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Thread: Well seal

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Posts
    104

    Default Well seal

    I popped the top off my 4" well casing as i would like to add a clorinator to address iron in my water. I looked down the casing and there is some kind if seal 5' down with just the electric wires going through it. The seal closes off the whole casing and only has a small loop sticking up.
    So my question is what is this seal and how do i get it out, a picture of one out of the well would be great. I,m not sure how i would get anything attached to the small loop on the seal.
    Thanks

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Sovereign Seacoast New Hampshire
    Posts
    615

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by knight templar View Post
    I popped the top off my 4" well casing as i would like to add a clorinator to address iron in my water. I looked down the casing and there is some kind if seal 5' down with just the electric wires going through it. The seal closes off the whole casing and only has a small loop sticking up.
    So my question is what is this seal and how do i get it out, a picture of one out of the well would be great. I,m not sure how i would get anything attached to the small loop on the seal.
    Thanks
    Was the well head ever raised? Maybe used to be in a cistern/basin? You should be able to see the pitless adapter and the wiring from above. There is not normally any seal other than the top one, that is, unless someone used a compression coupling or something similar to connect a 5' piece of pipe to bring it above grade, and what you may be seeing is the original seal???

    I do not recommend adding a chlorinator to the wellhead. It will work, but the chlorine will cause the electrical shielding and plastic water pipe to fatigue faster. And the pump impeller can either rust (if iron) or become brittle (if thermoplastic). Not to mention any dead iron bacteria and colloidal iron will build up at the bottom of the well over the years.

    Are you using a cartridge filter in the house to catch the precipitate, or a backwashing carbon filter? You'll need one of them if your iron is high enough to require a chlorinator at the well.

    I suggest putting the chlorinator immediately after the check valve before the water enters the pressure tank. In most cases that will provide enough contact time for low level iron when followed by a cartridge filter.

    However, again, the fact that you need to chlorinate the well suggests a high iron SMCL. If you teamed the pre-pressure tank chlorine injection with a backwashing carbon filter and maybe a contact tank you'd have better iron reduction, no chlorine taste, and will also remove various other contaminants.

    This method will remove organically bound/tannic iron especially well.

    A second suggestion would be a pressurized aerator and then a carbon filter.

    Often, the air-oxidation is sufficient to precipitate the iron without chlorine. The carbon will then catch the residuals. And if you need more, a chlorinator can be added AFTER THE WELLPUMP, and with the pressure tank and the aerator tank, will provide ample contact time. The aerator also will reduce T&O/VOC compounds, radon, and H2S.

    IMO, you don't need precise metering with any of the configurations, so the simple pellet feeder would be perfect.

    I am not affiliated with this site, but they have some good, cheap equipment showing exactly what I've mentioned.

    Aerator:

    http://www.cleanwaterstore.com/air-c...sor-tanks.html

    Backwashing filter:

    http://www.cleanwaterstore.com/carbon-backwash.html

    Chlorinator:

    http://www.cleanwaterstore.com/chlor...et-feeder.html

    I hope that helps. Good luck, and if I can give more advice let me know

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Ozarks
    Posts
    174

    Default

    I assume that is the pitless adapter where the water goes to your underground lines.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Posts
    104

    Default

    Hello,
    Thanks for the reply's. This is a drilled well and there was never a cistern. The iron in the water is bad enough that it leaves a film on everything it touches. I will look into doing the chlorine before the water tank and yes I know I will have to add a filter. I have worked on wells before but have never seen anything like this. I also wanted to add a hand pump. Looks like I will have to dig down to the line that goes to the house to see what the outside of the adapter looks like. I was hoping that someone on the board had run into something like this and could give me an idea of what I an dealing with.
    Thanks

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Ozarks
    Posts
    174

    Default

    It sounds like one we had once, if it hasn't been pulled for a while, last 5 years or so, pull it now and hope it comes up without breaking something. We had the spool type pitless and the seals got stuck and we hired a backhoe to dig it up. It sounds like the type we had. Something like this.

    http://www.bakermonitor.com/content/...-pitless-units

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