Hi all
am after a bit of your knowledge/suggestions.
we are on private water and are having a few problems but i'm not sure if we've got a leak or not.
the pipe from the pump house runs down hill for about 8-12 meters then enters the house (somewhere*) and upto the loft watertank (which is prob. about 2 meters higher than the well. so theoretically when the pump stops pumping the pipe should be full of water (there’s a non-return valve on the inlet in the well)
anyway we have a tap @ the pump house and if you open the tap and put your thumb over it (once the pump stops running) you can feel a vacuum and take your thumb off you can hear/feel an intake of air – you can repeat this a number of times (if you think of the letter ‘n’, the pump is at the bottom of the right had side and the tap is half way up the left side).
Coupled with the fact that water flow to the tank is very slow i suspect a leak.... BUT if you turn off the stopcock going into the tank (at tank height) and leave the pump running you can’t see the water level drop in the well (though I’m going to try that again tonight when i get home)
I’m out of ideas – could it be an airlock in the pipe somewhere which is reducing our flow... but if so what’s the ‘sucking’ through the pipe when the pumps not on??
And finally – i’ve dug a number of holes around the garden trying to find the pipe to the house – what sort of depth should i be going too (gone around foot 1/2 )
(hope that makes sense)
Many thanks
*the house is over 100 years old and we *think* the original plumbing from the well to the house was put in in the 40s or 50s ... there was an extension in the 60s so who knows where the inlet pipe is.... I don’t but want to replace it as its lead (allegedly))
am after a bit of your knowledge/suggestions.
we are on private water and are having a few problems but i'm not sure if we've got a leak or not.
the pipe from the pump house runs down hill for about 8-12 meters then enters the house (somewhere*) and upto the loft watertank (which is prob. about 2 meters higher than the well. so theoretically when the pump stops pumping the pipe should be full of water (there’s a non-return valve on the inlet in the well)
anyway we have a tap @ the pump house and if you open the tap and put your thumb over it (once the pump stops running) you can feel a vacuum and take your thumb off you can hear/feel an intake of air – you can repeat this a number of times (if you think of the letter ‘n’, the pump is at the bottom of the right had side and the tap is half way up the left side).
Coupled with the fact that water flow to the tank is very slow i suspect a leak.... BUT if you turn off the stopcock going into the tank (at tank height) and leave the pump running you can’t see the water level drop in the well (though I’m going to try that again tonight when i get home)
I’m out of ideas – could it be an airlock in the pipe somewhere which is reducing our flow... but if so what’s the ‘sucking’ through the pipe when the pumps not on??
And finally – i’ve dug a number of holes around the garden trying to find the pipe to the house – what sort of depth should i be going too (gone around foot 1/2 )
(hope that makes sense)
Many thanks
*the house is over 100 years old and we *think* the original plumbing from the well to the house was put in in the 40s or 50s ... there was an extension in the 60s so who knows where the inlet pipe is.... I don’t but want to replace it as its lead (allegedly))