New house, old well.

Hello,
I'm a pump/well greenhorn!
When we moved in here, there was a 2" or so pipe sticking out of the ground in back yard with a 45 degree elbow.I'm told thats a driven well. Looks like they had a pump at one time. I tried last year to attach a pump to it with no results.
I dropped a fishing weight down the pipe this year to check for a "plunk". at about 10' I got a splash, and the weight dropped about another 10.

Basically I wanted some advice on where to begin and what to buy?

thanks!
kevin

I just got here.

I would try using a hand pump if you can find one. That is about the most positive suction you can put on a hand driven well. Put your hand over the spout and pour water in to the top of the spouts sides, then go to pumping. You will get a lot of air for a few minutes then water should start to flow. The amount of water you can put in a five gallon bucket in so many seconds will tell you how many gallons per minute the well is capable of. If you can get five or better, go get you a shallow well jet pump and plumb it in. By the way, I sell pumps if your in the market.

bob...

speedbump said:

I would try using a hand pump if you can find one.

Click to expand...

Is this what you mean?

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=1318

When I saw this I wondered whether "11 1/2 TPI" thread might be an issue--is a fitting commonly available (doesn't just say 1 1/4" FPT or whatever)?

That's a heck of a price. I wonder where they get them. I pay more than that for the ones I sell. There is also the Oasis Plastic Hand Pump (scroll down) they are a nice little hand pump and weigh less than the cast iron models. I'm not sure what they are talking about with the 1-1/2" TPI. It should be 1-1/4" FPT (female pipe thread).

bob...

Thanks SB! I'll post after the first step is done.

They get them from a foundry in Dang-Wanger China that relies heavily on twelve year olds working 14 hour days to pack the moulds.

I think they have a 1 hp jet pump with bladder tank on sale now for 29$ [!!]...That might last a few hours - enough to test the well.

Sell it at a yard sale for 59$ when you buy a real pump.

I knew their stuff was a little bit on the cheapie side, but apparently they have gone all Chinese.

speedbump said:

That's a heck of a price. I wonder where they get them. I pay more than that for the ones I sell.

Click to expand...

Oops, sorry, I wouldn't have brought-up HF had I known you sold them.

BTW when/if those Chinese twelve-year-olds grow up & come to the U.S., we can hire them to haul all the blankety-blank catalogs they mail to the landfill!

Good idea, without all the junk mail everyone gets, we could probably close 1/2 of the landfills.

No problem on the Harbor Freight, most people know what their stuff is worth.

bob...