Loosing Prime, low volume

I supposedly have a well around 80 feet deep. The motor is a goulds jet pump 1 HP.
We have low water volume. Pressure builds up and we have a good supply until tank begins to deplete, then we have a barely adequate supply out of a faucet. There is a single pipe through wall 2†OD that must have both a feed and return line to the well, as the pump sits just inside the wall on top with the tank next to it. Not every day however beginning quite frequently we are loosing the prime on the pump and I can use a couple hundred foot of hose from neighbors house to re-prime, coupling it up to a faucet. The symptoms are, low volume, loosing prime, and our pipes that are suspended surge when our pump is running, actually bounce up and down sometimes as tank is building pressure. Looking for some suggestions, and would it be possible to put in a submersible pump instead or would this be a bad idea.

This is a guess...one of the pump guys will have their (better) ideas. I think you are pumping faster than the recovery rate of the well. As the water level drops, the pump is sucking air, then water, etc. which is why the pipe is bouncing around.

Jim may be on the right track here. It sure sounds like the well water level is too low.
What size is the well casing? Is it accessible? It's hard to say whether you could use a submersible without more info.
Ron

I'm wondering if the 2" pipe is a concentric pipe or maybe a smaller pipe and the system is a shallow well?

Is there a cast iron gizmo bolted to the pump where this 2" pipe terminates. It would have two or three bolts near the 2" pipe. Or does the pipe fasten to the front of the pump with pipe threads?

You might want to find out if this is a screened well. If it is, the screen may be plugging up to the point that very little water is getting in.

bob...