Well depth myths??

[Promodrob]

I’ve seen many people say a shallow well pump will generally only pull 25 feet. In my area (jax fl) there are a few people pulling from 50-69 foot with a standard 1 horse well pump. How are they doing this?

I’m down 39 feet and getting a ton of beach sand, pretty sure I am into water, just can’t get pump to prime. Basically I end up pulling sand up my well pipe. How the heck do I build up a cavity?

39 feet deep/2 inch steel pipe red lion 1.5 hp pump

 

[Valveman]

You don't want to make a cavity or it will cave in. You need a well screen small enough to keep the sand out.

25' is a deep as you can draw water with a shallow well jet pump. But a two pipe deep well or convertible jet pump can lift from a couple hundred feet or so. With 2" casing you will need a packer.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[WorthFlorida]

Most of Florida has a high static water level. This is not the same the water table level. Water pressure below will push the water up the casing .

My last home in Palm Beach County I had a well drilled. The drill bit broke through the shell rock at around 70 feet and hit sulfer water. I installed an irrigation pump with about 18' of pvc pipe inside the well casing. The static level was somewhere between 10'-15. Never had an issue.

The 25' mark has to do with gravity. We all know gravity pulls things down at 32' per second square. With a shallow well pump, irrigation, or pool pump, it's pumping water up working against gravity. In theory 32' is the absolute max but the pump would just produce maybe a trickle of water. If you look at a pump chart, it should show the max height and flow vs water level drawing from.

 

[Promodrob]

so how the heck is my dad using a 69 foot deep well and normal shallow well pump lol? It’s a red lion irrigation pump and single pipe suction so no two pipes down into ground and nothing at the bottom other than pipe.

Can he get away with this bc the actual water level is like 9 ft from ground if we removed the check valve and looked down?

 

[Valveman]

so how the heck is my dad using a 69 foot deep well and normal shallow well pump lol? It’s a red lion irrigation pump and single pipe suction so no two pipes down into ground and nothing at the bottom other than pipe.

Can he get away with this bc the actual water level is like 9 ft from ground if we removed the check valve and looked down?

Yep. Doesn't matter how deep the foot valve is installed the depth to water just has to be less than 25'.