Irrigation from well questions

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timcanton

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wow glad I found this site.

Ok here is the basic scenario and I know something needs to change. Right now my well runs one place. into the house through a filter and it branches off to all indoor and outdoor water sources. So i water my my garden from the outside hose faucet........but using it this way is rapidly clogging filters to the point of pressure being cut in half. Thats after watering 2 days about 4 hours each day. Is that normal??? Is 4 hrs bad for anything else? Whats my alternative options? I am planning on expanding gardens alot over time as well.

Thanks all
 

Valveman

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As long as the pump runs steady and doesn't cycle on and off, it is OK to run it 24/7. You can tee into the line prior to the filter for the irriagtion so it won't clog your filter.
 

LLigetfa

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Since you don't say what you are filtering and to what extent, it will depend. If it can clog the irrigation system, then you will want to filter it. Perhaps a coarse filter for the irrigation and a finer filter for the home.

I run all my irrigation water through my iron filter otherwise it will stain my white siding and clog my soaker hoses. Mind you, my iron filter backwashes so I don't need to change filters. l also don't run the soaker hoses 4 hours a day.

Iron won't clog my sprinkler so I hooked it up before the iron filter and I can run it all day if I want.
 

timcanton

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As long as the pump runs steady and doesn't cycle on and off, it is OK to run it 24/7. You can tee into the line prior to the filter for the irriagtion so it won't clog your filter.

The pump does cycle on and off (i assume you mean the pump you can hear at the well?) is that not good? I am new to well water systems
 

timcanton

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Since you don't say what you are filtering and to what extent, it will depend. If it can clog the irrigation system, then you will want to filter it. Perhaps a coarse filter for the irrigation and a finer filter for the home.

I run all my irrigation water through my iron filter otherwise it will stain my white siding and clog my soaker hoses. Mind you, my iron filter backwashes so I don't need to change filters. l also don't run the soaker hoses 4 hours a day.

Iron won't clog my sprinkler so I hooked it up before the iron filter and I can run it all day if I want.



Its just a bsic whole house filter system that was on it when I bought the house. the filters always have this almost mud/clay color to them when i change them.
 

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The pump does cycle on and off (i assume you mean the pump you can hear at the well?) is that not good? I am new to well water systems

NO, cycling on and off is not good. It could also be part of the reason your well is making so much sediment. Cycling on and off stirs up the well. You either need to run enough sprinklers at one time to keep the pump running steady, or use a Cycle Stop Valve so the pump runs steady no matter how little water you are using.
 

timcanton

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NO, cycling on and off is not good. It could also be part of the reason your well is making so much sediment. Cycling on and off stirs up the well. You either need to run enough sprinklers at one time to keep the pump running steady, or use a Cycle Stop Valve so the pump runs steady no matter how little water you are using.


more sprinklers?? like run 2 lines at once? I would not have thought that since pressure is noticeably reduced at the sprinkler if for instance the toilet is flushed or the sink turned on.....SO the issue is not pulling enough water though? If i google cycle stop valve will i find the valve you are referring to?

Thanks so much for the help
 

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more sprinklers?? like run 2 lines at once? I would not have thought that since pressure is noticeably reduced at the sprinkler if for instance the toilet is flushed or the sink turned on.....SO the issue is not pulling enough water though? If i google cycle stop valve will i find the valve you are referring to?

Thanks so much for the help

That is the problem with matching the usage to the pump output. You are using up all the water the pump can produce, so when you use any more water in the house, the pressure goes to crap.

The CSV lets you run as small of sprinklers zones as you want without the pump cycling on and off. That way you have plenty of water left for the house if you run a shower or anything else. The CSV just sees the extra water needed and opens up to give you more water. When the shower is finished, the CSV resets itself to the sprinkler. And all this happens without the pump cycling at all.

Yes you can Google it, or just click the link at the bottom of my post.
 

timcanton

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That is the problem with matching the usage to the pump output. You are using up all the water the pump can produce, so when you use any more water in the house, the pressure goes to crap.

The CSV lets you run as small of sprinklers zones as you want without the pump cycling on and off. That way you have plenty of water left for the house if you run a shower or anything else. The CSV just sees the extra water needed and opens up to give you more water. When the shower is finished, the CSV resets itself to the sprinkler. And all this happens without the pump cycling at all.

Yes you can Google it, or just click the link at the bottom of my post.


ok confused now. if one sprinkler is using all the water why does the pump cycle?? Today replaced filter, ran 2 sprinklers for less than 2 hrs and the filter is filthy and slowed pressure outside?
 

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If one sprinkler is using all the water the pump can produce, then the pump will not cycle. But if the pump is cycling on and off, the sprinkler is not large enough to use all the water the pump produces.

You might just need to open up the mainline to the pump and let it pump the well clean for a period of time. Opening up the mainline will lower the pressure, which lets the pump put out more water. Sometimes this will pump the crud out of the well that won't clean up while running sprinklers at higher pressure and lower flow.
 

LLigetfa

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The OP's problem with pressure/volume is the flow restriction of his filter, not the pump GPM max'ing out.
 

timcanton

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If one sprinkler is using all the water the pump can produce, then the pump will not cycle. But if the pump is cycling on and off, the sprinkler is not large enough to use all the water the pump produces.

But the pump does cycle on and off and as I said using anything else with the sprinkler destroys pressure so is it not using all the water????
 

timcanton

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The OP's problem with pressure/volume is the flow restriction of his filter, not the pump GPM max'ing out.

So you say a simple pre filter T solves it??? with new filter it puts out about 4.5 per minute through open hose, but about less than half that when the filters dirty........What about cycling and the fact that filter is clogging in 2 hours?
 

LLigetfa

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If what you are filtering out is just fine clay, it won't clog your sprinklers so then simply Tee off to the sprinklers before the filter. A coarser pre-filter before the Tee would save your sprinklers from getting clogged with sand and being coarser, not need to be serviced as often.

The pump GPM outputs on a curve, producing fewer GPM at higher pressure. You might be able to reduce cycling simply by raising the cut-out pressure setting. If the pump still cycles, add more zones as valveman suggested or add a CSV.
 

timcanton

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If what you are filtering out is just fine clay, it won't clog your sprinklers so then simply Tee off to the sprinklers before the filter. A coarser pre-filter before the Tee would save your sprinklers from getting clogged with sand and being coarser, not need to be serviced as often.

The pump GPM outputs on a curve, producing fewer GPM at higher pressure. You might be able to reduce cycling simply by raising the cut-out pressure setting. If the pump still cycles, add more zones as valveman suggested or add a CSV.

So the pump is cycling due to few GPM? Will the Tee potentially solve cycling issue by itself?


Is there somewhere I can read about the output curves etc? might help me grasp it better.

Thanks
 

Valveman

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Yes cycling is caused by using fewer GPM than the pump produces. This can be caused by running too few sprinklers, or when the filter gets partically clogged. You will need the Brand Name and model number to find the curve for your pump.
 

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Since my feeble mind can't figure out how to post a question on this site, perhaps someone reading this can enlighten me on the procedure. Obviously typing in the search bar does not help. The section asking for a member name doesn't seem to be necessary for the site. A new member knows nothing about the members on the site which further complicates my search parameters. So if someone can give any advise on a well problem which would probably not be a problem to them, how do I contact that person through a search?

My problem is most likely not unique. 2' PVC casing approximately 95 feet deep, drop pipe, if that's the proper nomenclature for the pipe with an ejector installed, likely at least 20' depth. The well has been losing flow for a few years and this season when attempting to get water flow, the pump needed a lot of priming. Then when it did run, the pressure went up to approximately 60 PSI but with very little flow. So it seems that the feed to the ejector is being restricted resulting in very little flow at what should be adequate pressure.

I have heard that removing the pipe and ejector can be very difficult if not impossible. So if I am mistaken in my presumption that there is blockage at the ejector what advise is there on where to proceed at this point? If the drop pipe must be pulled, what are suggestions for reducing friction and hangups in the process?

And how would I simply post this description in the search option on the site? I'm not attempting to hijack this thread, but simply attempting to get a solution to the problem.
 

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Since my feeble mind can't figure out how to post a question on this site, perhaps someone reading this can enlighten me on the procedure.
To post a new thread:
Click Forums, which gets you to http://www.terrylove.com/forums/index.php
Click the name of the forum that you want to post into.
On the right, click on "Post New Thread".

Alternatively, click the name of the forum either of two places above, and then on the right, click on "Post New Thread".
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https://terrylove.com/forums/index....estions-and-using-avatars-on-this-site.79025/ would have come up if you searched for posting in titles, but not for post. The search ignores words of three letters or less, so searching for "new post" would be the same as searching for "post". Also note that search terms IPC or UPC would also be ignored.
 
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