New well setup questions

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cursethebanksters

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Hello all,

I have a well on some property I have recently purchased and I have moved my travel trailer on to the land. The well is a 4" casing and is about 80' deep. The water level was 18' down when I last checked during a drought this summer. I have a 275 gallon storage tank that I will pump the well water to when I need to fill it. I have my eyes on this pump :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-NA-_-NA

Here are the specs:

http://www.flotecpump.com/ResidentialProduct_fl_hw_jt_FP4312.aspx

I plan on trying to use the pump as a shallow well pump at first and if the water level drops too much when I'm filling my tank I'll go ahead and make it a deep well pump. I also have a manual pitcher pump that I want to set up on the same line with a on/off valve in front of it. The pitcher pump acually has a 2" inlet but I can use an adapter for whatever size I need. The electric pump uses a 1-1/4" suction line.

1. Does this 1/2 HP convertible jet pump seem to be a good choice? The listed flow rate is 8 gpm so I apparently will only have to run it for an hour or so every couple weeks judging by it's flow rate and the amount of water I use.

2. How deep should the water lines be buried? I live in Arkansas and the frost line is not very deep at all. I'm thinking 10" would be ok.


Thanks in advance for any help!
 
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cursethebanksters

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You would be better off with a submersible. Arkansas has got to be 18" to 24" I would think.

Why would I be better off with a submersible? My neighbor has water 4 feet down. My water level was 18 feet down when I last checked during a drought. I will only have to run the pump for 45 mins or so every couple weeks, or 20 mins every week.
 

Valveman

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Submersibles are just better, as long as the casing is large enough for one to fit. No priming, no suction leak problems, no changing from a one pipe when water is less than 14' to a two pipe when water is more than 14', delivers more flow and pressure for the horsepower, no noise, no frozen pump, no short lived ball bearings, no mechanical seal to leak, just the short list.
 

Craigpump

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I would never intentionally install a jet pump, especially if I had the option of a submersible.

Where in Ark are you? The Ozarks can get pretty damned cold, but I think 18" would be way below any frost line.
 

cursethebanksters

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Submersibles are just better, as long as the casing is large enough for one to fit. No priming, no suction leak problems, no changing from a one pipe when water is less than 14' to a two pipe when water is more than 14', delivers more flow and pressure for the horsepower, no noise, no frozen pump, no short lived ball bearings, no mechanical seal to leak, just the short list.

Awesome, thank you. I'm new to this so I didn't know the benefits. I don't think a submersible pump setup is really within my budget at this point. They are more expensive and 12/3 submersible wire is 1.26 + tax a foot. And I can't really handle the added costs at this point. I would have to run a separate drop pipe for my manual pump as well. I'm going to have to go with the less expensive setup. Plus I just don't like the idea of having to pull the pump up if there is a problem. Everyone around here has a jet pump. This pump will likely only be used once every week or 2 to fill my storage tank.


I fail to see how that is relevant. A sub is also less likely to get stolen.

It's not really relevant to the pumping and I wasn't sure as to what he was referring to but now I realize it was the pipe depth.

I would never intentionally install a jet pump, especially if I had the option of a submersible.

Where in Ark are you? The Ozarks can get pretty damned cold, but I think 18" would be way below any frost line.

I'm in the Arkansas River valley a little south of the Ozarks. It does get cold here, below 0 Fahrenheit at times, but we have really hot summers so the frost line isn't very deep. I'm going to try to call the water company and find out.
 
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Craigpump

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Depending on the length of the offset, you're talking about $75.00+ or- for the wire, plus a bit more for the submersible pump. By the time you buy the 2 different size poly pipes along with a jet assy & fittings and then put a value on the time it takes to get it installed & primed, you will be pretty close to the cost of a submersible.
 
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Cacher_Chick

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To add to what the others said, the Flotec brand of pumps are not known to be of good quality, and for that reason are generally not used by any professional installers.
 

Justwater

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i wouldnt install a free top brand jet pump if a submersible was an option, much less a flotec. so u would have us believe that u purchased this property, have a travel trailer to put on it, but a couple hundred bucks will break u? ..nah, people usually dont buy a new car if they cant afford gas!

if u wanna go cheap, fine.. its ur deal. but when it comes to water systems, cheap products make for cheap results. i'd personally install a nice water system and try to cut corners elsewhere. why do u want to use a storage tank and a manual pump? if you have power on site and the well produces enough water, i dont see a reason to use anything but the well pump.. just my opinion, good luck with whatever you do.
 
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