Starting up old well

[David Cowley]

I have a late 60's era 2-inch galvanized pipe well that I have measured to be about 32 feet deep. The pump is Goulds 1/2 hp convertible and was new in 1985. The water level is about 22 feet deep. 30 feet of 1-1/4 PVC runs inside the galvanized pipe down to the packer assembly. There is a small Well-X-Trol tank. The well put out about 3 to 4 GPM at 40 psi from 1987 to 1990 to water the yard, but I lost interest in the lawn and quit using it up until now. Now, after 15 years of being idle, it will only pump a little over 1 GPM at 10 psi. If I just let it run like this for 10 minutes it starts surging and looses suction.

So I pulled and cut all of the PVC pipe up and found that there was no strainer on the bottom of the packer, the check valve was seated by gravity (no spring) and the jet was not clogged. I tried an experiment to see if the well was clogged: I added city water to the well at just the right flow to keep the water level in the well at equilibrium with the top of the well. The flowrate of water that the well consumed was almost 3 GPM.

Does my experiment prove the well is not clogged? Is the packer check valve supposed to be seated by gravity or a spring? Since the PVC couplings are a restriction and the PVC is difficult to remove, can I reassemble this well with flexible PE tube? Dave C.

 

[Speedbump]

If this well indeed has a packer (deep well jet) it should be on galvanized pipe only.

I am not thinking your confusing the bremer check with the deep well packer jet.

What do these items look like and how did you remove them?

bob...

 

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[David Cowley]

The packer is made out of brass and the body is painted blue. There are two leather seals that seal to this ID of the 2 inch galvanized. There is a plastic tube on one end about 8 inches log and I can see the jet inside this tube. The way I pulled this up was manually using a c-clamp when I got tired. I sawed through the pvc ant each coupling since I had no way to support 30 feet of pvc in the air. I don't want to buy a new packer (about $100) if mine is ok. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[Speedbump]

Do your self a favor and put the jet back on 1" galvanized pipe. This way you can be assured of seeing the jet one more time.

Most folks that hang a jet on plastic pipe of any kind never see it again. The jet get's stuck to the casing and the plastic pipe breaks long before the jet comes out of the well.

Explain this check valve with no spring to me. Where was it and how did you get it out?

The three gpm going back in the well means it will make at least 3gpm, maybe more. The 1/2hp jet pump you have isn't what I would call a real a** kicker. You might want to try a little bigger pump like a 1hp.
1/3 and 1/2 hp pumps were fine long before dish washers and washing machines, sprinkler systems and indoor toilets came along.

It's time to upgrade.

bob...

 

[David Cowley]

Thanks for the input on the pipe size and pump hp. As far as the check valve is concerned it is visible through the bottom end of the when the strainer is removed. My well did not have a strainer when I removed it so I hope it did not fall in. I'm starting to realize that I probably need to replace everything but the 2 inch galvanized pipe.

 

[Speedbump]

If it's scaley, I would or you might just plug the jet and have to do it all over again (several times).

You can't replace the 2" pipe.

bob...