Vintage Windmill and Wind Generator Forum

Our windmill is connected to a Baker Monitor pump. The drop pipe is connected to a pitless adapter and diverter that send water to a tank via a buried water line.

Two weeks ago I noticed that whenever the windmill was turning, water flowed from the flange on top of the well casing. This is curious because the drop pipe stops at the pitless adapter. The only thing between the diverter and the pump is the pump rod. And the water flow only happens when the mill is turning.

A Baker representative said he thought it was the result of spring runoff and rising aquifer pressure that can sometimes turn static wells into running springs. When drilled, the well was 300 feet deep with a static water level was at 160 feet. I suppose his guess is the most logical explanation but that just seems like a lot of runoff and I would think it would be flowing whether the mill is turning or not.

Despite this leak, the system is putting water in the tank as usual and nothing else seems amiss. At a minimum though, I want to eliminate the leak because the water that’s exposed to the air flows back down the casing into the well.

Anything come to mind? We’ll be doing some windmill maintenance in a few weeks and thought we might pull the pump off the well if there was a reason to check something.

There wasn’t any followup from when you sought some advice on this well about a year ago. Was there a Baker Monitor setup below the hand pump and on top of the pitless? Or was there a stuffing box with packing or an IBT on top of the pitless? Attached is what the Baker Monitor hand pump diverter setup looks like. The seal is shown at the top left diagram where the diverter connects on to the pitless.

https://www.bakerwatersystems.com/uploa ... verter.pdf

Regardless of what was used on top of the pitless, it has to provide a seal between the rod and the pipe to push the water uphill to the tank. For every 2’ of rise to the tank, there is going to be 1 psi of pressure on that packing/diverter seal. There would be a check valve in the line up to the tank probably right outside of the well casing. So yes the seal/packing is only going to leak when windmill is pumping and would stop when not pumping. The pitless has a hole drilled in the top part so the pump rod can move up and down. The behind the desk tech support of a high spring water table is a chuckle, that far fetched reason would leak all the time...

Yes leakage will occur if there is a bad seal, sucker rod worn, or packing worn. Your leak will only get worse and it is not good for water to be washing down the sides of the well especially if well is not cased whole way. If there was movement in the drop pipe where it clips into the pitless, you would have leakage outside the pitless but it wouldn’t reach the top of the casing.

Ron Stauffer
Montrose CO

Ron Stauffer wrote: Sat Apr 26, 2025 11:00 am There wasn’t any followup from when you sought some advice on this well about a year ago. Was there a Baker Monitor setup below the hand pump and on top of the pitless? Or was there a stuffing box with packing or an IBT on top of the pitless? Attached is what the Baker Monitor hand pump diverter setup looks like. The seal is shown at the top left diagram where the diverter connects on to the pitless.

Wow, long memory. For several reasons I did not have an opportunity to pull the hand pump off the well, one being that I needed to find someone to assist. I have that person lined up now so I'm hoping to pull the pump and see what's inside on my next trip. "Spring runoff" as an explanation did not satisfy me either.

Thank you for outlining the other possibilities beyond the diverter. I will definitely post a follow up with info/pics when we pull the pump.