Danbrich
New Member
In this area of central Florida the water table is about 8’ below ground. Shallow wells with a metal casing and a pvc suction pipe are common for irrigation. Below is a picture of the pipe found in my yard. Both the 2” casing and the 1 1/4” suction pipe appear to be galvanized. Both are threaded at the top. As you can see from the picture it is not possible to put a fitting on the suction pipe because it is wedged up against the casing and it doesn’t budge. I ran a hose down the suction pipe and it went down 20’ feet and seemed to hit bottom. Some muddy water washed out of the top of the pipe. A week later I wanted to see how far down the water level was but the water was still only about 8” from the top of the pipe. It hadn’t drained down much at all. I tried putting a 1” pipe inside the suction pipe, but the galvanized pipe seemed to narrow about 8” down. The 3/4” hose would fit, but not the 1” pipe. Here is my theory: the galvanized suction pipe has a foot valve at the bottom which is working to hold in the water. Someone removed the pump (probably not being used by renters) and perhaps let the suction pipe drop down in the casing and get stuck in the mud at the bottom of the well. I theorize the suction pipe is 1”, but widens at the top to connect to a typical 1 1/4” suction connection on pump. How can I proceed to make this well functional? Should I cut off a couple of inches of the casing and try to put a fitting on the suction pipe? Should I try to pull out the suction pipe and replace it with pvc? I am open to suggestions and alternate theories. Tia
