Ive spent several hours reading threads here and haven't found these questions specifically addressed, so thought I would post them. If they are already reviewed feel free to link me to them. They are related to dole valves in a well with a variant static water height and stainless wire as a safety rope but which is actually used to pull the pump.
What led to this is I have 2 wells. One 50' deep and drilled near spring which will flow out the top of the casing in the spring time. This well is great and I have a 1/2hp with a CSV hooked up to it and can pull it by hand in no time. If I'm not careful during a drought this well will get over pumped and burn up the pump, or would have before i installed the csv and pump monitor. Even with this the pump may be saved, but the cows still need water, which leads to the second well.
There is also a 600+ foot well (i bought the property with both these wells and i dont know the total depth but i pulled the pump from 615') The deep well has manganese in the water so I dont prefer it be the main well on the property. They are hooked together even though they are about 800ft apart. The original pump in that well was already working intermittently when i installed a csv on it. Got another 6 months out of it, before I had to pull it. It was written in well pit that pump was at 190', so i thought a friend and i could pull it by hand together. Nope. Took most of two days using a backhoe and slip knots in heavy rope to lift 12ft at a time and found it was 615'. Which led me to say to myself there has to be a better way to do this. First I looked at this http://wellhose.com/ which seems great but my 600' drop was something like $3200 for the hose. It was a mixture of galvanized and pvc that came out of the hole. Then i discovered the 250psi poly pipe than comes in 500ft rolls. This is enough psi to about match the 500ft depth. From there you could add schedule 80 pvc to the bottom. At least this way you get to pull 500ft continuous over a roller. The other thought I had was to use stainless steel wire where some put safety rope, but actually use it to lift with a winch. 3/16 should have a 3800lb breaking strength and i estimate the weight of my pump, water and poly pipe to be about 700lbs. So its in the standard 5/1 safety rating. The weight was a lot more before with all the galvanized. Ive seen the other thread here about why to not use poly rope, but couldn't find this addressed. Any thoughts about why this is a bad idea. Maybe Im overthinking for something you dont do everyday, but for a system that has to have water it seems like a good way to be able to get a pump out and being worked on in an hour or so.
Second scenario involves the same well. It is now spring time and the static water height in that well is 25ft. I dont have a full picture of how much the water height varies during drought, but I gather from neighbors that have similar depth wells that it does vary rather significantly. If the goal here is to make sure i have access to water for animals during a drought is it still best to put the pump at the bottom and use a dole valve to limit the flow when the static water height is high? Previous owner claims deep well had a 3gpm recharge, but he also told me pump was 190' down so dont know if its accurate. It appears to be too much of a differential for a dole valve to handle. What is the best practice in this case? Im leaning towards putting the pump with an appropriate pump curve for the depth at 500' with a dole valve in the well house and see how the dole valve holds up. This would get me to the max depth that poly can handle and negate the need for the stainless steel wire. You would lose 150 gallons or so of reserve capacity from not going the full depth, but I doubt the well goes below that static even in a drought. There is also a dry pump cutoff and csv on this well. I recognize I could put a pump at 200' and usually have water and not have pressure differential problems, but the main goal here is to make sure water is available when it may not be somewhere else.
What led to this is I have 2 wells. One 50' deep and drilled near spring which will flow out the top of the casing in the spring time. This well is great and I have a 1/2hp with a CSV hooked up to it and can pull it by hand in no time. If I'm not careful during a drought this well will get over pumped and burn up the pump, or would have before i installed the csv and pump monitor. Even with this the pump may be saved, but the cows still need water, which leads to the second well.
There is also a 600+ foot well (i bought the property with both these wells and i dont know the total depth but i pulled the pump from 615') The deep well has manganese in the water so I dont prefer it be the main well on the property. They are hooked together even though they are about 800ft apart. The original pump in that well was already working intermittently when i installed a csv on it. Got another 6 months out of it, before I had to pull it. It was written in well pit that pump was at 190', so i thought a friend and i could pull it by hand together. Nope. Took most of two days using a backhoe and slip knots in heavy rope to lift 12ft at a time and found it was 615'. Which led me to say to myself there has to be a better way to do this. First I looked at this http://wellhose.com/ which seems great but my 600' drop was something like $3200 for the hose. It was a mixture of galvanized and pvc that came out of the hole. Then i discovered the 250psi poly pipe than comes in 500ft rolls. This is enough psi to about match the 500ft depth. From there you could add schedule 80 pvc to the bottom. At least this way you get to pull 500ft continuous over a roller. The other thought I had was to use stainless steel wire where some put safety rope, but actually use it to lift with a winch. 3/16 should have a 3800lb breaking strength and i estimate the weight of my pump, water and poly pipe to be about 700lbs. So its in the standard 5/1 safety rating. The weight was a lot more before with all the galvanized. Ive seen the other thread here about why to not use poly rope, but couldn't find this addressed. Any thoughts about why this is a bad idea. Maybe Im overthinking for something you dont do everyday, but for a system that has to have water it seems like a good way to be able to get a pump out and being worked on in an hour or so.
Second scenario involves the same well. It is now spring time and the static water height in that well is 25ft. I dont have a full picture of how much the water height varies during drought, but I gather from neighbors that have similar depth wells that it does vary rather significantly. If the goal here is to make sure i have access to water for animals during a drought is it still best to put the pump at the bottom and use a dole valve to limit the flow when the static water height is high? Previous owner claims deep well had a 3gpm recharge, but he also told me pump was 190' down so dont know if its accurate. It appears to be too much of a differential for a dole valve to handle. What is the best practice in this case? Im leaning towards putting the pump with an appropriate pump curve for the depth at 500' with a dole valve in the well house and see how the dole valve holds up. This would get me to the max depth that poly can handle and negate the need for the stainless steel wire. You would lose 150 gallons or so of reserve capacity from not going the full depth, but I doubt the well goes below that static even in a drought. There is also a dry pump cutoff and csv on this well. I recognize I could put a pump at 200' and usually have water and not have pressure differential problems, but the main goal here is to make sure water is available when it may not be somewhere else.