Jet pump slow to build pressure

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Coyote Paws

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Great forum here, has helped me out a lot =) But I'm having issues with my well and am at a loss of what to try next, and really hoping that some of the minds here can help me out.

Info:
Have a 2-line deep well jet pump - Goulds J5.
30 gallon pressure tank, 30-50psi cutoff.
100ft deep well.
Water level is about 30ft down.
Jet assembly sits about 90ft down, 10ft from the bottom.
Pump is about 50ft from well.
Both lines to the well are 1 1/4". Drive pipe connects to 1" at the pump and well seal.
Lines are run poorly and have high spots. It can take nearly an hour to prime the pump, trying to get air out.

I bought a house last year and have been working to fix it up, it's in the country and the sole water source is the well. I had the water running before winter, and the pump only took a few minutes to reach cut-off. Shut off everything for winter and disconnected/drained the pump. Tried to start it again in spring and the pump would only reach 10psi and pump about a gallon before loosing prime. I have clear vinyl hose attached to each inlet/outlet of the pump and could see air moving in the lines which would get sucked back down when I shut-off the pump.

Spent most of the summer trying to find the buried well... pulled the pipes and replaced the foot valve, ran clean water through all the lines and flushed out a lot of iron sludge build out. Also removed and cleaned the jet assembly - looked in good shape and the venturi was not damaged at all. Now the pump will run and build psi but will take nearly 10 minutes to reach cut-off. I disconnected all plumbing from the pump and pressure tank and ran a single 1/2 inch line about 100ft outside. It will drain through this quicker than the pump can refill. At about 45psi, with the pump running, it will drain down to 0psi in about 3-4 minutes.

I took apart the pump and cleaned out a ton of scale build-up. Pump is wired for 115v and is getting correct voltage, measured at pump. Borrowed an almost new pump to try and it did the same thing. I replace both drop lines in the well and made sure all connections were tight. I'm not seeing sediment in the water so I don't think I have a leak in the pipe underground. Foot valve was clean this time, so I think I flushed all sludge build-up out. I'm not going past the well recovery rate because even after sitting for a week with no use, it will still run the same.

I'd like to put in a submersible eventually, but was really hoping to hold off for a year or two. But I'm don't know what to try next, what else can I look for to troubleshoot.

I have looked up the ratings for my pump, but am I reading the ratings correctly? How do you measure the depth. The chart says "Depth to Jet Assembly (based on submergence of 5ft)". But 90ft down under 5ft of water has to be different to 90ft down under 60ft of water. I would have thought there'd be some sort of neutral buoyancy thing once it goes under the water. At 90ft deep with a 50ft offset to the pump, it shows 2.3gpm which seems to be about what I am currently getting. But at 30ft down, I'd see 8.25gpm which seems much more in line with what I remember.
 
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Coyote Paws

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Have you tried adjusting the backpressure on the drive pipe?
I have not. How do I do that? There is no valve or fitting on either pipe that I can adjust, so that may be part of my problem.

Played with the pump some more the other day. I hooked it up right above the well, connected directly to the drop pipes. So I bypassed any problems my underground pipes might have and any trouble with offset. I'm drawing about 3.7 gallons/minute.
 

Valveman

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There needs to be a pressure sustain valve or at least a ball valve on the discharge side of the pump. Restricting the flow with this valve will force more pressure down the drive pipe to make more pressure come up the suction pipe. I really don't think you can make a two pipe deep well jet pump work without a valve on the discharge.
 
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Coyote Paws

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Okay, got a chance to work on the pump again and added a ball valve on the discharge. With that, I can get about 4.1 gpm from my basement. Definitely an improvement from the 2.5 gpm I was getting. I still feel I should be getting more so I'll keep adjusting the valve and see if I can get it better. But otherwise, I can live with 4gpm, at least until I get a submersible in.

There really wasn't any sort of valve after the pump, just a stop valve past the pressure tank. I had to play with that when priming the pump otherwise the it would lose it's prime pumping into the house. Ha, makes sense now. It's a lot easier to get it primed and running with that ball valve in place.

Cheers. Thanks for your help.
 
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