Found a well in the backyard-need some advice

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hillbilly1715

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I found a well in my backyard last fall, it was an old jet pump that was rusted and sure didnt look like it would work anymore and there was the 4" steel pipe in the ground. The pipe goes down 20 feet till i hit water and then another 40 feet till i hit the bottom. I am looking to hook up the well for irrigation and once i remodel my house in a few years i would like to hook up a few outside water spickets. Right now i just want to run a garden hose off the pump to water, but once i re-landscape i will be installing irrigation on 1/2 acre of land. My question is what do you recommend for a submersible pump (HP size) and would you recommend putting in a storage tank?
 

Gary Slusser

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The size of pump depends on the peak demand gpm you need. That depends on how many sprinkler heads at what gpm per zone how many zones runing at once etc.. A 1/2 hp 10-15 gpm would do good now and for a few faucets and a garden hose. You'll need a tank if you want to be able to shut off the water without shutting off the power to the pump. A CSV and small pressure tank would be a good choice if you're going to use enough water.
 

Sammyhydro11

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Any size pump will not do you any good, if the well doesn't produce the water you are looking for. Before anyone can properly recommend a pump for your well, you need to figure out what this well produces for water. If you don't have that information, a pump test should be performed. You need to see if you can get a used submersible pump to perform a pump test. The minimum size pump i would use for the pump test, would be one that will put out 5 gallons per minute more than what you are looking for. You can be wasting a lot of money by installing a pump and crossing your fingers that the well produces a sufficient amount of water .

sammy

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Speedbump

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If it's no more than 20 foot to water a gas operated centrifugal from a rental company might do the pump test for you. You will have to be sure all suction joints are totally air tight.

bob...
 

Waterwelldude

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If the water is 20' and the bottom of the well is 40'.
That means there is not very much pressure on the water sand.(assuming the well is set in sand and has 10' of screen) The well has a low water yield.

If the screen is at the bottom of the casing and the casing and screen is 4" all the way to the bottom.

You will be lucky to get 10gpm.



Travis
 

Sammyhydro11

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I'm a little lost by the term "water sand". I have wells that only have 3' of screen in sand or unconfined aquifers that produce over 30 gallons per minute and are only set 10' beyond the static water level. The more screen you have, the more entrance area for water to travel through,and the more the well can produce. But It all comes down to the porosity of the material you are looking to draw water from. Higher the porosity, the higher the velocity.


sammy

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Gary Slusser

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Hillbilly, since your static water level is at 20' and there's another 40' to the bottom of the well, that's 40' of water minus the distance off the bottom to the pump's inlet, usually not more than 10' and you could try 5'. So that is like 30-35' in a 5" well at about 1 gallon per foot IIRC. So you should have enough water for your needs, thinking you probably have at least 4-5 gpm recovery, especially since you only want to run a garden hose now and then a couple faucets later. If you want to do serious irrigation, like 20 gpm or more, you may not have enough water but... that depends on the recovery rate gpm of the well, it may be 40 gpm for all we know. You'll need to do some pumping and measuring to determine the recovery rate and figure out your irrigation gpm.
 

Waterwelldude

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I'm a little lost by the term "water sand". I have wells that only have 3' of screen in sand or unconfined aquifers that produce over 30 gallons per minute and are only set 10' beyond the static water level. The more screen you have, the more entrance area for water to travel through,and the more the well can produce. But It all comes down to the porosity of the material you are looking to draw water from. Higher the porosity, the higher the velocity.


sammy

www.tylerwellandpump.com


You are right.
It all comes down to what the screen is set in.
If the screen is a 050 and there is only 6" of it and it is in underground cavern full of water. You could get upwards of 200gpm or more.

The sand I am referring to is any where from 006 to 020 in size.
If the screen is set in gravel. Say, bb size to marble size. Yes, someone could get large amounts of water from them.

When I answer a question on any forum, there are always lots of unknowns.
I think it is better to err on the side of caution, than point someone in a direction that might not be right or costly.


Travis
 

hillbilly1715

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thanks for all the help, once the weather breaks a bit ill start off by testing it and then go from there. thank you again
 
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