Newbie with Shallow well question,

Newbie here... Have a Harbor Freight pump 1 HP 1" discharge pump, the common cheap one I got for $69. I bought mainly to test to see if the well was wet or not, and I am getting about 5 gallons per minute @20psi. What voume should I expect from this pump? The water depth is 5 feet and the pipe goes down about 15 feet. I would like to increase the flow, but not sure if I should sink another well for $100 in parallel or spend $300 on a better pump. Any advice will be appreciated.

I would not sink any more money into the well until I know what it will produce. If you spend more money and you run dry you’ll be burning up pumps and tossing money down the drain.

What do you want to do with this well?

Got Nailed,
Do you know how I can tell what it will produce? 5-6 gpm does not seem all that bad to me... I have a lot of yard and there is not much rain here in VA this year. I would like to put three or four hoses off of it to water, but right now I can only get one. Have heard a lot about the H.F. pumps failing early, so I will probably wait till it goes to replace it.
Have heard that if I sink another well about 5 feet away that I can double my output... not sure how true that is, but it makes sense to me, and the materials are about $75 to do it...

I would take what you have as a gift. You’re just watering out side stuff.

As far as “sinking another well†I’m taking that your just driving wells not having them drilled.

The pump your just turning on and off right?

I would not drop another dime into what you have till I had to. Yes only one sprinkler is a pain because you have to move it. But a simple set of valves and you would just have to walk out there and switch a few valves around.

I was planning on doing the brady instructions with the pvc and water to sink the well. Being that I am using such a cheap pump, I just don't see it putting out too much more. Thing with putting in another well is that it can only help, and when this pump goes I can use it for a good one.

Are you planning on watering your yard and shrubs?
What size PVC is the “well�
The pump has a 1†PVC pick up in the well?
The model # on the pump you have?

I still don’t know what you want to do with the well / pump but it is for watering yard / shrubs this will work (keep reading).

If so why don’t you just get a cheap timer / controller box that will give you 5 or 6 zones?
Use zone 1 for controlling the pump with a relay.
Zone 2 for hose #1
Zone 3 for hose #2
And so on.

I do think you will be able to do this in a large plastic tool box for about $250 and would give you an automatic watering system.

Set zone one to run for the whole time of your system needs to run.
Set each of the zones for your hose so they over lap (you don’t want to build too much pressers and kill the pump (a 30 sec to 1 min will do fine)). The cost might be a bit high but you will be able to move it to a new well when needed. I would add a presser relief valve set a little blow what the pump can handle.

G.N.,
-I'm planning on watering the yard, shrubs, etc.
-The well is a 4 inch iron, then I have a rubber adapter, pvc check valve and it goes into a 1" pvc for the pump.
- I have considered the zoneing like you suggested, but even still the volume the pump puts out is very limited (approx 5 gal/min) I'm just not sure if the well will produce enough to justify a better pump. How can you tell what the max volume a well will produce?
Thanks!

Have you looked to see what presser it is set at?

To find out what the well will produce you need to call someone who drills wells and have them come out and test the well. I would think your looking at a few bills $$$.

Since you have a 4" well that should do much more than the your HF pump. I would go to the rental store, rent a 3 - 5 hp gas centrifugal and around 25 foot of pipe to drop down the well. No smaller than 1-1/4". Test pump the well. Do the bucket/stop watch routine and you will know how much the well will give. Then get a quality pump that will operate a decent sprinkler system. I think that's where your heading anyway, your just doing it in small steps and probably using more money than if you did it right the first time.

bob...

Bob,
Thanks for the reply... thanks for the info, agree with doing it piecemill is more expensive in the long run... In hindsight I should have done the rental to begin with, but I tend to learn the hard way... I'll let you know when the H.F. pump dies...

Ok, we should be hearing from you real soon

bob...