Well pump work

Last winter the well pipes froze when I didn't have the pump house heat turned up warm enough and we had a cold snap with wind.  This time I had a small leak also from the pump after I warmed things up.  I put a cool whip bowl under to catch the slow drip.  Fixing the pump in the cold weather was to be avoided as it may take some effort, and the area in the pump house is small, making it hard to move around in there.  And I was right.

Wednesday (yesterday) I finally got around to fixing the problem.  I thought the pump may have gotten a small crack.  I made sure Curtis would be around in the afternoon to weld the crack.   But using a mirror to see underneath the side section of the pump where the water comes in, I saw a wet area where the two pieces join together.  No crack was seen.

I tried to tighten the bolts that connect the pieces but they were already fully tight. So I unbolted the two sections.  It was odd to discover, but I didn't find a gasket between the two sections.  Is that why it is leaking?  And why now, after all these many, many years?  Curtis said I could make a gasket out of cardboard, which he gave me a piece.

I cut the cardboard to make a gasket with holes in it.  When I went to re-bolt the two pieces one bolt didn't want to go in the hole correctly.  I didn't want the bolt to go in at an angle and get screwed up.  I spent well over a half hour trying and trying to get the bolt in correctly.   Not an easy thing to do in a small area where I was contorted and leaning over.   Finally got the bolt in.   But when I tightened the bolt it would turn and not completely stop.  The other bolt was fine and easy to put in.

Before re-starting the pump I wanted to replace the pressure gauge.  It had quit working a few years ago.   The pump still worked; I just didn't know the actual pressure.  I went to Home Depot to get a gauge.  Now, in the past my irrigation pump had a pressure gauge.  And every year it would stop working.  One year I saw Lowe's had a gauge with liquid in it to help with vibration.  Ever since I got that gauge it never failed.  I wanted to get a similar gauge.  Home Depot didn't have one.  I went to Lowe's.  They didn't have one either.  I didn't want to wait for a liquid filled gauge to arrive from Amazon so I bought a regular gauge.

Once I had everything hooked up I started the pump.  It leaked big time!  I shut the pump off.   The bolt that would not tighten tight looked to be the problem.   I tried and tried and tried to get the bolt to work.  Eventually I gave up.   I would have to get the entire pump out of the pump house so I could work on it easier.   Not an easy task to do.  The pump is not plugged in.  The electrician who did the electric work when I had put the overhead line underground directly wired the pump to the box.  So I had to unwire the pump.

In the photo below I had to disconnect the black output pipe.  It was work to disconnect the black pipe as it didn't want to come apart.

The input piece was connected to the input pipes.  Years ago when I hooked up this pump I somehow was able to connect all the pipes.  Look at the photo below and the next photo.  How did I connect all the pipes to the pump?  I don't remember, other than it was difficult and somehow I got it done.  I'm positive I didn't connect the two pieces of the pump, but connected the pipes to the complete pump.  How can one connect the last piece of pipe when the entire piece of the one pipe turns?  One half in; the other half out.

Since the pump was now in two pieces I was able to disconnect the pipes.  But to reconnect them?  I decided to replace one piece of pipe with a union.  I already had a union in my collection of pipe odds-and-ends.   Back to Home Depot to get two short pieces of pipes to connect to the union to replace the pipe shown in the photo by the red arrow.

I also cut a new 'gasket' from cardboard as my previous attempts of trying to reconnect the pieces, especially after the previous 'gasket' got wet, messed up the previous 'gasket' I had made.

Now to reconnect the two pieces of the pump.  If I put the bolt in the hole by itself, the bolt went in and tightened.  But if I tried to put the bolt in the hole to connect the two pieces, it wouldn't go in correctly.  Over and over I tried.  It should go in easily.  But it wouldn't.  I couldn't figure out what the problem was.  After a long time to trying, I went and got a different bolt that was a touch longer.  This bolt worked.

I put the pump back in the pump house and everything together.   I primed the pump and started it up.  Everything seems to work.   I started this project around noon and finished after 8:30 pm, when it was getting dark and I had to use a flashlight to finish working.  I have water.  Tomorrow I will see how things look and if there is a new slow leak.  Might be as things still look slightly wet.

Tomorrow (Thursday) arrived and the pump leaks a little faster than before.   My work was for nothing.  My neighbor Curtis thought he could fix the problem if I brought the pump over.  So I did.  The pump was easier and quicker to remove now that I know the electrical connections and added the union to the pipes.  Curtis said there was an original gasket on the pump - which I didn't see.  The gasket was old and useless now, so Curtis scraped it off.    He applied a black goop that hardens and creates a gasket.  He also fixed the bolt problem I had.  He fixed the threads where one bolt goes in and replaced both bolts, even though the other bolt was fine.

I picked the pump up from Curtis by 4 pm, after I had spent the afternoon pickup up and delivering Donna's new propane stove for her to heat her trailer this Winter, and took out her old - and heavier - wood burning stove from her trailer.   Donna's daughter doesn't want Donna climbing up on her trailer's roof to clean the chimney for her woodstove anymore.  

At 4 pm Curtis thought the goop was dried enough to run the pump.  I hooked up the pump but didn't turn it on until 8 pm.  I wanted to wait a little longer for the goop to dry and harden. It is a pain to lift the pump in and out of the small pump house, and I want to stop doing that.  After I turned on the pump it looks good. No sign of leakage. I'll know for sure tomorrow morning.

My cardboard 'gasket' messed up after all my previous attempts to reconnect the two pieces.

The good working in-hex bolt.  I'm not a fan of the in-hex bolt.  Not much room to use a hex wrench to turn the bolt.

I used a regular hex bolt as a replacement.  Easier to turn in a close area.

The reconnected two pieces.  And the new pressure gauge.

The old, non-working pressure gauge.

The union and two new pipe pieces.  I had to match the length of the old piece of pipe.  In the photo the new pieces are not threaded into the union yet.

The electric panel / connections.

The black goop between the two pieces is what Curtis added to create a gasket.   And the red bolt - on each side - is what Curtis added.

Also, the metal piece at the bottom of the pump is what I originally added/bolted to the pump to help it stand upright.  The metal piece was originally on a railroad tie I had.  To hold the railroad tie in place on the track?  Well... it works really well holding the pump upright.

Newly installed pump.  See how different (the union was added) it looks than in the first photo.