I have a cabin on an island in Montana and we have always used a sandpoint well for our water. Due to the old well point finally scaling and clogging last year, I just drove a new well over the weekend and am having trouble priming my jet pump and I have a worrying suspicion that the jet pump may be just outside of the height that it can draw water due to the atmospheric limits on these shallow wells. However, before going through the trouble of building a new pump-house and moving my pump lower I thought I would see if I am just missing something in my priming procedure.
Here are the specifics of the well: I have a 3 foot screened wellpoint at the bottom of 16 feet of 1 ¼ “ pipe. As such there is a total of 19 feet from the tip of the point to the well head. There is 9 ½ feet of water in the pipe. I cleared the well using a pitcher pump and was getting clean water at about 6 gallons per minute (limited only by my speed in moving the pitcher pump arm).
At this point I attached a 90 degree elbow to a close nipple to a check valve all at the well head. Then I attached 12 feet of 1 ½ “ clear core poly pipe to run up the hill to the pump house to get my ¾ horse Goulds shallow well jet pump hooked up. This 12 feet had a vertical rise of about 7 feet from the well head.
I tried to prime the pump three times by filling the pump and poly hose with water without success and then had to leave for the evening.
Here is my question, I understand that the pump cannot pull water from a depth greater than 25 feet. In my current configuration, the bottom of the well point is located about 26 to 27 feet below the pump. However, the water level in the pipe is only about 17 feet below the pump. Is the calculation for maximum lift from the bottom of the well screen or from the top of the water?
Someone told me that the horizontal run of pipe also must be calculated in determining the maximum suck distance, but this doesn’t make sense to me since it is atmospheric pressure at play which would only be the vertical elevation, and not the horizontal run.
Do I have to lower my pump, or is the location of my check valve or priming procedure the problem? Will it just take multiple attempts to prime in order to get all of the air out of the pipe and up to the check valve?
Thanks for any suggestions you can provide me.
Here are the specifics of the well: I have a 3 foot screened wellpoint at the bottom of 16 feet of 1 ¼ “ pipe. As such there is a total of 19 feet from the tip of the point to the well head. There is 9 ½ feet of water in the pipe. I cleared the well using a pitcher pump and was getting clean water at about 6 gallons per minute (limited only by my speed in moving the pitcher pump arm).
At this point I attached a 90 degree elbow to a close nipple to a check valve all at the well head. Then I attached 12 feet of 1 ½ “ clear core poly pipe to run up the hill to the pump house to get my ¾ horse Goulds shallow well jet pump hooked up. This 12 feet had a vertical rise of about 7 feet from the well head.
I tried to prime the pump three times by filling the pump and poly hose with water without success and then had to leave for the evening.
Here is my question, I understand that the pump cannot pull water from a depth greater than 25 feet. In my current configuration, the bottom of the well point is located about 26 to 27 feet below the pump. However, the water level in the pipe is only about 17 feet below the pump. Is the calculation for maximum lift from the bottom of the well screen or from the top of the water?
Someone told me that the horizontal run of pipe also must be calculated in determining the maximum suck distance, but this doesn’t make sense to me since it is atmospheric pressure at play which would only be the vertical elevation, and not the horizontal run.
Do I have to lower my pump, or is the location of my check valve or priming procedure the problem? Will it just take multiple attempts to prime in order to get all of the air out of the pipe and up to the check valve?
Thanks for any suggestions you can provide me.