Well Pits to Contain Water Equipment & Well Access InspectAPedia® -
Well Pits to Contain Water Equipment & Well Access
Types of wells and water supply systems and what to watch out for with each
Well pump & water tank diagnosis & repair procedures
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This article describes Well Pits to Contain Water Equipment & Well Access. We provide advice about what to do when things go wrong.
Readers of this document should also see
Water Tank Types and before assuming that a water problem is due to the
well itself, see
Water pump and pressure tank repair diagnosis & cost an specific case which offers an example of diagnosis of loss of water pressure, loss of water, and analyzes the actual repair cost.
Well Pits for Access to Well Heads, Pressure Tanks, Pumps, Controls
Well Pits for drilled wells
are excavations, usually outdoors, which were dug below to below the frost line (in freezing climates)
to house the well top and sometimes the pump and water tank.
The photo above shows a messy
well pit interior with a plastic bucket over a well casing and a glimpse of the water pressure tank. At page top we have a collapsing well pit with no cover whatsoever - a serious falling hazard.
The sketch shown above, courtesy of Carson Dunlop, demonstrates use of a well pit of capping and accessing drilled
wells was used in order to provide ready access to the equipment while also assuring that the water line
between the well and the building it serves was protected from frost. While the sketch places the water pump and pressure tank inside the building, in many instances the well pit may contain all of these items.
Well pits are very common in many
areas all over the world.
Safety Warnings Regarding Well Pits
Well pit covers: As with our concern for dug well safety, a well pit should have a child-safe
cover to prevent falling-in and injury.
Well Pit shock hazards: You should also be very careful of electrical shock hazards when entering a well pit. Often the well pit is wet or perhaps even flooded. In such cases be sure to turn off electrical power before entering in or working in the well pit.
At a property where we broke a water supply fitting we needed to shut off the water pump. The water pump and its controls were in an outside well pit. On opening the pit cover and seeing a foot of water therein we knew better than to jump down into the pit to turn off the pump switch. We used a dry broomstick to push the switch to the off position. We could also have found the main electrical panel and found and turned off the pump circuit there.
Watch for collapsing well pits such as the frost-damaged masonry block pit walls shown at page top.
Watch out for flooding well pits - especially if the well cap is located in the well pit floor. A well pit that floods risks leaking unsanitary surface water into the well - be sure that the well cap is water tight in these cases, and take steps to keep water out of the well pit.
At a property inspection we observed a well pit housing the well head itself as well as water pump and pressure tank. The well casing had no cover installed. It was raining. Water was running across the property from a pony stable down into the well pit and into the well. Manure-runoff was entering the drinking supply, making it unsanitary and possibly quite dangerous to the building occupants. The well needed to be sterilized, tested, and provided with a water-tight sanitary cover. The well pit needed to be protected from surface runoff from the stables. The building occupants needed to be informed immediately that their water was unsanitary.
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Thanks to Alan Carson and Bob Dunlop, Carson Dunlop, Associates, Toronto, for permission to use illustrations from their publication, The Illustrated Home which illustrates construction details and building components. Carson Dunlop provides home inspection education, publications, report writing materials, and home inspection services. Alan Carson is a past president of ASHI, the American Society of Home Inspectors.
Critique, contributions wanted: Contact Us to suggest text changes and additions and, if you wish, to receive online listing and credit for that contribution.
General water testing and corrective measure advice: contact your local health department.
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