Shallow well


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Old 07-28-14, 03:42 PM
J
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Shallow well

So figured I give it try here! So i have 11/2 HP pump pulling water from a 25 ft pipe but water is at 13 foot down each time i measure it. Pump said it was good for twenty feet. Am i getting confused with how high the water is in pipe not being more than twenty feet or does the pipe depth matter regardless how high the water is? Discussion: The pump is putting out little water. I attached a spigot on discharge to water lawn until i get weekend warrior diy style to put in sprinklers. What i observed and heard was that the pump sounds rough so i opened priming plug and observed bubbly water and water wasn't coming out of prime plug like i figured it would shoot out. When i pinch garden hose which i have four hooked up because pump maker said i need four or six hoses to use it that way until i get my sprinklers in, so if i pinch it and give it some back pressure the pump smooths out and sounds like my pool pump, nice and quite and i assumed the back pressure was making it happy but as soon as i unpinch it its back to rough sounding and little flow. Im not a novice at well pumps but a diy guy and this just seems to defy logic. Just want to pump water to water my lawn. The shallow well is one pipe down in ground. 11/2 inch pvc pipe and i put it together with same size pipe with a check valve inline. No tank for now but did buy small one and did put a pressure switch on pump to add tank when i get things running so i can use it other than just sprinklers later.
 
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Old 07-28-14, 05:28 PM
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So to clarify your set up, the pipe is 25ft down but the water is only 13 foot down. If that is the case you have a 13 foot pumping elevation to deal with. How deep the pipe is in the water is not that important. You said you have a check valve in-line. Where is it? Is it a foot valve at the end of the pipe or a check valve in front of the pump? Do you know if the line is primed all the way from the pump to the water.
 
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Old 07-28-14, 05:54 PM
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The pipe is 25 feet down and the water in pipe when measured has been always around 13 feet in pipe. I have a check valve in front of pump before the elbow to pump, its vertical on pipe to well. I noticed the water will drop a little but the pump pulls it right back up. My pump stays primed so check valve seems to be doing it job.
 
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Old 07-29-14, 05:15 AM
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OK, so when you turn off your pump and look inside it, I assume it is full of water so prime is not a problem. You said you have 4 hoses on the output, when you squeeze one does water flow good out of the 3 or do you mean when you squeeze the main hose to all 4, the pump sounds better?

Anyway, it does sound like that pump is not going to pump the water for those 4 hoses. I am surprised that it won't pump good water out of one hose (if that has been tried). Here I would look to see if you might have a possible air leak between the check valve and the intake pipe in the well. Probably a continuous hose but if you have any connections there might be a leak there.

If the pump is old and you add an air leak to the equation, perhaps you are at the limit of the pumps ability to pull up water. I am running out of ideas. Maybe someone else has some thoughts. A 1.5Hp jet pump should be able to pull up water 13 feet. It should pull up lots of water.
 
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Old 07-29-14, 05:39 AM
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Is the bottom of the inlet pipe off the bottom of the well? It could be puling in debris from the bottom of the well to stop the water from coming in.
 
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Old 07-29-14, 08:42 AM
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Thanks for replying guys,
Yes this does seem not possible with a 1 1/2 HP pump but it frustrating for sure. So i connected 4 hoses together since pump maker said if i wanted to use it to water lawn until i put sprinkles in. I assumed it was because it needed a little back pressure. So if i just leave hoses with nothing on end i.e. nozzle its flows little and pump sounds terrible. If i crimp hose the pump will build pressure and sounds nice and quite like my pool pump but as soon as i incrimp the pressure pushes water like city water and then back to same no pressure and little water and sounds terrible. I pulled pump apart to see if debris and clean as a whistle looked new as it should since it is. I screw out pvc prime on well pipe and put my hand on it and the vacuum about sucked my hand in so i wouldn't think i have a air leak. I inherited the well and from what i can gather its just like a typical florida hand drilled and it has clean nice water coming up and it just seems crazy I'm not blowing water all over the place.
 
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Old 07-29-14, 05:20 PM
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Ok so i think a might have figured out problem. So my elbow is 10 1/2 inches from pump and after seeing some videos on cavitation my pumps is making that exact rock sound in pump. I just cant fathom that being 10 1/2 inches would such a difference but the pump maker said the elbow needs to be 10 inches or more. Really 10 1/2 inches you would think the pump wouldn't be so picky on such small measurements. Either way i will try anything about now. I will lengthen pipe between elbow and pump and lets hope i get this thing flowing right. Any suggestions on length i should make it based on anyones else's experience with cavitation?
 
 

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