Low-yield well, is a trickle feed possible?

[Upper]

Not true always HJ,Sometimes there is pressure behind ......Upper

 

[Guvner]

What is meant by 'pressure behind'?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Upper]

Imagine a long drillbit in your drill.You are drilling holes in your lawn.You drill through an irrigation line.The line goes uphill from where you drilled.Ther will be a little pressure at your drill hole 5 pounds will get you 10 feet higher..............Some will come up to the surface.........Upper

 

[Gary Slusser]

Something is really wrong here... A single line shallow well jet pump is not going to suck water from more than 20-25' at sea level. Yet you say the water level in the well is 35' deep or whatever but deeper than 25'. And you then pump the well down even deeper than that.

Is your pump in the well or not? Is there only one water line from the well to the pressure tank. Or is the well at the house, not in the well, and there's two water lines to/from it to the well?

The idea that more gpm will run into the well if he pumps all the water out is questionable at best but, even if that were true, the water level when the well is fully recovered is going to be the same depth as it is now, and the recovery rate gpm will also be the same as it is now. So he's going to charge you to do this and you gain nothing. What he should do is air lift or bail/purge the well to clean sediment off the bottom as if he is 'developing' the well.

 

[Guvner]

There are 2 lines going down the well, one about 1" ID, the other smaller and there is one line going to the pressure tank.

He didn't say that if the well is drained that it will produce more GPM, he wants to know if there is a vein near the bottom that is producing most of the water. Say 10ft from the bottom there is a good sized vein, it might fill the bottom 10-15ft quickly, but from that point up the veins might be smaller and slower producing allowing only a slow recovery from 15ft up. Thats what I gathered from our conversation and to me is makes sense, if you have water coming in from the bottom of something with no pressure its not going to defy gravity.

 

[Upper]

Guvner you are on the right track,you are just haveing someone else do it for you.Carry on......Upper

 

[Gary Slusser]

There are 2 lines going down the well, one about 1" ID, the other smaller and there is one line going to the pressure tank.

You originally said: ... it has a 6" diameter, static level 18', depth 78' and the pump being used is a jet pump in the basement with a 1" flexible pipe going down the well also says water found at 48' and water height 30'.

So we went with a single line shallow well jet pump. Which is not what you have. You have a two line deep well jet pump IF the pump is not in the well.

He didn't say that if the well is drained that it will produce more GPM, he wants to know if there is a vein near the bottom that is producing most of the water. Say 10ft from the bottom there is a good sized vein, it might fill the bottom 10-15ft quickly, but from that point up the veins might be smaller and slower producing allowing only a slow recovery from 15ft up. Thats what I gathered from our conversation and to me is makes sense, if you have water coming in from the bottom of something with no pressure its not going to defy gravity.

OK, let's say your 1/4 gpm well will flow 5 gpm at 15' off the bottom IF you suck the water down to that level. Above the log says they found water at 48', he's thinking he'll find water now at a different deeper level maybe. I don't think so but, your present 3/4 hp was it, deep well jet can go down to that depth now (the foot valve probably is down to like 70' now), and you run the well dry. You say the recovery was 0 gpm after 30 minutes in your recent test. Unless he is going to do this test free of charge, I think you're wasting money that you on't need to spend but let us know how it goes.

 

[Guvner]

Gary rather pick apart what I am posting perhaps offer up other ideas or solutions. If I'm wasting my money having this guy come do a flow test or whatever its called what else could I do, is there any way to make this well functional? or explain why you don't think he'll find water lower down. Remember I'm just a homeowner here trying to solve a problem, I don't understand some of the lingo posted here.

 

[Guvner]

My post previously about the idea of having a large water vein at the bottom that can provide more GPM with quick recovery say at the bottom 10-15' of the well, but above that there is slower recovery is that thinking correct? is this possible? or am I talking nonsense?

 

[Upper]

Gary he never said single line.And you knew mannny posts ago that it was a deep well jet.Guvner just pull the pipe out of there and well test.Plain and simple..............Upper

 

[Gary Slusser]

Gary he never said single line.And you knew mannny posts ago that it was a deep well jet.Guvner just pull the pipe out of there and well test.Plain and simple..............Upper

Oh but Upper he did if you count "a" as ONE and read single line down the well. Again, here's a copy of what he said; a jet pump in the basement with A 1" flexible pipe going down the well.

Guvner, that does make a hellova differnece. And a couple of us have responded to that at least a couple times. But you don't hear us complaining. And man I feel your pain and if there were other choices you would have heard them by now. Reread my last previous reply (2:06 pm) for why I don't see this 'test' doing you any good.

 

[Guvner]

Ok I was wrong on the single line thing, remember I'm not a pro I'm just a homeowner so cut me some slack and stop highlighting everything I said just to prove nothing.


Back to the topic I was able to drain the well to 5' from the bottom, I'm going out for a beer or 2, when I come back I'll measure what recovery there hopefully will be. I certainly don't hear any gushing water down the well.

 

[Thatguy]

Does that make sense to you guys that the well could recover quick at the bottom, but as the water rises the recovery drops?

Yes, it's probably an exponential curve, like the topmost graph in Fig. 11-9 of the link below
http://books.google.com/books?id=g_...esult&ct=result&resnum=2#v=onepage&q=&f=false
In this case E represents the final water level which is reached if you give it enough time.
The lower the water is, the more pressure there will be to raise it to the level of the groundwater, so the level increases rapidly at first.

 

[Guvner]

Well its dead in the water, 5hrs since I drained it and there is no recovery at all. Thanks for the help everyone.

Cheers

 

[Vietnam1947]

Low Yeild Well

I also have a low yeild well, I can run water for 24 minuets bebore the well turn off.
I have been looking for the difference between a Well Booster and Well Manager Systems. I need a timer to run the well a short time to fill a storage tank but not run the well DRY.
Question is I can not see the difference between the above two systems???
Any HELP, Pleasee and Thanks, Fred

 

[Gary Slusser]

Then you need a cistern that can be refilled by a pump that is on a timer of say 10 minutes, or however many will allow water out of the well without the water level going down to the pump inlet and sucking air.

Then you need a pump to pressurize the water to deliver it to the house. This type cistern etc. set up is fairly common. You must protect the water in the cistern and the plumbing lines from freezing. And any cistern will require periodic cleaning and disinfecting.

 

[Vietnam1947]

Gary I have a 3000 gal storage tank to pump to when I can FIGURE out how to get the water to the storage tank in a timely mater

 

[Vietnam1947]

I have looked at water heater timmer but they dont run with a 20 on/off per DAY. The two systems were made? for what I am looking for but they both look the same>>>

 

[NHmaster]

Well its dead in the water, 5hrs since I drained it and there is no recovery at all. Thanks for the help everyone.

Cheers

So, is the case full of muck and such or don't you have any way of telling? though the recovery is crappy at best and sucks at worst, over time it should come back up. How much time, I can't say. However, once back up, you do have some storage within the casing so if you can figure out when to pump that reserve into the cistern you may be ok. Will it satisfy a new buyer? hard to say. In the mean time I assume you are using bottled water for drinking and cooking? Also might be smart to look into gray water recycling for toilet flushing and running the hose.

 

[Gary Slusser]

I have looked at water heater timmer but they dont run with a 20 on/off per DAY. The two systems were made? for what I am looking for but they both look the same>>>

IIRC somewhere in this thread I may have posted a link on an Intermattic (sic) timer that has a 2 minute per/pin 24 hr timer rated at higher amperage than most well pumps use. If I haven't search for it on the web.