Well Priming

[turnkey4099]

Yes, but not in the way you were describing it. The key difference being that what I posted, although it does have a suction side, isn't really lifting the water at all, it's pushing it. You'll never be able to lift water more than the the 33.9' that gravity will allow.

Yeah, but the 33.9 is the theoretical. Pipe restriction, friction, flow turbulence, etc. etc. limits it to a practical limit of around 26' and that is at sea level.

Harry K

 

[turnkey4099]

A deep well jet pump is not limited to 39' .... a deep well jet pump can reliably handle a well several hundred feet deep some of them have two or more impellers and are called multistage pumps. They have a double drop pipe and use a foot valve at the bottom of the drop pipe not a check at the top.

As for "no reason at all on God's green earth why the tank and associated wiring, switches, etc. needs to be next to the well" - it may not actually "need" to be next to the well but it is a common practice here in Florida to place everything right at the well .... but then, we don't usually have to worry about freezing.

Our well is 400' from our house and 600' from my brother's house. We have 1,000' of mainline. It would not be practical to have the switch, pressure tank, etc. at either house - it is at the well, right next to it .... though, since it is in heavy shade, there is no "green earth" to speak of in that location.

And just why wouldn't it be "practical"? I am about 1/4 mile from the community well I used to be on, neighbor now owns the land and rights to that well. Installed my own well to get away from the "unpaid well mainatenance, pay all he bills, man) but ketp the interconnect between the two wells. We have both used that interconnect when problems arose. I used it two years ago when I had to replace the drop pipe. Same for my neighbeor when their pump went bad. The system doesn not care how far away from the well the tank and switch are...within reason. Too much elevation difference would matter somewhat. All the control switch sees is the pressure in the system. It doesn't care where that pressure originated.

People are just convinced dthat the tank, switches, etc. belong in a hole in the ground where the maintenance man jus loves to crawl down in there and try to get enough room to work on it.

True that the tanks and switches are fairly close o the well in both cases but it would have worked just as well had the controls been at opposite ends of he piping.

Harry K

 

[Egon]

Usually the well head hole will be damp alLowing for corrosion making for more fix it missions. Putting stuff where it is accessible in the proper atmosphere makes life much easier!

 

[speedbump]

Qapla nailed it. Deep well jet pumps can bring water up from 150' or so. It takes a three stage 2hp pump and a carefully selected jet to get the job done. You would be lucky to get much more than 2 gpm at that rate, but it will work. Submersibles are far more reliable and capable of pushing water up from deeper than 1000'. If there is a 3" well in that pit, a 3" Grundfos submersible pump would be the way to go. If you want to stay with what you have, try to move the jet pump out of the hole and into the basement where you can work on it. It won't last forever.
You cannot install check valves in the two pipes going into the well. Water has to flow both directions. Up the center pipe and down the casing, or in the case of a two pipe jet, down the one inch and up the 1-1/4" pipe.

 

[Zerk]

In electrical equipment we run heaters in summer to keep them dry. I am building a bigger well house that is going to be vented or heated in summer.

 

[Zerk]

At my camp, with a shallow well, the pump is by the well, because it is underground. Gets you deeper and warmer.

 

[speedbump]

They outlawed well pits in Michigan years ago. I would rather lift the lid and go down in a well pit than have to dig the well up and work over a hole to repair on the well. That's when Pitless Adapters became popular and put an end to all that digging. Many people had well pits attached to their basement, but the hole in the wall was much bigger than the OP's. They were toastie in the winter too.

 

[Zerk]

There are lots of well pits still in michigan.

 

[dickfoster]

Qapla nailed it. Deep well jet pumps can bring water up from 150' or so. It takes a three stage 2hp pump and a carefully selected jet to get the job done. You would be lucky to get much more than 2 gpm at that rate, but it will work. Submersibles are far more reliable and capable of pushing water up from deeper than 1000'. If there is a 3" well in that pit, a 3" Grundfos submersible pump would be the way to go. If you want to stay with what you have, try to move the jet pump out of the hole and into the basement where you can work on it. It won't last forever.
You cannot install check valves in the two pipes going into the well. Water has to flow both directions. Up the center pipe and down the casing, or in the case of a two pipe jet, down the one inch and up the 1-1/4" pipe.

How do you get to house pressure with a pump like that? A submersible turbine does, all you add is an accumulator (pressure tank) and pressure switch to keep the lid on it.

 

[speedbump]

There are lots of well pits still in michigan.

I wouldn't be surprised but they outlawed them in Michigan in the 60's for new construction. I'm sure there are still quite a few left. And I'm sure some are bootlegged in.

How do you get to house pressure with a pump like that? A submersible turbine does, all you add is an accumulator (pressure tank) and pressure switch to keep the lid on it.

If you mean the jet pump, it's controls are the same as a submersible. Pump, pressure switch and storage tank. There are constant pressure pumps out there now too, but they still need a tank and a pressure transducer.