will cost 2k to 3k. I was told that it has a 75% chance that the pump cannot be pulled out. This will end up drilling a new well. We may not have water for 3 days or a week.

2. Drill a new well that will cost about 5K. The water outage will be short as a few hours for reconnecting the pipe to the new well.

My question is

1. What is the real chance for not be able to pull the pump out well and put a new one back in?

2. What is the best way to go?

Please advise. Thanks, JZ On 2016-04-09

by (mod) re: water leaks out of well piping outside

First let's find the leak. If the leak is between well line and house, pulling the pump won't fix a thing.

Look for wet spots or if necessary try a few excavation points along the run of the well line between well and house. Or see if you can find a plumber with a small camera who can scope the pipe.