shallow pump losing prime

okay guys here it goes i hope to get some answers for this, I bought a house that has sat for about a year. I installed new pump and tank and was able to get prime so its all good right. Well when i turn on the water it loses pressure and when the pump turns on it cant fill fast enough so it eventually loses prime. I had a plumber come out and check it he says that teh screen in the ground has probably got sediment plugging it up and he recommends using an acid purge proceedure that is suppose to help clean out the sediment on the screen. When this is done it will pull more water so it will be able to keep up when i have the water turned on in the house. He was also able to figure out somehow that i am only pulling about 1 gallon a minute and i should be pulling about three.
My question is does anyone have any input on this as whether they had it done and does it work. I dont want to waste my money if this is a waste of time. Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

Did the plumber tell you depth to water, and show you why he believes that the pump should be pumping 3 GPM, and how he determined that it is pumping only 1 GPM.

Did the plumber measure the pressure/vacuum on the suction side if it is a shallow well jet pump? Comparing that to the depth to water is a good way of determining if the screen is restricting the flow.

What kind of pump do you have? Deep well jet? Shallow well jet? Horsepower?

A 3 GPM pump is a pretty small pump. What make/model is it?

All in all, is the plumber speaking from facts and knowledge of the system, and is he explaining those facts to you, or is he pulling something from his hat or some lower location?

I agree with Bob completely. The smallest pump I can sell you will pump at least 10 gpm. And 3 gpm isn't much to run a household on. You might want to shop around by calling a pumpman or a well driller who knows more about wells and pumps.

And don't let this guy use Muriatic acid in your well. That's very dangerous. If you can get into the screen to clean it, NuWell tablets are the only thing to use. Some wells have check valves in the bottom preventing anything form getting to the screen.
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/face/stateface/mi/01mi061.html

bob...