water well question for church

[rbig]

I'm just getting started on a project of a community garden for our church.

The whole project is pretty much going to be dependent on getting good water production from an old well.

The well was orignally designed to run sprinklers in a 3 acre lawn. Years ago, we were forced to go to city water, so we just decided not to hook sprinkler system to city.

I was at the well and kicked it on. It now delivers good, over the side production. through a 2" pipe, 2hp well pump.

This is kind of a "know what we're doing" deal, or we will lose the project.

With this, what should I be doing/thinking/testing for?

With the well original purpose, it might be sufficient in production for 1 hour watering every other day.

With the surface production looking OK----is there anything else I can do to check?

Our runout will be 400' of pipe to garden patch, some under driveways and sidewalks. Will the 2hp pump normally be sufficient to deliver the water? Or, is it likely well need bigger?

[valveman]

See if the pump will run "over the side" for an hour or two, then measure how many gallons per minute in a bucket. This will be how much your WELL will make. Then put a tee with a gauge sticking up and a ball valve going out on the discharge pipe. Choke back on the valve until the gauge reads about 40 PSI, then let it run for a while. Use your bucket again to find out how much you PUMP is making at 40 PSI. Then you can work on the controls needed to make an automatic system, and figure out how many sprinklers to run at one time.

[Mike Swearingen]

www.irrigationtutorials.com
www.peekspump.com
Good Luck!
Mike

[Bob NH]

See if the pump will run "over the side" for an hour or two, then measure how many gallons per minute in a bucket.

Running the water ' "over the side" for an hour or two' could run the well out of water below the inlet. That could cause you to have to re-prime the pump, which you may or may not be able to do easily.

[valveman]

If that happens, then you know the well won't make that much water. Get the pump back to running and see how much it will make. You are either going to have to call a pump man or take the time to study and become one.

[rbig]

Here's a link to one similar to our 2hp pump:

http://www.tractorsupply.com/webapp/...g=true&cFlag=1

I'm setting us for the 40lb test. It'll probably be next week, so I'll report in then.

[Bob NH]

You should also test that pump at 20 and 30 psi. There are no pressure/flow specifications at the link but it is a rare 1 HP single-stage centrifugal pump that will deliver 40 psi from a well.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/webapp/...g=true&cFlag=1

If that is indeed what you have for a pump then you have a shallow well.