I'm in NC and have a well with an 8" diameter steel casing. It does not have a pitless adapter and it has a well seal as opposed to a well cap. I did a completely boneheaded thing a month or so ago and backed into it with the box blade on my compact tractor. Fortunately, I missed the casing and hit the hydrant on the top of the well seal. I tore the hydrant off and the torque of the accident cracked my well seal, so I need to replace it. My current well seal has a split top plate. I've been watching replacing-well-pump videos to make sure I understand what I need to do to replace the well seal, and there have been mentions in some of these videos to go with a solid top plate well seal instead of a split top plate well seal. I'm looking for advice on which type I should go with. What is the purpose of a split top plate anyway? It seems that a solid top plate would be stronger, and I just want to make sure I'm not missing something in the reason for a split top plate. Thanks.
Well seal with split top plate vs. solid top plate?
- Thread starter JEG in Raleigh
- Start date
Help Support Plumbing Forums:
Yes, the solid top seals are stronger. The split tops seem to sag in the middle from the weight of the pump over time, especially with larger casing like 8". But either will require slipping it on from the threaded joint below. If you have a short pipe or nipple through the well seal you won't have to lift much. But if the first connection is at the bottom of the first 20' joint, you will have to lift it 20' to put the seal on.
Thank you. I will not have to lift it very high. It has black poly pipe and a short nipple. Thanks for the advice.
Sorry....one more question. In one video I watched, the guy recommended having a pressure relief valve in the tee. Since i don't have a pitiless adapter, I could potentially have a frozen pipe and the well pump could potentially burst the poly down pipe if flow was blocked by a frozen pipe. This sounds like a good idea and if so, what should the pressure relief setting of the valve be? What's your opinion of this? We do get down to high single digits occasionally in the winter. Thanks again.
Pipe should not have to be very deep to keep it from freezing. The pressure relief is more likely to freeze than the pipe. You can put a 75 PSI relief valve on the well head if you want though. Just means a Cycle Stop Valve would need to be installed under the well seal as it must be before the pressure relief valve. Fixing the well seal, adding a pressure relief, and other things to make the pump last are important. But over 90% of all pump failures are due to cycling on and off too much. Adding a Cycle Stop Valve is the best thing you can do to make a pump last a long time. There is a pressure relief valve that comes with the PK1A kit.
Thank you for the explanation. I have a CSV and Cycle Sensor on this system already and they work great....very satisfied customer. And I appreciate all the advice and help you have given me over the past few years.
Preaching to the choir then I guess. Lol! Hope you get the well seal fixed. I put some huge boulders around one well and another has three crash pipes deep in the ground around it. Hitting it with a tractor or vehicle can be much worse than that. You got lucky.
Installed the new well seal today. My old one was a split cast iron well, rusted and cracked from the tractor accident. I went with a 1-piece Boshart steel unit and I replaced the bolts that came with it with SS bolts and I replaced the plumbing on the seal with SS fittings. My Kubota lifted everything for me. Took about 2 hours. All good now.....didn't screw anything up or drop the pump down the hole (which would have been just my luck) 
Attachments
Looks really good. Threads on a SS bolt are bad about galling. If the lube dries out over years sometimes they won't come apart.
Still not seeing any crash poles?
Still not seeing any crash poles?
Thank you. I did not know about the galling issue. I hand-tightened them with a wrench....didn't use an impact driver. They're snug but not overly tight so I don't think I've stressed the threads, so hopefully I'll escape the potential galling problem. A well house with crash poles is on my Fall to-do list.Looks really good. Threads on a SS bolt are bad about galling. If the lube dries out over years sometimes they won't come apart.
Still not seeing any crash poles?
