Pump Pressure - Problem or Normal

I have a 2 inch screened well approximatel 20 ft down. 6-8 feet of water in the pipe. Prime is great. I'm testing with a 1/2 hp Wayne Shallow well jet pump. Input is 2 inch galv to the union, then 1 1/4 galv into the pump. On my output I have a 3/4 T, pressure gage on one side, hose bib on the other. Before I open my hose bib pressure is 70 psi dead nuts. Immediately after I open the bib and the water runs thru a wash machine hose to a bucket, the pressure drops to 20psi. Is this normal or should my pressure remain in the 60's? I get about 5 gals of water in 35 seconds. Is 1/2 hp enough pump? I have a chance to buy a brand new 1hp Wayne for $75, and I will if it would help.

I'm trying to run a 7 zone system with 5 heads per zone. One zone at a time.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Wayne is a low quality pump. 10 gallons per minute for any 1/2hp pump is a lot of water and it won't be at a very high pressure.

First of all, how much water will your 2" well produce?

Second, how many gallons per minute do these 5 heads per zone need?

bob...

I had a 2hp sprinkling pump on it and I don't think the well could keep up with the demand the pump was asking for. So I had the 1/2hp shallow jet in my garage and I hooked it up.

How can I tell how much water the well can produce? It was roughly 9-10 gallons in a minutes time with the 1/2hp. I imagine the bigger the pump the more water...

Please advise.

Or you could say the faster the 2" well goes dry, which burns up pumps.

For some reason homeowners have a problem with test pumping a well to see just how much it will produce. This is the only way you will know what the well is good for. It beats the hell out of buying a two horse pump that can produce 80 gallons per minute and putting it on a two inch well that can only produce 15 gpm.

Size the well first, then size a pump to match it.