I have a existing well that I had dug 30 years ago. 6" casing down 20' and 4 1/2" down to 220 feet. All works great. I want to add a 2nd pump. A small 3" DC pump so I have water flowing when the sun is out without firing up a generator for the 220V pump.
I am off grid and produce all my own power, etc. My cabin is at 6000' in S. California.
I had a well guy come by but they weren't too interested in un-caping and sliding another pump along side my existing pump. I have a 1" line with cord going down the casing now.
I'm figure I have enough room to fit both pump's in the casing. The DC pump is 3" diameter.
My question is how do I open the cap. Are the 4 nuts connected to a inside bar. Do I just undo them and pull the guts up high enough to slide my DC pump and water line? Is the round washer with a nut a spare hole where I can run the DC pump line out of the casing. I know these are dumb questions, but I never saw a well capped or uncapped. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Also, can I use a tripod and come along to pull the existing pump and line up or do I need something more powerful. thx

 

Yes, you will need something more powerful than a small DC pump.
It takes a fair amount of power to lift the water from the level that your well is at.

You need a different approach.
A small pump will work if you use the well pump to fill a cistern or water tank at the surface then use the small pump to deliver it to where you need it.
You could possibly use a small pressure pump and valving to pressirize your home's water system.
The size of the tank would determine how often you need to run the generator.

* Your pics start but fail to load and may be too big.
You would need to make them smaller or put them on a free host like photobucket and link to that site.
2 mb per image usually works if you want to directly upload to site.

 

Thats what I do already. The existing pump delivers to a 1500 gallon above ground tank and gravity feeds to house, etc. I also have a 12V shurflo pump at tank to give pressure if needed. I just want a trickle flow to the tank so it continues to be full. I found a 24V DC pump that delivers 3 gal. per min. with a 300' lift. My water table is at 220. Sorry about the pictures but I didn't see a option to downsize. I'll look again. thx

 

There is no option to downsize pictures here. That is something that must be done at your end.
Right now the board is accepting gigantic pictures but that is about to end.

 

I don't think your idea will work. You have a 4" diameter well. In the center of it is already a pipe about an inch in diameter and then there is wire somewhat loosely dangling beside the pipe. At best you have a bit less than an inch of space. You'd need a 9" diameter well to even consider your idea of dropping in a second pump. Next, if your current well string has spreaders and/or a torque arrestor you won't be able to drop your pump if it somehow magically fit through the less than 1" space you have.

Personally I'd get an inverter and run the existing pump off of solar supplied 240 VAC. There probably will be a comma in the price but it would be a system that can work if you have the battery bank to supply it.

 

Does the pump deliver 3 gpm @ 300' lift or is that delivery spec at a lesser lift/static pressure?
Also, how deep is the water level in the casing?

 

The water level is at 220'. One of the 24V pumps I'm looking at has a max lift from 80M or approx 240'. My well casing is 4 1/2" not 4. With a 1" pvc pipe plus wire existing, I have at least 3" remaining, according to my math. I can go either with a 3" pump or a 2" which pumps less per minute. The DC wire would be minimum. ???????

 

The pipe and it's wiring does not run down the side of the well. They run right down the center of the well. So, while you may theoretically have 3 to 3 1/2" of free space it is in a doughnut shaped ring around the pipe.

 

Oh. Being I never opened or seen the inside of my casing, I didn't know. Now I understand the problem. I'll have to do some research to see what the 6 and 4 1/2" casing's look like. I was assuming it was just open pipe. Thank you for the info. This was the reason I joined the blog, to get good info. Thanks again.