Driven well troubles 60ft deep

[Scolabird]

Ok ladies and gents I'm a newbie to forums and wells in general. A year ago I drove a well here in Fountain,Fl a half hour north of Panama City in mostly sandy soil and some hardpans. I used a tractor some pulleys and a 250 pound weight to drive the pipe downward. I used galvanized 1 1/4 pipe as my well shaft and over a period of 2 months with a lot of start and stopping, a lot of beers, and more aches/pains and profanities that I'd care to confess to, we got through I believe our fourth hard pan and upon adding water down the pipe we could no longer fill the pipe up! Bingo! 60 foot deep and pitcher pump hookup attempt number 45 finally yielded some muddy brown water out the ground(with a bit of sulfur smell) We hooked up a hand me down 3/4 HP shallow well pump and it ran for 3 hours until my yard became a mud pit and the water got clear and cold!!! I started and stopped the pump numerous times to ensure she wouldn't run dry or lose prime and it worked everytime... A week later, we got back home and No Water. I unplugged and plugged well to power and it would kick on and pump my primer water that I added but then run dry. I fast realized I needed a check valve. I installed one topside and continued to have troubles with losing prime. I finally decided to add a foot valve and due to using inch and a quarter pipe as that's all I had for a well casing I had to shrink down to a 3/4 drop pipe(PVC) inside the casing and a Chinese made 1/2 inch foot valve (no others would fit due to my tiny casing pipe). It was a struggle to get 3/4 PVC drop pipe and foot valve all the way down well shaft and it took some twisting and tapping to get her all the way to bottom. I pulled the drop pipe up and down to prime foot valve until clear smelly sulfur water burst from the pipe. I then plumbed the drop pipe to my pump and I have had water for a year, through Florida's summer droughts and the recent cold rainy winter. The other day my pump outlet (1inch PVC threaded coupler) popped out of the top of well (outlet side) and water was spraying all over the roof of small pump house. I replaced the coupler and it seemed fine for weeks till we noticed a slight drop in water pressure. We replaced the pump with brand new 1hp shallow well pump and plumbed everything exactly as before except now upon priming drop pipe and top of well with water it will pump water for 5 minutes or occasionally only 1 and then run dry. I have raised and lowered the drop pipe but continue to have the same intermittent issues over and over for 2 days straight. I have noticed at times I will prime pump and turn it on and get a spritz of water then remove the top plug to reprime pump only to hear it blowing air out of the topside primer hole. On a few occasions I prime pump and it runs fine for 5 or so minutes with smelly water, then i open valve to allow water to fill pressure tank only to have it stay running for 10 minutes and never fill tank and check. Upon attempting to fill tank, the gauge will register a fast rise from zero to 30 psi and then jump erratically up and down a few psi and never go any higher(even after 10 minutes). Tank pressure is 28psi and points are set at 30/50. I then open spigot and occasionally get a good 30 psi blast of water for a few minutes and then I'm back to having to reprime pump.

It appears to me the manually driven 4 foot long 2 inch wide well drive point screen may be clogged??? I'm limited in my solutions due to A)being unable to retrieve the 3/4 inch PVC drop pipe with out breaking it off down the 1 1/4 galvanized shaft and B) being poor.


Any insight would be a huge help and blessing. I hope this wordy long story provides enough detail.
Thanks,
Desperateman

 

[Reach4]

Have you cleaned the jet? If the pump generates less pressure, that could be neededd. That does not seem to match all of your symptoms, but not being able to pump above 20 or 30 seems to match.

Your main symptom seems to be running short of water.

A suction pump will only pump water from about 25 ft. If you run out of water, the well may be sucked dry.

If the well sucks dry, it could be because the water table fell, or that the input screen has become clogged, or the bottom of the well has become full of sediment.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Scolabird]

Dumb question 4 ya.....

Wheres the jet???
The new pump come with a venturi looking tube rig and another little deal.. it appeared both of those apparatuses* apperatti, Were (if used) to be installed down the shaft in a deep well application? We used neither and simply hooked it up like our old pump. After posting and quite desperate, we carefully beat the outer galvanized pipe casing down another half inch and lowered the drop pipe inside as far down as she would go (it's 90° coupling is now resting on top of the galvanized shaft.) After priming and running dry and taking a break it then trying pump again the pump pumped water for 30 minutes straight. Albeit a bit low in volume, it appeared to be fixed. I filled the pressure tank and it checked itself at 50psi. I used water to wash dishes and shower, midshower pump kicked back on and water pressure and volume went kaput. I noticed intake side of well pump was getting warm, so I unplugged. I'm assuming its clogged either at foot valve or the outer 1 1/4 well shaft screen. Does it make sense to get clogged to this extreme inside 1 year of infrequent use?

 

[Bannerman]

Wheres the jet???

The jet nozzle can often be cleared with a metal wire such as a section of a clothes hanger.