MikeSS
Member
I've gone through the shallow well questions & answers and don't see exactly the same situation so I'll try to be clear without being overly wordy.
I bought my property 13 years ago and was planning on drilling a well with one of those rigs like you see advertised in Popular Mechanics - HydroDrill I think it is/was called. I never followed through for various reasons but did buy a Harbor Freight Shallow Well pump on sale. It is blue and branded Central Machinery. 3/4 hp motor, 5 gal bladder tank, 1 inch inlet & outlet. Since I bought it it's been in the box, unopened, since 2004.
A couple years ago I discovered I have an old (probably 1950 or so) dug well that was covered up. It had a concrete lid that cracked and fell into the well - which is how I found out I had the well. I recently had a well contractor rebuild the cover and seal this 54" diameter well, installing a 10 inch casing in the center with locking cap.
The well is 18 feet deep and water level is 7 - 8 feet down from ground level - so there's 10 feet of water.
I realize the HF pump is "junk" (I've been learning about wells and pumps off the internet for the last couple weeks) but I'm thinking since I already have it why not give it a try. It will be used only for irrigation. I won't need to raise the water any higher than ground level, although I'm thinking a storage tank might be a good idea someday. I'm 350 ft. above sea level.
My first question, is this pump a jet pump or a centrifugal pump, if anyone knows? Looking at the parts diagram I don't see an impeller with vanes (like on a car water pump), but there is a flat disc-looking thing that's labeled an impeller - but it's not obvious to me from the drawing how it works . . . and although I grasp in theory how a jet pump is something like how a venturi in a carburetor works, I can't tell from looking at the exterior of a pump what a jet pump looks like.
Second question, would I make it easier on the pump to use a 2 inch suction pipe going into the well? Or, since the inlet is 1 inch, does that mean the pump needs to stick with that diameter pipe since that was how it was designed? I want to make things as easy on the pump as I can.
I've learned about foot valves so I'll be using one, along with a nice big "lake screen" or similar device to keep any junk from getting sucked into the inlet - even though I know the foot valve also has a screen. I'm also thinking a "wye strainer" placed in the line just before entering the pump would be a good idea? Or would that add too much resistance?
I keep reading about the advantages of a CSV - would one of these in my application be of value? If it will keep the pump from cycling off and on a lot when I'm irrigating then it would be of value, but I don't know yet if my pump will be cycling on and off . . . but it's a question anyway in case someone would take a stab at advising me on this. My thought at this point is that I'll be turning on the well when I want to irrigate and turning the pump off when I'm done. This is a nice simple system I can understand at this point. I might get into fancier things once I've learned more about how things work.
I guess that's all my questions at this point. The main one is do I go to a 2 inch downpipe to reduce pipe friction or for some other reason, or should I stick with 1 inch or maybe 1.25"? I've been learning a lot about wells and related issues lately but still don't have standard concepts fixed in my brain yet.
Thanks,
Mike
I bought my property 13 years ago and was planning on drilling a well with one of those rigs like you see advertised in Popular Mechanics - HydroDrill I think it is/was called. I never followed through for various reasons but did buy a Harbor Freight Shallow Well pump on sale. It is blue and branded Central Machinery. 3/4 hp motor, 5 gal bladder tank, 1 inch inlet & outlet. Since I bought it it's been in the box, unopened, since 2004.
A couple years ago I discovered I have an old (probably 1950 or so) dug well that was covered up. It had a concrete lid that cracked and fell into the well - which is how I found out I had the well. I recently had a well contractor rebuild the cover and seal this 54" diameter well, installing a 10 inch casing in the center with locking cap.
The well is 18 feet deep and water level is 7 - 8 feet down from ground level - so there's 10 feet of water.
I realize the HF pump is "junk" (I've been learning about wells and pumps off the internet for the last couple weeks) but I'm thinking since I already have it why not give it a try. It will be used only for irrigation. I won't need to raise the water any higher than ground level, although I'm thinking a storage tank might be a good idea someday. I'm 350 ft. above sea level.
My first question, is this pump a jet pump or a centrifugal pump, if anyone knows? Looking at the parts diagram I don't see an impeller with vanes (like on a car water pump), but there is a flat disc-looking thing that's labeled an impeller - but it's not obvious to me from the drawing how it works . . . and although I grasp in theory how a jet pump is something like how a venturi in a carburetor works, I can't tell from looking at the exterior of a pump what a jet pump looks like.
Second question, would I make it easier on the pump to use a 2 inch suction pipe going into the well? Or, since the inlet is 1 inch, does that mean the pump needs to stick with that diameter pipe since that was how it was designed? I want to make things as easy on the pump as I can.
I've learned about foot valves so I'll be using one, along with a nice big "lake screen" or similar device to keep any junk from getting sucked into the inlet - even though I know the foot valve also has a screen. I'm also thinking a "wye strainer" placed in the line just before entering the pump would be a good idea? Or would that add too much resistance?
I keep reading about the advantages of a CSV - would one of these in my application be of value? If it will keep the pump from cycling off and on a lot when I'm irrigating then it would be of value, but I don't know yet if my pump will be cycling on and off . . . but it's a question anyway in case someone would take a stab at advising me on this. My thought at this point is that I'll be turning on the well when I want to irrigate and turning the pump off when I'm done. This is a nice simple system I can understand at this point. I might get into fancier things once I've learned more about how things work.
I guess that's all my questions at this point. The main one is do I go to a 2 inch downpipe to reduce pipe friction or for some other reason, or should I stick with 1 inch or maybe 1.25"? I've been learning a lot about wells and related issues lately but still don't have standard concepts fixed in my brain yet.
Thanks,
Mike