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In-well water pump question

Deon

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2010
Messages
768
Location
Nova Scotia, Canada
Looking for someone with knowledge in the water well field.
I've got a building located on a property with bad water. The nearest place for a dug well with good water is about 1,100 ft. away. The well will only be about 14 ft. deep and it will be uphill from the building so water will be flowing to the building by itself but without pressure. Will an in-well bump push water that far through a 1-1/2" ID pipe.
Thank
 

Scrub Puller

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2009
Messages
3,481
Location
Gladstone Queensland Australia
Yair . . . Deon . Short answer is "yes" no problem.

Before you spend money on a pump a few more details would help.

Depending on the pressure and flow you need and the power source there are several ways of going about this exercise.

Cheers.
 

lantraxco

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2009
Messages
7,704
Location
Elsewhen
Right, are you watering stock, running sprinklers on the lawn, or do you need water for a bathroom/kitchen/shop? Myself I would probably put in a poly tank with a float valve and just let it siphon if you have decent fall, then install a very small shallow well pump with attached pressure tank and switch inside the building to pull from the tank. Or if you don't need much flow you could probably just connect your pipe directly to a pump at the building, just be a bit of a pain priming it the first time. Save messing with the electrical at the well.
 

FSERVICE

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2009
Messages
635
Location
indiana
best option is build you a pump house out there, put pump/ pressure tank there & feed the water to the building that way. go ahead & have the supply house size the pump&tank accordingly for the gallons per minute you will require (trust me on this it will save you lots of greif/headaches down the road) put u a small heater in the pump house also;) if you need any other info just ask ill answer any questions you have..
 

bill onthehill

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2008
Messages
661
Location
pa/ny border
The biggest advantage to the submersible in well pump for your situation is it will be protected from freezing. The drawback is you will need 220 volts to run it. Since there is no lift involved at that depth the length of run is almost no issue. You will need a pitless adapter through the well casing to make the connection below ground. This way your pressure tank and switch can be in the building where you use the water. Use a good underwater connection kit for the pump and leave at least a ft. of extra wire at the top of the well inside the casing in case it ever needs replaced.
 

JBGASH

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2011
Messages
760
Location
Missouri
Occupation
Plumbing & Excavation Contractor / farmer
Use a 230 volt 1hp submersible 2-wire pump with a pitiless adapter if it is a drilled /cased well, if it is a hand dug you may have to suspend it with a steel frame from the top of the well us 1 1/2 or 2" pipe for the supply line to building. Install a large pressure tank with bladder and a pressure switch located as close to the bladder tank as possible. This configuration will supply an ample amount of water, with the facts you stated.
 

Shimmy1

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2014
Messages
4,354
Location
North Dakota
A 1/2 HP would give you at least 10 GPM with no lift and be one-third the cost of a 1hp. With a 5-7 gal drawdown press tank the pump probably only kick in few times a day.
 

rsherril

Senior Member
Joined
May 2, 2009
Messages
264
Location
Far West Colorado
Occupation
Geologist, Retired from teaching sciences
I would be asking myself: Why is the water on the property "bad"?. What is the water going to be used for? As most water is used to flush things away, would it make more sense to have a smaller separate plumbing system for "good" water? How about freezing, will I need to bury this thousand plus feet of pipe four feet deep? If so, what would the trench look like? How much water do I need? Do I need a reserve supply for periods of high demand or low availability? What do I do with "used" water? Would a solar pump work?

Lifting water fourteen feet is not difficult. Moving it one thousand feet certainly could be. My water well is three hundred feet down and I've powered it with a 240V 3/4hp submersible pump for twenty years. It makes about 1.5 gal/min and is good for about 300 gallons before it is pumped out. To improve my water flexibility I store 300 gal. in the house in a cistern and with the aid of a timer, can put 1,000 gal. in another cistern for out door use, which can then be fed back under gravity pressure of about 20 lbs/in2. I use a pressure tank in the house and agree that a large, (35 gal), pressure tank is preferred. The wild card is when I decide to top off the big tank and the wife decides to run a load of laundry. I like to keep an eye on the inside tank and am glad it is not hidden away underground. There is a lot to plumbing a house, much simpler for a shop or cabin.
 

edwardporter

Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2013
Messages
8
Location
Wyoming
An 1 1/2" pipe may be a overkill and difficult to connect to a small hp pump. I pump water from a 300' well with 1 1/2 hp submersible to a pressure tank about 600' away in a insulated building. at 75 lb pressure I pump it 2 1/2 miles to frost free hydrants at the end of the run 35ft higher in elevation. Watering cows every 1/4 mile. 1 1/2" pipe to cut down on friction loss volume 15 gal/min. Large pressure tank will cut down on pump cycling. If you have a small flow from the well then use a large storage tank. I have solar wells on the ranch with a gallon and a half/min but 1500 gal poly tanks for storage dump in the top and gravity out the bottom a mile in each direction. Figure out your usage volume and try to get a your storage as big as possible . Water gains a lot of pressure as it heads downhill. Submersibles are hard to burn out. I would stay away from a jet pump. Too much maintenance
 

Catpower

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 22, 2006
Messages
52
Location
Prince George BC
Occupation
Electrician, equipment operator
I agree with what is said so far if your going to install the water line I think you should upgrade the pipe size I think you will have too much friction losses for the pump to work against? A 3" pipe maybe.
 
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