Low yield well

**oregon** · 01-06-2011, 12:39 PM

Has anybody heard anything about this product?

http://www.wellbooster.com/

I have a low yield well and I am looking for solutions.

Thanks

**Gary Slusser** · 01-07-2011, 08:33 AM

If you have a low recovery rate, like 1 or so gpm, that doesn't mean that that's all the water you can use. If you have a 6" well, there is 1.47 gal per foot of water in the well. I.E. 100' of water above the inlet to the pump says 147 gals in storage, plus the recovery rate gallons.

What is your static water level, recovery rate, well depth, pump depth and the diameter of the well?

**oregon** · 01-07-2011, 09:56 AM

My well is 6" diameter, 470' deep. I don't know what the static level is. I have an 84 gallon pressure tank protected by a pump tec switch. When the water goes out, and the tank is completely empty, it takes about 2 hours for the well to recover enough to fill the tank to 60 psi. The confusing part is when the water runs out. Some times it is obvious, lots of laundry, long showers, etc, but sometimes it it totally unexpected. We are very careful with out water use, so this happens only two or three times a year.

**ballvalve** · 01-07-2011, 10:41 AM

You should read the book on the pumptek, its online, you might need to tweak the settings a bit.

But better to fail in off position than in the ON position.

**valveman** · 01-08-2011, 08:29 AM

I have explained this many times but, a large pressure tank is not good to have on a low producing well. The times when you ran out of water unexpectedly, the tank was probably almost empty when you started using water. Ie; you have a 40/60 pressure switch and the pressure was at 41 PSI when you started using water. So not only did the well have to supply the shower and whatever else you were using, but it had to put 25 gallons of water back into the tank at the same time. This caused your well to pump dry prematurely.

During times that the pressure was at 60 when you started using water, the tank had 25 gallons stored before the pump even came on. But you can never predict or plan for the tank to be full when you start using water. It is just luck of the draw.

Now if you have a cistern tank that fills from the well, the float switch makes sure that the storage tank is always full or at least almost full. Then you have a booster pump that pumps out of the storage tank to the pressure tank and to the house. As the link you provided says, even a 1 GPM well will make 1440 gallons per day. You just need to be able to store it in a tank to be ready for the booster pump anytime you need it. You probably don’t even need a very large tank. Even a 50 gallon storage tank will have twice as much water as the 84 gallon pressure tank. So 300 gallon storage would be a lot more than you are used to having.

You really don’t need any “sophisticated” type control system. Just a storage tank with a float switch, and a booster pump with a pressure tank and pressure switch. A dry well protection relay like the pumptec or Cycle Sensor is all you need to protect the well pump. The Cycle Sensor is very sensitive and accurate and only lets the well pump run dry for 10 seconds before it shuts off. 10 seconds of dry run is not going to hurt the pump, even if it does it 100 times per day.

But if you want something a little more sophisticated, look into the Well Manager system.

**Gary Slusser** · 01-08-2011, 09:48 AM

Originally Posted by oregon

My well is 6" diameter, 470' deep. I don't know what the static level is. I have an 84 gallon pressure tank protected by a pump tec switch. When the water goes out, and the tank is completely empty, it takes about 2 hours for the well to recover enough to fill the tank to 60 psi. The confusing part is when the water runs out. Some times it is obvious, lots of laundry, long showers, etc, but sometimes it it totally unexpected. We are very careful with out water use, so this happens only two or three times a year.

If it were me I would not do 2-3 loads of laundry and a couple long showers etc., I'd actually live as if we had to actually conserve water so we don't run out. Whenever the well runs dry, you get no water out of it until it recovers some but, running out says you have not been conserving water by stretching out the time between large uses like a load of laundry or showers.

Usually the static water level is dependent on precipitation levels in your area. A dry summer usually equates to a low static level during the fall and if you are in a cold climate with freezing temps and the ground frozen, maybe until a few weeks after spring thaw and spring rains.

As Valveman says, your large pr tank is not a good thing and you should go with a storage tank and repressurization pump/tank because that's the only way you can have enough water for the way you use water.

**ballvalve** · 01-08-2011, 03:05 PM

If he cant afford a BIG tank and float, throttling back the input to the pressure tank should help reduce trips on the pumptek.

**oregon** · 01-30-2011, 09:09 AM

Originally Posted by Gary Slusser

If it were me I would not do 2-3 loads of laundry and a couple long showers etc., I'd actually live as if we had to actually conserve water so we don't run out. Whenever the well runs dry, you get no water out of it until it recovers some but, running out says you have not been conserving water by stretching out the time between large uses like a load of laundry or showers.

Usually the static water level is dependent on precipitation levels in your area. A dry summer usually equates to a low static level during the fall and if you are in a cold climate with freezing temps and the ground frozen, maybe until a few weeks after spring thaw and spring rains.

As Valveman says, your large pr tank is not a good thing and you should go with a storage tank and repressurization pump/tank because that's the only way you can have enough water for the way you use water.

The 2-3 loads of laundry is usually stretched out over 8-12 hours. A long shower for us would be 3 minutes with the water on continuously. Usually, we shower "Navy" style, water on/off. For irrigation I collect rain water in a cistern. The mystery is the randomness of the water running out. It only happens two or three times a year, so I am not sure if I will do anything. I would like to thank all the people on this forum for all the useful advice. I think my next move will be to install a 300 gallon holding tank. Thanks!

Mike

**ballvalve** · 01-30-2011, 10:09 AM

3000 gallon tank here for $599, cheaper is bigger. Pumptek. Tier 3 washer [top loader please] using only a few gallons of water. Pee outside.

**Porky** · 02-03-2011, 06:16 AM

The wellbooster does the same thing as the pumptec, coyote and cycle sensor. They all shut down the pump when the well runs dry. None of these can boost production of the well. As Valveman explained in places where we have a limited amout of water in the well we install a non-pressurized storage tank with a Cycle Sensor (to shut down the pump when the well runs dry) and a float switch. This will give you stored water when needed. Then install a second pump to feed pressure to the home with a Cycle Stop Valve and a small pressure tank www.cyclestopvalves.com. This type of system will give you up to 1440 gallons per day, more than enought to supply most homes without concerns of running low on water.