Resuscitation and repair and water wells: what can you do yourself, and what is better to give a pro?

The source of autonomous water supply of a private house is increasingly becoming water wells of various types. Creating such a water source is a laborious and expensive business. For various reasons, it may be necessary to repair water wells. Timely intervention of specialists or independently taken measures often save the well from serious damage and eliminate the need to look for new sources of water.

Why do wells break at all?

As there are no two identical people, so, perhaps, there are no two absolutely identical wells. And in the same way, over time, this device can change, most often, not for the better. Among the most common causes of well breakdowns are the following:

• siltation of a well;
• changing position of aquifers;
• flaws in the design and installation of the device;
• depreciation of equipment;
• pipe breakage;
• breakage of the pump;
• loss of tightness of individual elements of the aquifer system, etc.

Homeowners should pay attention to a number of the following warning signs:

• the amount of water coming from the well has decreased markedly (debit reduction);
• unwanted impurities appeared in water;
• the water became cloudy.

If such symptoms are observed after a considerable time after the start of well operation, it is likely to silt. You should immediately start cleaning the well, otherwise equipment breakdowns will begin.

Tip. Before you start repairing or rebuilding wells, you should evaluate the costs. In case of serious violations, a cheaper option may be to create a new well, rather than resuscitate the old one.

Do-it-yourself repairs or professional help?

The desire to do the repair of a broken well with your own hands is quite understandable and justified, because the services of professionals are not cheap. And experts assure that without their help it is simply impossible to conduct all the procedures correctly. Indeed, there are complex operations that require the use of special equipment. Fans of such tasks may simply not be able to.

However, a number of simple operations, such as cleaning a well or replacing a pump, can be performed independently, having certain skills and dexterity. In this case, of course, reasonable caution and common sense should be exercised.

Non-professionals should remember that illiterate actions can lead to fatal consequences for the well. For example, scrap scrap accidentally dropped to the bottom is almost impossible to remove. This is one of the most common causes of well loss after amateur intervention.

Note. Employees of companies specializing in well servicing assure that the annual flushing of any well is a must.However, if the device is operated on an ongoing basis, it is flushed naturally, special measures in this regard are not required.

How to determine the cause of the breakdown?

Correct diagnosis of the problem will avoid unnecessary costs. Before inviting a brigade, you need to find out for what reason water problems appeared in the house.

If water is completely absent in the entire system of the internal water supply system, then it is highly likely that problems arose precisely with the well, most likely the pump or automatic control unit failed.

But in the absence of good pressure, water distribution equipment can be guilty. It is necessary to check all joints of the pipeline for leaks, make sure that the hydraulic tank is working, etc. If no problems are found in this area, it is time to pay attention to the condition of the well again.

Before starting a well repair, it is necessary to inspect the pit or caisson, assess the condition of the casing and make sure that the water distribution equipment is in good working order.

To begin with, you should examine the pit or caisson. It should not have water, and in winter - ice. Casing distortion indicates serious problems. If everything is in order here, further diagnostics can be carried out, focusing on the condition of the water coming from the well:

• If pure water comes in, but its quantity has noticeably decreased, most likely, the filter is clogged, it must be cleaned.
• If sand or silt impurities are clearly visible, the filter is likely to be destroyed and the barrel of the production casing is silted.

Well cleaning after siltation

If silting has occurred or sand needs to be pumped out, you can try to resuscitate the well with your own hands. The most affordable way is to use a bailer.

The above diagram shows in detail the device of a conventional bailer with a check ball valve. You can make such a device yourself from improvised materials

The flap is a pipe whose diameter is slightly smaller than the internal dimensions of the well, and the length varies between 1-3 meters. At the bottom of the device, a check valve is mounted, as well as several sharp baking powder.

The bailer is lowered to the bottom of the well, and then several times it is raised about half a meter and thrown down. As a result, the device is filled with sand, which is carefully lifted to the surface. The procedure is repeated until the maximum amount of silt and sand has been removed. Then the well is pumped with a conventional pump until clean water arrives. Such a repair of a water well in-house is convenient in that all the equipment can be manufactured independently.

Important! The bobbin cable must be strong and securely fixed so that the device does not fall into the well.

After cleaning the well, pay attention to the amount of incoming water. If the debit could not be restored, most likely, you need to clean the filter, which is better to entrust to specialists. They will carry out this procedure or recommend another overhaul method.

How do professionals repair wells?

It’s almost impossible to pinpoint the problems encountered with the filter, which is located at a depth. To solve the problem using methods such as:

• mechanical cleaning of the filter with a special metal ruff;
• flushing the well with chemical reagents;
• water hammer.

The first method is considered the most gentle, usually it is used first. If this does not help, specialists will do chemical flushing of the well. The last resort is hydroblow, i.e., injection of high-pressure water into the well.

After a well is repaired using a water hammer, when a large amount of pressure water is supplied to the well, the space around it will be filled with dirty water

Note! When using any of the listed methods, it is possible to damage the filter, water hammer is especially dangerous in this regard. When using special acids for cleaning a clogged filter, you will have to put up with deterioration in water quality for a while, although all reagents used for these purposes are used in the food industry, that is, they pose no health hazard.

If the filter is simply overgrown with minerals, resuscitation of wells using similar methods is quite effective. However, if the filter was improperly selected and clogged with too fine sand, or if during the installation of the well it simply did not get into the aquifer as a result of poor quality drillers, the effect of these measures will be only temporary.