What can cause air in home plumbing?

[imnukensc]

This will not help with your problem, but just to clarify, your water is not "very acidic" with a pH of 6.8 or even 6.6. It's barely below neutral (very mildly acidic) which would be a pH of 7.0. (pH scale runs from 0-14.)

 

[Vlach7]

I think the casing is 6", not 1'. I may be reading the report wrong but that is what I see. To be clear, the casing is 6" diameter and stands 1' above ground to the depth of 82'.

OK, just keep using it till the prob. gets worse or maybe better, I had a persistent water hammer issue that I spent hundreds of dollars on and the fix many years later was a cheap plastic check valve with internal spring, $15. Not the expensive free-swinging Brass one.

Does the water have the bubbles in it before it enters the house?

 

[armylifer]

OK, just keep using it till the prob. gets worse or maybe better, I had a persistent water hammer issue that I spent hundreds of dollars on and the fix many years later was a cheap plastic check valve with internal spring, $15. Not the expensive free-swinging Brass one.

Does the water have the bubbles in it before it enters the house?

I really don't know if there are any bubbles in the water before it enters the house because there is no way for me to check that. The plumbing for the house comes directly off from the well casing under the crawl space and up into the garage where the holding tank is.

One thing that I am going to try tomorrow is to tighten the well cap bolts. I was reading today that the well cap seal may be what is leaking. If that fixes it I will be very happy.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I think the casing is 6", not 1'. I may be reading the report wrong but that is what I see. To be clear, the casing is 6" diameter and stands 1' above ground to the depth of 82'.

Yes you read it right
6" casing
1 foot out of the ground.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

One thing that I am going to try tomorrow is to tighten the well cap bolts. I was reading today that the well cap seal may be what is leaking. If that fixes it I will be very happy.

That is completely false, the well cap just keeps dirt and critters out it has nothing to do with sealing the well from air.
The water level is 51 feet down so there is a lot of air in the well.

In fact there is a vent in the bottom of the well cover.

 

[armylifer]

That is completely false, the well cap just keeps dirt and critters out it has nothing to do with sealing the well from air.
The water level is 51 feet down so there is a lot of air in the well.

In fact there is a vent in the bottom of the well cover.

That is great information. In that case, I don't have to fool with the well cap at all.

Another thing that I noticed in the report when I read it again today is that I have 31 ft of water in the casing from the static level to the 82 ft level of well casing. That is a lot of water volume in a well casing from what I have been reading. That indicates to me that I am not having any problems with drawing air from inside the well because the pump is a lot deeper than 51 ft. I might be wrong but that's what I am Gathering From the report.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

That is great information. In that case, I don't have to fool with the well cap at all.

Another thing that I noticed in the report when I read it again today is that I have 31 ft of water in the casing from the static level to the 82 ft level of well casing. That is a lot of water volume in a well casing from what I have been reading. That indicates to me that I am not having any problems with drawing air from inside the well because the pump is a lot deeper than 51 ft. I might be wrong but that's what I am Gathering From the report.

You really should pull the cap and inspect the pipe and the pitless adapter.
I have seen wells with pipes that have leaks above static level that affects the well performance.
It's an easy thing to verify, just a good flashlight will let you see a lot.

 

[armylifer]

You really should pull the cap and inspect the pipe and the pitless adapter.
I have seen wells with pipes that have leaks above static level that affects the well performance.
It's an easy thing to verify, just a good flashlight will let you see a lot.

I'll get right on that after we get a dry day.

 

[Jsjac]

I'll get right on that after we get a dry day.

Any updates on your air in the water system

 

[armylifer]

Any updates on your air in the water system

Yes, but not a final yet. I reset the backwash timer on my whole house water filter to recharge every day instead of every 5 days. Since I set it for once per day, I have not had any air in the system. I don't know yet if that cures the problem or not because the air in the system has never been every day, The symptom comes and goes, so I really don't know yet if this is a cure or not. I will have to wait and see if the air starts coming back.

The only way that I can think of this solving the problem is if there is some kind of contaminant that the whole house filter is trapping that generates air. I can't imagine what that contaminate could be because nothing shows up in the test results from the county lab. So, it can be likely that the air will come back sometime in the near future. The longest time that the air was not present in the last year was about 1 month this past summer. So, now I will just have to wait and see if it comes back.

 

[Outnumbered]

Just food for thought. I had some air in my waterlines the other day when I ran acroos this thread. I have been in this home for over 40 years and have not had this issue before. I noticed it right after a power outage in the area (approximately 2hrs). That got me chasing the foot valve in the submersible well pump.

Well I shut of the power to the well pump with no water running in the house and sure enough the pressure gauge was dropping. I then started it back up and let it charge the tank and cut off the main valve to the house with the well line still open to the pressure tank. Cut the power again to see if the pressure dropped going back to the well. It held steady for over 30 minutes which told me I had a leak somewhere on the house Sid not the well.

After a brief check under the house for leaks I shut the valve to the frost free hydrant down as my shop and the water pressure held. Long story short, the 90 degree fitting was cracked at the hydrant and whenever the power was off the pressure would leak out and eventually suck some air from the house fixtures. Once the power was restored the air was trapped in the house as it is much higher than the hydrant. Fixed the hydrant and no more issues.

Hopefully you have something as simple as this. Best of luck to you solving the mystery!

 

[armylifer]

Just food for thought. I had some air in my waterlines the other day when I ran acroos this thread. I have been in this home for over 40 years and have not had this issue before. I noticed it right after a power outage in the area (approximately 2hrs). That got me chasing the foot valve in the submersible well pump.

Well I shut of the power to the well pump with no water running in the house and sure enough the pressure gauge was dropping. I then started it back up and let it charge the tank and cut off the main valve to the house with the well line still open to the pressure tank. Cut the power again to see if the pressure dropped going back to the well. It held steady for over 30 minutes which told me I had a leak somewhere on the house Sid not the well.

After a brief check under the house for leaks I shut the valve to the frost free hydrant down as my shop and the water pressure held. Long story short, the 90 degree fitting was cracked at the hydrant and whenever the power was off the pressure would leak out and eventually suck some air from the house fixtures. Once the power was restored the air was trapped in the house as it is much higher than the hydrant. Fixed the hydrant and no more issues.

Hopefully you have something as simple as this. Best of luck to you solving the mystery!

I did a pressure test for 24 hours, with the well pump turned off, and there was no loss in pressure. I do not have any leaks in the whole system. Thanks for the suggestion though.