Table of Contents
How do I find my well cap?
Locate the wellhead in your yard. This is the top of your well. There should be cap or seal on the top of the casing (pipe) that should extend at least twelve inches above the ground to keep contaminants from entering the system. Soil should slope away from the wellhead so surface water doesn’t puddle.
What is the purpose of a well cap?
Most caps usually are aluminum or thermoplastic and include a vented screen that allows the pressure inside and outside of the well casing to be equalized when water is pumped from the well. However, the cap’s main function is to keep contaminants out of the water supply.
What does a sanitary well cap look like?
A “sanitary” well cap (sometimes referred to as a “vermin-proof” well cap) looks similar to a standard well cap but usually has bolts on the top of the well cap as shown in Figure 2.
Can a well cap be underground?
Some older well caps are located below ground. While they may be properly sealed, a below ground well cap has more potential risk of contamination. To avoid contamination, a well cap should be raised above ground. However, the amount of effort required to raise a well cap will be different in every case.
How deep is a buried well cap?
A typical drilled well steel casing diameter is 6″ (4″ in some areas), that the well depth can be considerable (from 50 ft. to 900 ft. or more).
How do you remove a water well cap?
Try to pry the seal off very carefully with a screwdriver. Use a wrench to loosen any bolts if you have a well cap. These may be along the outside edge of the top of the well cap. Alternatively, there may be set screws on the side of the cap, for which you can use a screwdriver.
Should well cap be tight?
A properly installed well cap separates potential pollutants from your drinking water. The cap, which should be sealed tightly at all times, keeps out everything from liquid contaminants to bugs that can crawl inside a well and wreak havoc.
Should a well cap have a gasket?
A properly sealed well cap will also keep out surface water and contaminants from entering the well. A correctly constructed well cover has a watertight gasket between the casing and the cap and fine mesh screens covering the vents.
Should you cover well caps?
DO NOT use any well coverings. Even though the sight of your wellhead may not be your favorite thing, you should not cover it up with any fake rocks, gravel, treated wood, or wishing wells.
Why is water coming out of my well cap?
If there is water standing around your well it indicates you have a leak. The leak is typically in the water discharge pipe (pipe from your well to the water system). If you have plastic pipes, the fittings sometimes break causing a leak. The breakage is often caused from the movement of the ground.
What is inside a well cap?
Well caps are usually made of aluminum or a thermoplastic, and include a vented screen so that the pressure difference between the inside and outside of the well casing is equalized when water is pumped from the well. The well casing and well cap should extend at least 12 inches above the ground.
Can you plant around a well cap?
2- Some people plant flowers or shrubs around their well in an attempt to conceal it as much as possible. This may not be as risky as burying the well head however, it is not a good idea to add plant fertilizers or pesticides to the soil around your well and the ground around the well should slope away from it.
Should you cover your well head in the winter?
A simple tip to keep your well equipment going through the coldest days of winter is to cover it up! An old blanket can work with some plastic on top. Other options are to purchase well covers that look like a rock or insulated covers that can be slipped over the top.
Should I cover my well pump?
In short, the answer is YES. Well pumps play a vital role in delivering water from the well to where it is needed. Properly covering expensive well pump equipment with a pump cover or enclosure protects it from the elements, weather and potential vandals. Keeping equipment covered can also help extend its life.
Can you fill in an old well?
For both primary and secondary protection, most large-diameter wells can be plugged effectively by filling with a combination of sand and gravel, native clay and topsoil (Figure 1A in Appendix IV). A mixture of sand and gravel is shoveled into the well up to a depth of 15 feet below the surface.
Can a water well overflow?
The water table is much below the ground, so there is no overflow for normal wells. An artesian well is a different type of aquifer. The well level for the rightmost well is above the water level.
What is well casing?
Casing is the tubular structure that is placed in the drilled well to maintain the well opening. Along with grout, the casing keeps possibly contaminated surficial water from reaching the aquifer zone underground and prevents contaminants from mixing with the water.
