My shallow well pump is in my basement. It will only feed a single spigot, however. The vertical lift is 10 feet before it hits it.

My owners manual says "Keep the vertical lift that the pump must move water before discharge to a minimum. Vertical delivery above a few feet will degrade pump efficiency."

Does this suggest that I should move my pump out of the basement and increase the size of my intake 10 more feet? And if I leave it as is, would it really degrade efficiency enough that its going to be a big deal with a single spigot.

Thanks in advance!

 

Is this just for irrigation or home?

I can only give you info on what I did with my shallow well.

Facts:

My well was in the crawl 10ft from the well head @ 1 1/4" pipe drawing from 25-30 ft.
I moved the pump from the front of the crawl to a rear yard utility shed adding 8 ft to the height above the well head, and increased the distance 30 ft. Plus the 10 ft = 40 ft.
I increased the diameter of pipe from 1 1/4 where it enters the house to 1 1/2 the 30 ft the additional distance.
It was a 1/2 HP pump and I incrased to a 3/4 craftsman shallow jet pump. One line to the pump.
36 gal craftsman bladder tank. (acts like a 80 gal ) I draw about 10 gallons before the pump kicks on.
From the pump I piped all 1" main. From the pump to the crawl and ran the main 1" trunk line. I then tapped of that to supply the two baths and stuff.
I set the pressure switch to 45/65 psi
This pump with ideal piping conditions, will only draw 10 gallons per minute per the pump curve in the manual. But I did increase the volume with the larger piping. If you factor in friction loss, PH filter, softner, etc I estimate 5 gpm.
I estimate this because I can run two showers at a time. The pump will settle at 50 psi pumping 2.5 gpm x 2 = 5 gpm.
The pump will run constantly eliminating short cycling.
If I tap right at the 1 " after the pump I may have 7 + gpm to install some type of irrigation system. But I have not figured it out yet. ( This is the summer for that)
Its a how many gpm you can get at a constant 50 psi thing. Size pipes and heads accordingly. same thing for a home is like a irrigation system. If the whole home was piped in 1/2" there will be no volume and only one fixture can be run.

Did this help? Sorry to babble for so long.

Mike NJ

 

Thanks for the reply. Yes, its for irrigation. It's actually sucking just below my sump pit (where the water is unlimited..) So I am drawing water about 5 feet to the pump (sitting by the pit on the basement floor.) But then I need to push it 10 more feet vertically to get it out of the basement to the spigot. Everything with 1 inch pipe.

Will I notice much of a difference moving it to ground level? It would increase the intake considerably to at least 15 feet... (Says the max for this pump is 20-25.)

Thanks again!

 

What make and model pump? I believe they are made to pull and not to push water.

Do you have a bladder tank? That may be your issue. You need pressue to operate properly.

Mike NJ

 

It's a Wel-Bilt 1 hp shallow well pump'tank combo. I just got something cheap to see if this will even work. I'm just wanting decent pressure to push a couple sprinklers in the yard and for the garden.

This link is the exact pump
Northern Industrial Shallow Well Pump — 1 HP, Model# JGP12001CHT | Shallow Well Pumps | Northern Tool + Equipment

 

Just sticking my nose in here for a moment.

I think you will find that it's the "net" lift that you have to be concerned about, and you have to keep it to less than 2 gravities or less than 33' minus some friction loss . . . . so the manufacturers will usually say something like less than 25'. Trying to suck or pull it up further requires creating a vacuum or reducing the pressure so low that the water would rather vaporize (or boil) rather than move where you want it to go.

I once sold a house whose water source was in a spring about a ¼ mile away on the other side of a little valley. The House basement was at about 1230' elevation and the spring was at about 1220'; but the water line had to first descend about 150' to the bottom of the valley at 1080' before it could come back up to the house (trenched to about 4' below the frost line). So one would think that the pump had to pull water up from the bottom of the valley, or about 150'.

A few plumbers told us that it couldn't work . . . . but water will seek its own level, even without a power assist. Priming that pump was a real dog; but eventually, all bubbles were removed and all leaks sealed. It works. The pump only had to pull water up a "net" 10 feet (gravity did the rest); and after that, pressurizing the house distribution system was a piece of cake.

All of these pumps will both pull and push; but are probably designed to emphasize one aspect over the other. So properly primed, you should be having no problems.