You readers have probably been saying, “Ol’ Schmitt must have a fixation with pitless adapters.” This could be partially true, as I have been writing about them for 20 months with a few “side trips” to talk about conventions, safety and to honor a departed friend. This, readers, I promise will be the last column on pitless adapters — unless, and that is a big unless, someone asks me to expound further or has questions about these devices. As I wrote some time back, pitless adapters are, in my opinion, one of the four great advances the water well industry has seen in the last 60 years.
One question that has been posed to me is, what do I mean when I talk about a flipper? A flipper is the term I use for part of the internal body of some pitlesses, especially clamp-ons. Envision please a part that looks like an upside down L. If force is applied to the horizontal part it will create a force against the vertical part. So, if in a pitless we apply pressure to the extreme end of the horizontal part with a bolt, threaded rod or whatever, the flipper will pivot if a pin or hinge is included where the two sides of the L come together. This will force the vertical part of the L out against the casing and tighten a gasket or O ring against the other side of the casing, making a water tight joint. Those of you who use clamp-on pitlesses know exactly what I mean and you really did not need to read this paragraph. Others of you may be unfamiliar with this design, so now I hope you know what I mean by a flipper.