Well bore seal question.

[itsmoked]

Have a 30hp pump down a 10 inch well bore. There's a leaky plug on the seal cap. Of course starting the pump you get some serious sucking thru the leak you can hear, several feet away, as the water level drops. Then when the pump stops we get a bunch of air coming out the leak as the well recharges and the level rises.

Questions:

1) Is the well head supposed to be tightly sealed so nothing can get into the well like bacteria etc?

2) If it's tightly sealed won't this impact what's happening hydraulically? Having a suction occur in the bore dropping the suction-head?

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[Artisi]

If the well us for drinking water, yes it should be sealed to exclude all nasties. The sealing cap needs to be vented (screened) to allow the pressure balance inside/outside of the well casing.

Therefore its possible you are hearing what is supposed to be happening.

Edit:: no file is attached.

It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. (Sherlock Holmes - A Scandal in Bohemia.)

 

[itsmoked]

So vented.

Thanks Artisi!

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[bimr]

This is a larger example:

 

[EdStainless]

It may be louder because the vent is partially blocked.
Our residential water well cap has an annular slot under the cap that is filled with a fibrous material.

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P.E. Metallurgy, consulting work welcomed