New well owner with some questions

[dcraw999]

Hi everyone. I just bought a house with well water and I've never been on a well before and I have a couple of questions. My well pump is a Sta-Rite SNE-L (http://www.sta-rite.com/ResidentialProduct_sr_ws_jt_SNC.aspx) with a 30/50 switch. I had a water contractor over to see if I could increase the pressure to 40/60 and I believe he held the relay open to see how much the pump would push and it never really got much past 50...maybe 52, 53, so he said increasing the pressure was a dead end unless I wanted to drill a new well.

Would a different pump be able to pump more pressure?

If not, I was thinking about putting in a cycle stop valve and setting it to....maybe...47??? Or could I just set it to 50?

And as far as the pressure switch, would there be any benefit to changing it from 30/50 to something else, maybe 40/50 or could I lower it to 30/40 to store more water for the times where the pump does not kick on? Not sure how to think about it in the context of if I install a csv.

And as far as the current pump itself, does that tell me anything else about the well, such as - whether or not there is also some other pump buried in the well? Or is this above ground suction only? Anything else?

Thanks in advance!

Don

 

[Reach4]

Would a different pump be able to pump more pressure?

Looking at that link you provided, it looks like they have an SNC, SND, SNE, and SNF version of that pump. The graph shows the difference.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[dcraw999]

Looking at that link you provided, it looks like they have an SNC, SND, SNE, and SNF version of that pump. The graph shows the difference.

Thanks Reach4. I saw that the SNF has a higher gallons per minute capacity than the SNE, however, I was not sure how gallons per minute was related to pressure.

I'm also not completely clear on Total Head, for example, if my well is 25 feet deep and it's 25 feet from the pump house and the farthest faucet from the pump house is 50 feet, that's 100 feet total, plus 20% friction loss, so 120 feet total head??? I did see online with some literature for this pump that 1 Ft of Head = 0.433 psi. Is that a universal measurement?

 

[Reach4]

Thanks Reach4. I saw that the SNF has a higher gallons per minute capacity than the SNE, however, I was not sure how gallons per minute was related to pressure.

For a given HP motor, some pumps have a choice of which venturi/jet that you put in. For that, you trade off higher GPM for lower pressure ability. I don't see that they offer such a choice, but if they did, you might consider a venturi swap.

I am pretty sure the SNF has a higher horsepower that SND etc. HP can increase both pressure and GPM... so that would be a different pump.

One thing that happens with jet pumps is obstruction in the jet. The symptom is that the pressure gets much lower -- maybe 20 gpm. They provide a plug right under the suction connection that you remove and then shove a wire thru the venturi to remove the obstruction. I don't know if a partial obstruction can knock off a few PSI. It sounds logical that it could happen, but I have no experience.

I'm also not completely clear on Total Head, for example, if my well is 25 feet deep and it's 25 feet from the pump house and the farthest faucet from the pump house is 50 feet, that's 100 feet total, plus 20% friction loss, so 120 feet total head??? I did see online with some literature for this pump that 1 Ft of Head = 0.433 psi. Is that a universal measurement?

The universal (1 Ft of Head = 0.433 psi) measurement part is true. However the other part is off some. There are 2 sections. Before the pump, and after the pump. The before-the-pump is a little more murky, but it is probably not that far off of the after-the-pump part. Yet it is easier to push water than pull water. So anyway the depth of the well and the depth of the pipe are not the important factors. The altitude difference from the water surface down the well vs the pump altitude matters. The pump altitude to the pressure gauge (where we measure the pressure). For sure that 0.433 is used for the rise from the pump to the pressure gauge.

It is important that the intake be below the level of the water down the well, and that the lift distance is not more than 25 ft. (the 25 ft number has some margin).

Horizontal distance after the pump is not so important. The friction loss would be affected by flow rate and pipe size and fittings in the path. Your 20% friction loss number is probably pessimistic.

With your pump only being able to pump to 53 PSI, to give margin, I would think that a 28-48 PSI setting would be good. With 28 cut-on pressure, you would set the air precharge to about 25 or 24 PSI, since you have a jet pump.

You could try cleaning the venturi. Somebody with experience could say whether that is worth trying or not. A piece of coat hanger is the classic thing, but a piece of bare #12 copper wire, would be good. Those are both smaller than the max, but I am not sure what a good number for the max wire diameter would be.

Another thing that can keep you from developing more pressure is an air leak between the water level and the pump. You can check for that by putting some aerosol foam shaving cream over the joints while the pump is running to see if air is getting sucked in.

So a new well to more pressure? That seemed odd initially, but maybe he was referring to putting in a well with a 4 or 5 inch casing that will accept a submersible pump. Submersible pumps can provide a lot more pressure, and use less electricity in the process.