Intermittent sputtering and air in lines from well water

[sixfour]

My in-laws' vacation house has had a problem for many years with sputtering and air in the lines. Here's the data we're going off:

- The water will run consistently for a few minutes, then there's a bunch of air for about 30 seconds.
- It happens throughout the house whether the water is cold or hot.
- There are two wells. One was added about 15 years ago, because the original one wasn't producing enough water and they were sometimes running out. The sputtering was happening before the second well was added, I'm told.
- Right now we're trying running one well at a time to see what happens. Will report back if there are changes in the pressure.

Local plumbers have looked at it, but it's a rural area with few options, so it's been hard to find someone who is experienced and thoughtful. I'm pretty handy with most home improvement stuff, but know very little about plumbing.

 

[Valveman]

I would remove or gut the check valve in the lower left of the picture. Without that check valve, if the pressure decreases when no water is being used, there is a hole in the drop pipe in the well. If pressure does not fall when no water is being used, most likely one of the wells is pumping some air.

 

[sixfour]

I would remove or gut the check valve in the lower left of the picture. Without that check valve, if the pressure decreases when no water is being used, there is a hole in the drop pipe in the well. If pressure does not fall when no water is being used, most likely one of the wells is pumping some air.

Thanks! I actually have an update, which is that we turned off one of the wells and the sputtering has stopped. So it seems like the problem is with just the original well (I think, but I need to confirm). So since both wells (including the one that doesn't seem to cause sputtering) go through that check valve, it's probably not the problem, right?

 

[Valveman]

Since there is no air with that one well pump turned off, that is the well with the hole in the drop pipe.