In Iquitos, Peru - Save me from local Incompetence!!

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Jim Davis

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Hi All, just experienced a 4 week fiasco trying to get a well put in here in Iquitos, Peru. Two different crews, three wells dug, one pump stuck in the well and abandoned, the last very low flow rate and murky water. So I’ve bought two pumps, spent several thousand dollars and have nothing.

After doing lots of research I figured I would pull the pump myself and see if I could find a reason for the low flow rate and murky water. The flow rate was a bit less than 1 gallon per minute. In a prior well the same pump had around 20 gpm, but ran dry in a few minutes. So I did not think it would be the pump itself.

The pump is a Franklin 1 HP 25 GPM 230V 25SV1S4-3W230 in a 4” well casing. I know its small, but that is what they do here.

Before pulling the pump I measured the water level at 41ft. We pulled the pump and it had 145 ft of ½” drop pipe. The well depth without the pump is 150 ft. From my research it seems the 1/2” drop pipe could account for the low flow rate, and the pump bottom being about 3 ft from the bottom of the well could account for the murky water. Does this seem reasonable?

I am planning on using 1” drop pipe and putting the pump 20 ft above the bottom of the well. We are in the dry season in an especially dry year (the reason for putting in a new well, our other well went dry) so I am no too concerned about the water level dropping too much in the future. I would like some advice before trying this.

Here is the situation"

150 ft well, 4” pvc casing.

40ft static water level.

No idea on capacity or recovery rate

Franklin 1 HP 25 GPM 230V 25SV1S4-3W230

Control Box Franklin 1.5 HP 2823008110 (yes, its for a different pump, but that is all they had and the dealer said it would be fine. I have no idea if that is true, but it did run well testing it in our lake)

Pumping into an elevated 500 gallon storage tank. The tubing goes straight to the top of the tank with nothing in between, so it is open to the atmosphere.

Storage tank is about 400 ft from the pump, up a small hill, about another 40-45 ft above the well head.

It will be powered with a 5500 kw Honda generator and the control box will be mounted in the generator shed about 200 ft from the well head.


My questions are:

1. Is 1 inch drop pipe the correct choice?

2. Should I run 1 inch pipe all the way to the top of the storage tank?

3. If for some reason the pump is too big for the casing, would a ½ HP pump do the job?

4. What size wiring should I run to the pump? The installer bought #12 three wire underground cable. Seems a bit small for the power demands and distance.

5. If the water remains murky, should I try different depths?

Note Iquitos is a city in the middle of the Amazon jungle and we have very limited options here. The only other pump models available are Chinese, and I don’t want one of those. ¾ HP pumps are not available. Only schedule 40 pvc is available. Check valves are not available. Well caps are not available, so I will be using a rope to support the pump. Such is life in the jungleJ.

I appreciate any help you guys can give, because in my limited research I already know more than the “professionals” who work around here.
 

Valveman

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Yes you need at least 1" drop pipe. With 40' to static that pump should produce 25 GPM for at least 5-6 minutes before it pulls the stored water in the well down to the pump at 150'. 20' off bottom is OK unless the water pulls down quickly and you need the last few feet, then you set it as deep as you can. 1/2HP pumps are not any smaller in diameter than a 1.5HP pump. #12 wire is good to 310' on a 1.5HP load. Put in some bigger pipe and run the water for a while and see if it doesn't clear up. You have to pump it to clear it and you need bigger pipe to make that happen.
 

Reach4

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You are going to use 1 inch schedule 40 drop pipe with glued couplers. Give the PVC cement plenty of time to set, if you will dangle the pump by the pipe. I think you said that the pump would be dangling from a rope rather than dangling from the drop pipe, but I thought I would bring that up. I don't know how long to wait for each joint.
 
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