mud pump for 100 feet wells for sale

Greetings Tim & Charlott, below is a GPS link and information on the well we just installed in the honor of Tim & Charlott King! Your love and commitment has allowed our Clean Water 4 Life ministry to sink over 500 water wells for those in need here in the Solomon Islands! Here is a link to read my current newsletter with lots of pictures! http://www.rickrupp.com/newsletter.php

Togokoba SSEC Church & Community is approx 58 kilometers east of Honiara. It was a long bumpy drive to this village. I had to walk a long way to get to the place where they lived. They explained that their source of drinking water was the stream. They were so happy when I explained that our CW4L team was going to come sink a well right in their village. I tasted the well water several weeks later after our team had blessed them with a water well. It tasted so good! It was nice clean & cold water! It never ceases to amaze me that there is such a nice water table here in the rural areas of the Guadnacanal plains! I counted 10 houses in this community and the population is approx 80 people. Now they finally have a source of clean drinking water! These people have suffered for many years either drinking from an open hand dug well or from the stream. Togokoba SSEC Church & Community is very grateful to our CW4L sponsors.

Typically, well pumps can be broken down into two categories: jet pumps and submersible pumps. Each design is built to fit the needs of various well sizes and conditions.

Most shallow well pumps are found in wells that are less than 25 feet deep and in areas with a high water table. These pumps have few running parts and require little maintenance.

This type of pump is located above the ground, typically just inside the well house, and generates high pressure to pull the water from the well and into the home using an inlet pipe. A tank or well booster pump is recommended to accompany this type of well pump to increase water pressure to the home.

Unlike its shallow counterpart, a deep well jet pump is located within the well, though its motor stays in the well house. This pump uses two pipes: one for drawing water out of the well and another for directing the water to the home. Deep well jet pumps are typically used in wells that are 110 feet deep.

A deep well submersible pump sits at the bottom of the well directly in the water. Using its motor, the pump draws water from the bottom and pushes it out of the well into your home’s water lines. These pumps can be used in wells up to 300 feet deep. The pumps work similar to sump pumps, which draw water and pump it out.

Although professional well pump replacement comes with high pump installation costs, you may have no choice but to call a professional depending on the well pump you have. Certain pumps, like deep well submersible pumps, require special equipment to get them out without damaging components or wiring. In addition to the fragility of the well’s components, removing a well pump can be very labor intensive, with some pumps weighing more than 100 pounds.

Even if you’re considering replacing your well pump on your own, call a plumber to confirm that the well pump is the issue with your system before removing it. This will prevent any unneeded work or unintentional damage to your well system.

Use the tool below to find a well service contractor who can diagnose your well pump problem and help you determine whether or not you can replace it yourself:

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When choosing a size and type of mud pump for your drilling project, there are several factors to consider. These would include not only cost and size of pump that best fits your drilling rig, but also the diameter, depth and hole conditions you are drilling through. I know that this sounds like a lot to consider, but if you are set up the right way before the job starts, you will thank me later.

Recommended practice is to maintain a minimum of 100 to 150 feet per minute of uphole velocity for drill cuttings. Larger diameter wells for irrigation, agriculture or municipalities may violate this rule, because it may not be economically feasible to pump this much mud for the job. Uphole velocity is determined by the flow rate of the mud system, diameter of the borehole and the diameter of the drill pipe. There are many tools, including handbooks, rule of thumb, slide rule calculators and now apps on your handheld device, to calculate velocity. It is always good to remember the time it takes to get the cuttings off the bottom of the well. If you are drilling at 200 feet, then a 100-foot-per-minute velocity means that it would take two minutes to get the cuttings out of the hole. This is always a good reminder of what you are drilling through and how long ago it was that you drilled it. Ground conditions and rock formations are ever changing as you go deeper. Wouldn’t it be nice if they all remained the same?

Centrifugal-style mud pumps are very popular in our industry due to their size and weight, as well as flow rate capacity for an affordable price. There are many models and brands out there, and most of them are very good value. How does a centrifugal mud pump work? The rotation of the impeller accelerates the fluid into the volute or diffuser chamber. The added energy from the acceleration increases the velocity and pressure of the fluid. These pumps are known to be very inefficient. This means that it takes more energy to increase the flow and pressure of the fluid when compared to a piston-style pump. However, you have a significant advantage in flow rates from a centrifugal pump versus a piston pump. If you are drilling deeper wells with heavier cuttings, you will be forced at some point to use a piston-style mud pump. They have much higher efficiencies in transferring the input energy into flow and pressure, therefore resulting in much higher pressure capabilities.

Piston-style mud pumps utilize a piston or plunger that travels back and forth in a chamber known as a cylinder. These pumps are also called “positive displacement” pumps because they literally push the fluid forward. This fluid builds up pressure and forces a spring-loaded valve to open and allow the fluid to escape into the discharge piping of the pump and then down the borehole. Since the expansion process is much smaller (almost insignificant) compared to a centrifugal pump, there is much lower energy loss. Plunger-style pumps can develop upwards of 15,000 psi for well treatments and hydraulic fracturing. Centrifugal pumps, in comparison, usually operate below 300 psi. If you are comparing most drilling pumps, centrifugal pumps operate from 60 to 125 psi and piston pumps operate around 150 to 300 psi. There are many exceptions and special applications for drilling, but these numbers should cover 80 percent of all equipment operating out there.

The restriction of putting a piston-style mud pump onto drilling rigs has always been the physical size and weight to provide adequate flow and pressure to your drilling fluid. Because of this, the industry needed a new solution to this age-old issue.

Enter Cory Miller of Centerline Manufacturing, who I recently recommended for recognition by the National Ground Water Association (NGWA) for significant contributions to the industry.

As the senior design engineer for Ingersoll-Rand’s Deephole Drilling Business Unit, I had the distinct pleasure of working with him and incorporating his Centerline Mud Pump into our drilling rig platforms.

In the late ’90s — and perhaps even earlier —  Ingersoll-Rand had tried several times to develop a hydraulic-driven mud pump that would last an acceptable life- and duty-cycle for a well drilling contractor. With all of our resources and design wisdom, we were unable to solve this problem. Not only did Miller provide a solution, thus saving the size and weight of a typical gear-driven mud pump, he also provided a new offering — a mono-cylinder mud pump. This double-acting piston pump provided as much mud flow and pressure as a standard 5 X 6 duplex pump with incredible size and weight savings.

The true innovation was providing the well driller a solution for their mud pump requirements that was the right size and weight to integrate into both existing and new drilling rigs. Regardless of drill rig manufacturer and hydraulic system design, Centerline has provided a mud pump integration on hundreds of customer’s drilling rigs. Both mono-cylinder and duplex-cylinder pumps can fit nicely on the deck, across the frame or even be configured for under-deck mounting. This would not be possible with conventional mud pump designs.

The second generation design for the Centerline Mud Pump is expected later this year, and I believe it will be a true game changer for this industry. It also will open up the application to many other industries that require a heavier-duty cycle for a piston pump application.

OK, all y’all air drillers just thumb on over to Porky’s column or something. This is for mud drillers. On second thought, I know a lot of you air guys drill about three mud wells a year, and consider it a hassle to rig up mud. So, maybe something I say will be interesting …

The mud pump is the heart of the circulating system, and mud is the blood circulating in the hole. I’ve talked about mud before and will again, but this month, let’s talk about the pump.

Historically, more wells, of every kind, have been drilled with duplex pumps than any other kind. They are simple and strong, and were designed in the days when things were meant to last. Most water well drillers use them. The drawbacks are size and weight. A pump big enough to do the job might be too big to fit on the rig, so some guys use skid-mounted pumps. They also take a fair amount of horsepower. If you were to break down the horsepower requirements of your rig, you would find out that the pump takes more power than the rotary and hoist combined. This is not a bad thing, since it does a lot of the work drilling. While duplex pumps generally make plenty of volume, one of the limiting factors is pressure. Handling the high pressures demanded by today’s oil well drilling required a pump so big and heavy as to be impractical. Some pretty smart guys came up with the triplex pump. It will pump the same — or more — volume in a smaller package, is easy to work on and will make insane pressure when needed. Some of the modern frack outfits run pumps that will pump all day long at 15,000 psi. Scary. Talk about burning some diesel.

The places that triplex pumps have in the shallow drilling market are in coring and air drilling. The volume needs are not as great. For instance, in hard rock coring, surface returns are not always even seen, and the fluid just keeps the diamonds cool. In air drilling, a small triplex is used to inject foam or other chemicals into the air line. It’s basically a glorified car wash pump. The generic name is Bean pump, but I think this just justifies a higher price. Kinda like getting the same burger at McDonald’s versus in a casino.

One of the reasons water well drillers don’t run triplex pumps, besides not needing insane pressure, is they require a positive suction head. In other words, they will not pick up out of the pit like a duplex. They require a centrifugal charging pump to feed them, and that is just another piece of equipment to haul and maintain.

This brings me to another thought: charging. I know a lot of drillers running duplex pumps that want to improve the efficiency of their pumps. Duplexes with a negative suction head generally run at about 85 percent efficiency. The easy way to improve the efficiency is to charge them, thus assuring a 100 percent efficiency. This works great, but almost every one of them, after doing all that work and rigging up a charging pump, tells me that their pump output doubled. Being the quiet, mild mannered type that I am, I don’t say “Bull,” but it is. A duplex pump is a positive displacement pump. That means that it can deliver no more than the displacement it was designed for. You can only fill the cylinder up until it is full. It won’t take any more. The one exception to this is when you are pumping at very low pressure. Then the charging pump will over run the duplex, float the valves and produce a lot more fluid. Might as well shut off the duplex and drill with the charging pump.

Another common pump used in the water well industry is the centrifugal. You see them mostly on air rigs that don’t use mud too often. They have their place, but are a different breed of cat. They are not positive displacement. Flow is a function of speed and horsepower up to the limits of the pump. After that, they just dead-head. With large diameter drill pipe they make a lot of mud, but after the hole gets deeper, friction losses — both inside and outside the drill pipe — build up. This means that the deeper you go, the less circulation you have. This slows the whole process. Positive displacement pumps don’t do this; they pump the same per stroke regardless of pressure. It just takes more horsepower. Also, displacement calculations like bottoms-up time and cement placement are just about impossible. One way to get around the limited pressure of centrifugal pumps is to run two of them in series. I’ve seen a few of these rig-ups and they work very well for large diameter drilling. They will make almost the same pressure as a big duplex for a lot less money. They are still variable displacement, but they roll so much fluid that it doesn’t seem to matter. And run at pretty reasonable depths, too: 300 to 400 psi at 400 gpm is not uncommon with two 3 x 4 centrifugal pumps in series.

I reckon there are pumps for every type of drilling. It is just a matter of using the right one correctly. I once drilled a 42-inch hole 842 feet deep with a 5½ x 8 duplex. Talk about long bottoms-up time … but we got the casing in with less than two feet of fill on bottom! Took time, but we got-er-done.

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We discuss how two-line jet pumps are selected, installed, jet pump troubleshooting, & repair procedures. We also describe the components of a two line jet pump water supply system.

What types of wells use a two-line jet pump for water delivery. From what depth can a two line jet pump deliver water? Types of wells and water supply systems and what to watch out for with each. Well pump & water tank diagnosis & repair procedures. Electric pump motor troubleshooting guide - table of problems & solutions.

The actual lift capacity will vary depending on the pump horsepower and other factors such as piping length, bends, diameter. Common lift height is about 30 to 80 feet but some deeper installations work.

A 1" diameter drive line (this is the line down which water is pumped to bring more water back up by sending the drive line water through a water pick-up venturi device in the well)

A foot valve on the bottom of the jet assembly or on the end of a 34" tailpiece to avoid loss of prime. The tailpiece avoids over-pumping if the well flow rate is less than the pumping rate.

At WATER PUMP CAPACITIES TYPES RATES GPM we compare the pumping capacities of one line jet pumps, two line jet pumps, submersible well pumps, and other water pumping methods.

A nice example table of Deep Well 2-Line Jet Pump Capacities for 1/2 hp and 1 hp deep well pumps is provided in the Water Ace Jet Pump Installation Manual and excerpted below to illustrate the factors that determine well pump capacity.

Both of the charts below are for 2-line jet pumps produced by Water Ace. 2-Line jet pumps intended for deep well use and made by other manufacturers can be expected to have similar capacities.

The Water Ace charts (shown in part above) make clear that the capacity of a deep well pump to deliver water at a given flow rate varies by these factors:

Because some pump models are capable of developing internal pressures of more than 100 psi, if your building piping, pressure relief valves, safety controls, wiring, and plumbing are not properly installed, very dangerous conditions including electrical shock, tank explosion, and leaks or floods can occur.

The requirement to have some water to send down to the well in order to bring a larger quantity of water back is why a two line jet pump can"t provide any water or water pressure in a building if it loses its prime.

Well Piping Tail Piece: some wells may contain a tailpiece at the end of the well piping - a device designed to prevent jet pump damage if well water falls too low. If well water drops to an unsafe level the tailpiece recirculates water to keep the pump from running dry.

the well (inches to a few feet). We need this clearance to reduce the tendency of the well pump to pick up mud and debris from the bottom of the well.

If the pump runs and turns on and off normally but water pressure is poor the problem could be poor water flow into the well, a well piping leak, a damaged pump, or a few other things.

Some of the well pump troubleshooting suggestions in this list can be found at the Betta-Flo Jet Pump Installation Manual from the National Pump Co. given at REFERENCES.

If voltage is too low, check voltage at the electrical panel and check that the proper size wiring was used for the ampacity and length of run and that there are no partial shorts or damaged wires or connectors

Check the air temperature where the motor is located. If the air temperature is over 100 degF, the pump may be too hot and its thermal overload switch tripping because of the environment, not a pump problem.

If the well recovery rate is too poor and the pump is operating at low water pressure, possibly because a tailpiece is installed to prevent air injection and pump burnup, the pump may be overheating.

Grove Electric, Typical Deep Well TWO LINE JET PUMP INSTALLATION [PDF], Grove Electric, G&G Electric & Plumbing, 1900 NE 78th St., Suite 101, Vancouver WA 98665 www.grovelectric.com - web search -7/15/2010 original source: http://www.groverelectric.com/howto/38_Typical%20Jet%20Pump%20Installation.pdf

I am planning on replacing my very old well pump, but I realized that my new pump has the larger diameter pipe coming into the top, whereas the old pump had the larger diameter pipe on the bottom. Is it always the case that the larger diameter pipe is the suction line?

Any tips on how I should plumb it? I don"t have the space to plumb in on the opposite side of the well from where the current pump sits. Is it acceptable to use flex line, or should I stick with rigid (copper or brass)?

Yes the larger diameter pipe opening on a 2-line jet pump is the suction line. You can tell me the brand and model of pump and we ought to be able to find the pump specifications and installation manual that will make that clear if you"re missing those documents.

My new pump is a Red Lion RJC-100. I have the manual. I was just confused by the fact that the old pump had the suction and the pressure holes opposite of how my new pump is configured. In order to install this new pump, I think I"m going to have to rotate the cap 180 degrees.

The face openings on the new Red Lion RJC-100 cannot be rotated, and indeed the inlet and outlet openings are reversed in position from your old pump.

If you want to use the new unit I suggest giving yourself adequate working space to make the necessary connections by moving the location of the new pump to one side - more or less as you have it positioned now, or elevating it a foot if needed as well.

By removing the union and street-elbow at the well top and starting there you can make the necessary routing changes, routing the jet pump inlet and outlet lines to their destinations. It"ll take a two more elbows but is do-able.

Before doing that, however I"d give the company"s tech support a call or email to ask if in fact the face of the pump can in fact be rotated 180 OR if the pump can be installed upside down, as I agree that"d make piping simpler.

Watch out: convertible jet pumps like the Red Lion RJC-100 (shown at above left) that can be swapped between a shallow well (typically from 25 ft) one-line jet pump to a deep-well two-line jet pump are typically capable of lifting (in the 2-line jet pump conversion) from a depth of about 90 feet.

A few one line jet pump models (such as the Matercraft one line jet pump shown at above right) advertise that they can lift from 70 feet, but if you take a closer look at the pump specifications you may find that although the pump can lift water from that depth its flow rate capacity in gallons per minute (GPM) may be significantly reduced.

You can use ABS piping and plastic elbows that may tolerate vibration with less leak risk; note that the manufacturer emphasizes that the pump should be securely mounted to a solid base.

Thanks for your response. I have visited the links you recommended. Unfortunately, the Speroni user manual is rather skimpy on details, but the website [dis-allowed link] suggests a "total suction lift up to 35 mt," which doesn"t exactly tell me how long the tailpiece may be. In any case, would it work to place the injector within 25 feet of the stream and increase the length of the two lines running between the pump and injector?

Additionally, the injector is "designed" for a 1"" suction line, but based on the information from VersaJet site, it make sense to increase the diameter to 1.5" or 2". If I increase the length of the two lines running from the pump and injector, so I also need to increase their diameter?

Check with your pump"s IO manual for the maximum tailpiece length. Typically pump manuals limit the tailpiece to 25 ft. while others a bit longer (Franklin goes to 34 ft).

I recently purchased a deep well pump to pump water from a shallow stream to my house to irrigate the yard using a garden hose. The stream is about 3 feet deep. The pump: 1.5 HP Deep Suction Well Jet Self Priming Pump – 552 GPH – APM 150(P30). The stream is about 3 feet deep.

I plan to place the pump next to the house, which is about 50 feet above the street with a run of about 75 feet from the stream. Regarding the injector, it is necessary to place the injector WITHIN the steam with two lines running from the house down to the injector, or may be injector be placed closer to the house (see image) with only one line running down to the stream (see image).

I need to replace my old two line Goulds .5 HP jet pump with a new one, also a Goulds .5 HP, though not the same model. My question is do I need to pull up the pipes and put in a new jet assembly at the same time? (Note: The old pump was experiencing short cycling problems, and would turn on even after filling several glasses of water.) Thanks.

If your system loses pressure after the pump stops and when you are dead certain no water is running in the house then yes I"d be looking for a leaky foot or check valve or a leak in well piping.

I have a two line jet pump. It keeps loosing pressure, when I turn the valve that shuts the tank off from the pump the pump short cycles very quickly. I think it"s something to do with the foot valve or a crack in one of the lines. Is this a good guess? Thanks.

The small diameter pipe sends water from the pump down to a foot valve and venturi at the bottom of the well or pond water source; there water squirts through a venturi to send a larger volume of water back up the larger diameter pipe to the 2-line jet pump and thence to the water"s final destination - irrigation in your case.

I just replaced a single line Gould Jet Pump with a Two Line Pump (also a Gould, 1/2 HP) to pump water from my shallow pond for irrigation. Is there any reason a two-line pump won"t work for this application? How should I use the "return" line? Is it possible that I could use it to help aerate the pond or drive a fountain?

that doesn"t sound like a water table problem, James, unless your pump is also being turned off by a separate pump protection switch feature (that activates when the pump isn"t finding water)

I have a two-line jet pump. I can activate it manually by holding the switch down, and it will pump water and hold pressure. When I release pressure, for example by opening a hose valve, the pump does not turn on. I have replaced the switch. Could this be the result of a lowered water table (we"re in a severe drought)?

Because you describe a venturi I am guessing you"re talking about a 2-line jet pump system. A 2-line jet pump uses a venturi valve at the bottom of its pair of water pipes (water down one and more water up the other) to bring up water from the bottom of a well or from a pickup point in a lake or water tank.

A river water pump could also work with a 1-line jet pump as long as the TOTAL vertical lift from pick-up point in the river to end use point is less than 27 ft.

Putting the pick up point for your river water pump deeper into the water makes no meaningful difference in the pump"s ability to deliver water. (At about 30 ft. of depth under water we reach 1 ATM of pressure or about another 14.6 psi. )

1. the water pick-up point for any water pump system needs to be high enough off the bottom to avoid picking up sand or silt and mud - those will foul the whole water system. In a well that may be 4-10 ft. In a river or lake a similar depth is probably safe though on lake pump systems I"ve examined in New York, Minnesota, and other US states often permit the pump to sit on the very bottom when the bottom is fully covered by large rocks.

3. In a lake or river water pumping pick-up system it"s generally better for the pick up point to be more-distant from the shoreline. Particularly in large lakes where distancing from the shore is actually achievable, getting more than 10 meters from the lakeshore reduces the level of shore-sourced bacteria and other pathogens that will be delivered by the water system.

On 2021-04-05 - by (mod) - @ralph ferrier, I"ll be glad to help but need to be sure I know what we"re discussing. The "jet pumps" discussed on this page are operated by an electric motor.

@Jim, there are a number of possible explanations for the problem you describe including leaks in the well piping. Another common possibility is that the injector or Venturi at the bottom of your two pipe system in the world is clogged or damaged.

I"ve used my neighbor"s hose to prime the pump but in the end, the pressure pipe builds pressure but the suction line produces no water. We lost all water in the house. I had a spare pump so I swapped the old one out so I assume that part of the system is working. It seems to me that I must have some sort of issue with the suction. side of the system.

The pump is connected to the well head with plastic pipes on barbed fittings. There seems to be water leakage from both the lines between the well head to the pump. Could this be the problem? Or is there something else I should check?

@Anonymous, I think so, in that if we fill only the down-pipe, when it pushes water up from the foot valve in the well (and the injector therein) all of that air that was in the riser-pipe (the larger diameter pipe) will be pushed into the pump; the result could be that the pump impeller becomes air-bound.

If you are trying to replace the front end of an old well pump tat"s no longer sold, you"ll probably have to buy a new jet pump. That"s because pump front-ends or injector assemblies are not universal.

I have a 3 1/2" drilled well and need an injector for deep well 2 line system.My existing one has rotted and i need to locate a new injector.My pipe sizes are 1 1/4" suction and 1" drive line.Is anyone still making them?Thank you.

If no settings such as the pressure control switch were changed then the problem may be loss of water at the source, such as a well, used to fill your tank, or the pump itself may be failing - a clogged or dirty impeller.

Check the manufacturer"s instructions. Some jet pumps, but not all, can indeed be converted between 1 line and 2 line versions by seapptng the front end or impeller assembly.

It may help to understand how a 2 line jet pump actually works; the "pumping" occurs when the pump sends water DOWN to the venturi that"s at the bottom of its pair of well pipes. There water squirts through the venturi, causing a larger volume of water to return back up the larger of the two 2-line jet pump pipes and onwards into the building water system.

The ejector in a 2 line jet pump needs to quite close to or even below the surface of the water, in the well, though you"ll see in our ejector tailpiece illustrations that it does not have to be at the very bottom of the well piping.

in the building or somewhere above ground a 2 line jet pump includes an impeller that pushes water down the smaller-diameter well pipe and near the bottom of that pipe, in the well, water is pushed through a jet or venturi - an opening shaped like a funnel.

That increase in water creates a suction that draws additional water up through the tailpiece, into the injector, and the combined volume of water sent down the pipe plus additional water sent up the larger pipe back to the pump is what actually delivers water into the building.

So the deep well 2 line jetpump tailpiece length limitation of 25 ft. derives from the same limitation that tells us that a shallow well 1 line jet pump can not lift water from a depth of more than 25 ft.

The additional "lift" capacity of the 2 line jet pump comes from the added force or "push" generated by that smaller-diameter pipe that is pushing water down the well piping as well as pushing it back up the well piping to the surface.

You"ll want to know the water pump brand and model. Then we can check the manufacturer"s capacity tables. It"s not just "can the pump pull the water" it"s also - at what flow rater or gpm will it deliver water to plumbing fixtures in the home. Higher lift and more resistance in long piping means lower flow rates.

We are installing a new water line at our place running from the lake to the back of the house. We will have a lift of approx 12" but a run of 250" from the foot valve in the lake to the pumphouse, Foot valve to shore is 130" with 130" from the shoreline to the pump house.

I suspect that your new jet pump is a "convertible" model that can be hooked up as either a 1-line jet pump or a 2-line jet pump, and that it came out of the box set up as a 1 line jet pump. You may need to purchase a front-end converter to set the pump up as a 2-line system.

If you tee off of the return line of a 2-line jet pump system, when the pump is running some of that return water will head directly to your sprinkler system. That might work if there is no check valve between the tee-off and the inlet to the pressure tank and/or section of piping sending pressure to the pressure control switch.

I have a deep well jet with Double-Drop Jet-Pump System. I"d like to use a separate sprinkler pump to irrigate my garden. Can I Tee off the suction line coming out of the well into my sprinkler pump?

Both of the 2-line jet pump injectors in your drawing (shown here with my edits) can work as long as the length of the tailpiece does not require a greater water lift suction than the injector can provide.

We know that a 2-line jet pump works by sending water down smaller-diameter pipe #1, through the injector, and with help from additional well-water picked up by the injector, a larger volume of water returns to the pump through larger diameter pipe #2.

Watch out: unless your well has a very high water flow-rate, a short tailpiece and injector above the water level is going to give only a very limited volume of well water before the well water level drops below the well screen or foot valve - you will run out of water quickly.

Note that at least some of the pump manufacturer"s installation recommendations we"ve reviewed recommend that the injector be located 10-20 feet below the lowest point to which water is expected to be drawn down in the well casing.

Hello. I have scoured the internet and cannot find anything relevant to what I am experiencing. Recently, our well system has been acting strange. Our two line Jacuzzi jet pump will run and stop constantly.

I have installed a shallow 2-pipe system and can"t maintain prime. I have tested all of the piping, including suction, at 30 psi and there are no apparent leaks. I installed a check valve about one foot above water (a brook) and have a submerged slotted well screen assembly (nine feet of horizontal 2" slotted PVC well pipe with 10 mil slots).

The ejector is about 100 feet away from the brook, but only about four feet vertically above the water. In theory it should work but unless I continually add water at the pump (in the cellar, about 500 feet away from the ejector) it loses prime.

WATER PUMP, TWO LINE JET at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice.

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Alberta, DEEP WELL JET PUMPS [PDF], Government of Alberta, Agriculture and Rural Development, toll free in Alberta at 310-FARM web search 07/24/2010, original source: http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex639

Betta-Flo JET PUMP INSTALLATION MANUAL [PDF], National Pump Co., LLC., includes helpful well pump troubleshooting tips as well as basic jet pump installation details. Web search 07/24/2010, original source: http://www.nationalpumpcompany.com/Documents/OIM/Betta%20Flo%20IOM%20Jet%20Pump.pdf

Lancaster, JET PUMP INSTALLATION MANUAL [PDF] Lancaster Pump (Division of C-B Tool Co.), 1340 Manheim Pike, Lancaster PA 17601-3196 USA, Tel: 717-397-3521, Website: www.lancasterpump.com Email: info@lancasterpump.com retrieved 2020/04/14, original source: http://lancasterwatergroup.com/wp-content/uploads/Product_Manuals/SKC-2SW-2DW-jetpumps.pdf

National Pump JET PUMP INSTALLATION MANUAL [PDF] Gorman Rupp Co., National Pump Div., National Pump Company, 7706 N. 71st Avenue, Glendale, AZ 85303-1703 USA, Tel: (623) 979-3560

Penn State, Water Fact Sheet #3, USING LOW-YIELD WELLS [PDF], Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences, Cooperative Extension, School of Forest Resources, web search 07/24/2010, original source: http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/FreePubs/pdfs/XH0002.pdf

Grove Electric, Typical Shallow Well One Line Jet Pump Installation [PDF], Grove Electric, G&G Electric & Plumbing, 1900 NE 78th St., Suite 101, Vancouver WA 98665 www.grovelectric.com - web search -7/15/2010 original source: http://www.groverelectric.com/howto/38_Typical%20Jet%20Pump%20Installation.pdf

Grove Electric, Typical Deep Well Two Line Jet Pump Installation [PDF], Grove Electric, G&G Electric & Plumbing, 1900 NE 78th St., Suite 101, Vancouver WA 98665 www.grovelectric.com - web search -7/15/2010 original source: http://www.groverelectric.com/howto/38_Typical%20Jet%20Pump%20Installation.pdf

Water Ace Jet Pump Installation Manual, instructions from Water Ace Pump Co., web search 08/28/2010, original source: http://www.waterace.com/pdf/R510%20R520%20and%20R100%20Jet%20Pumps%20Manual.pdf

The Water Ace Pump Company is a dynamic, rapidly growing retail pump manufacturer, backed by a tradition of over 125 years of excellence. We offer a complete line of sump, sewage, lawn sprinkler, swimming pool, submersible well and jet pumps as well as pressure tanks and accessories.

Water Ace Jet Pump Installation Manual, from Water Ace Pump Co., web search 08/28/2010, original source: http://www.waterace.com/pdf/RTS5%20RTS7%20RTS10%20RC5%20and%20RC10%20Jet%20Pumps%20Manual.pdf

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If you live in a rural area, the odds are that the water system to your home is served by a well. It’s the nature of living where we do, and having been on a well for a large chunk of my life, I like not being dependent on my locality to keep things flowing to my family and me. But, that also means arranging my own maintenance for the well system, and having the best well pump helps to ensure consistent water supply and rare upkeep.

I remember when my much-younger self first saw the inner workings of a home well system. The gauge at the well head wasn’t deep enough in the ground and froze during a particularly bad winter. Everything came out of the ground as we inspected the whole system to make sure nothing else was damaged. Hundreds of feet of tubing were attached to the tow ball of a pickup truck as we hauled it out of the ground, taking a look at the well pump at the end.

Though the weather didn’t impact the pump that far below ground, it had some damage from banging into the walls of the well itself, and we had to add a guard to keep the pump working for a few more years.

Most experts will tell you that a submersible well pump, like what most rural homeowners and farmers have, will last about 10 to 15 years — hopefully more toward the higher side of that. Replacing these units aren’t cheap, and if you pay for the labor, too, the bill can really increase.

Not everyone knows all the ins and outs of their well system, unless they’ve had to do some work to it. If you buy a home, it’s unlikely that you’re given much documentation on the history of the well. In most circumstances, your well is at least 100 feet deep, and some wells can be upwards of 500 feet down! Of course, a lot of that depends on exactly where you live. Having the pump submerged into at least 25- to 30-feet of water is ideal.

I have two wells on my farm — one is 183 feet and the other is 294 feet (the deeper one produces better-quality water). In recent years, we’ve had to have pumps on both wells replaced, and both required different horse powers to effectively get the water the full length and into my home, as well as get a sufficient number of gallons per minute into my pressure tank.

Having gone through that process, I learned a thing or two about well systems and trying to pick the best well pumps. After going through many options with experts, here are my Top 5 best well pumps. While we’re largely only highlighting one model from each of these well pump lines, know that there are often also similar 0.5-, 0.75, 1-, and 1.5-HP models for a lot of these available — at significantly different prices:

This is one of the best-selling well pumps you can find. It’s made for supplying water to rural homes, farms, and cabins that have 4-inch-or-greater diameter drilled wells to depths of about 250 feet. This pump is powered by a three-wire motor (a control box is included with all three-wire pumps) and has a built-in check valve that prevents backflow and ensures system pressure. It also has a stainless steel shell and thermoplastic discharge and motor bracket. It is is 230 volts.

The Flotec FP3332 4-inch Submersible Well Pump is for use with wells 4 inches or larger. The Flotec well pump is energy efficient and ideal for pumps with average yields. A floating stack design that’s patented ensures that the Flotec FP3332  pump will be resistant to sand locking, and a stainless steel pump ensures that it will be resistant to corrosion. A built-in check valve and easy service control box make installing and servicing the Flotec well pump easy. It’s a three-wire, 230-volt pump.

Showcasing a Franklin Electric, this pump combines a long and powerful reputation in both brand name and manufacturer. The Little Giant is available with a thermoplastic discharge and motor bracket, or a stainless steel discharge and motor bracket, and it has a ceramic bearing sleeve for durability. Behind 230 volts, it also has a hex rubber bearing with an extra large surface to assure shaft stability and multiple flow channels to keep small particles away from bearing surfaces.

The Grundfos 10SQ07-200 96160141 Submersible Well Pump offers a wide performance range. The 4-inch SQ is a compact multistage centrifugal pump that can be installed in a borehole no larger than the pump itself. With their built-in electronics, SQ pumps are very easy to install and operate. Equipped with permanent magnet motors, these flexible and compact pumps offer excellent efficiency levels and will supply pump heads up to 200 meters.

The BURCAM 101131H 230-volt, 2-wire + ground deep well submersible pump is recommended for homes, cottages, and farms for installation in water wells that are 4-inch in diameter or larger. Made of non-corrosive 316 stainless steel with a NEMA standard interchangeable head that includes 12 stages of precision machined stainless steel impellers and diffusers and a hexagonal stainless steel drive shaft, this pump features a continuous duty motor for durability. It pumps up to 900 U.S. GPH and has a maximum head of 275 feet. Best efficiency is between 114 and 198 feet (with a 20/40 PSI pressure switch) or 91 to 175 feet (with a 30/50 pressure switch).

Many wells that we’ve encountered are at least 100 feet deep, and some wells can even be drilled as deep as 500 feet. It depends exactly on where you live and how close your drilling technician can get to a good vein of water within the earth. Having a well pump submerged into at least 25- to 30-feet of water is ideal, and in many instances, they’ll last you 10 to 15 years.

Certainly a lot will depend on your location, and prices fluctuate along with the economy, but it’s likely you’ll end up paying $15 to $30 a foot (so $1,500 to $3,000 for a 100-foot well). And be aware that if the drilling doesn’t strike viable water, you still have to pay for that work. Usually a technician will charge you the low end of their price range for an unsuccessful attempt. Then you pay for the next attempt at drilling. Also note that there may be permitting regulations in your area, which can add to the cost.

Drilling a well by hand is a lot of work, but it can be done with the right equipment. Whether you’re looking to drill a shallow or deep well, this skill is perfect for those seeking self-reliance.

Wells are normally drilled on private land where city or rural water isn’t available. It’s possible to hire a licensed professional to provide this service but you can expect to spend several thousand dollars. If you want to save money, you can do it yourself, but prior to getting started, you need to research local regulations.

Once you receive a green light to move forward, it’s time to learn more about your land. Go to thecounty agriculture extension office to find out what soil type you have. This could include sand, clay, rock, or a combination.

The local courthouse may also have well drilling logs from professional well drillers. These will include things like when they hit ­ first water, what type of soil condition they encountered, and how deep they drilled the well. This could be helpful information but do remember that every property is different. The very ­ first step might be determining how deep you need to drill.

The final thing to do before drilling is to contact utility companies to make sure you don’t hit any underground pipes or lines. Sometimes this information can be found on your original land plot, but it’s always good to double-check.

Drilling a shallow well is a pretty simple task, going down about 25 feet or so when you hit first water (at least in my location). This type of well could be drilled in a weekend by hand using a general purpose, extendable post-hole auger.

This type of well can be cased off with a manual pump and used for irrigation. This would be more of an emergency setup that could also provide water needs at a weekend cabin in the countryside.

Shallow wells have a difficult time keeping up with average water usage. It’s estimated each person uses between 80 and 100 gallons of water a day. Imagine storing 20, 5-gallon jugs a day per person.

Professional well diggers will often recommend a depth of 200 feet or more, but remember, for hundreds of years every well in this country was hand-dug and that’s how people survived.

In addition to the drill, you’ll also need a very powerful air compressor to run the equipment. These can easily cost two or three times as much as the drill. A couple of ways to keep costs down include purchasing a used compressor, or purchasing a new one and then after the project is completed, selling the almost-new equipment for a few hundred dollars less than what you paid.

This brings us to the drill setup. This will require a day of planning before drilling begins. Most home improvement stores will carry almost everything you need.

Step 1: After purchasing the necessary supplies and choosing the drill location, begin digging the main drill hole with an auger or post-hole digger. Dig about 4 or 5 feet. Then, if necessary, cut the 8-inch PVC to fit the hole, allowing 4 inches to stick above ground. In the side of the PVC pipe aligned with the settling pond (see Step 2), drill a hole large enough to insert the 2-inch connecting PVC pipe.

Step 2: Dig a shallow settling pond 10 feet behind the well, no less than 4 feet across. Then dig a shallow 8-inch ditch connecting the pond to the well hole. Connect these spaces with 2-inch PVC pipe and cover. This pipe will transfer clean water from the pond to the drill hole. The pipe opening in the pond will need covering with netting so debris doesn’t flow back into the well.

Step 4: Attach 1-inch PVC pipe to the pneumatic drill using PVC glue and secure with duct tape to prevent leaks. Use a marker every 5 to 10 feet so you can keep track of how far down you have drilled. Rest the other end of attached PVC pipe in the 55-gallon drum. While the drill is running, mud and water will enter the pipe through small holes above the drill and be pushed up by the compressed air, traveling through the pipe into the drum and settling pond to be cycled back into the well hole.

Note: Depending on your soil type, you may not need the 8-inch PVC. Our soil, for example, is hard clay and stable enough to keep the hole from collapsing without the pipe.

Drilling a well with this tool can take anywhere from 15 hours to weeks depending on the soil type, so make sure a chair is handy and you’re working with at least three people. One to operate the compressor, another to drill, and a third for breaks.

The air supply to the drill should never be turned off while the drill is underwater. If this happens, you’ll have to stop drilling and clean the motor before starting back up. This can take time and delay progress, which means it’s important that your drill team understands the process from start to finish.

Begin by filling the well hole with water. Turn the drill on before inserting, and then begin drilling. The bit will drill through all soil types, but when it hits clay or rock the process will slow down. Don’t get frustrated, just keep drilling and, before you know it, first water will be hit.

Move the drill in an up, down, and side-to-side motion as this will help the drill drive through the soil. The motion should be constant but not forceful; the drill will do the work. When you reach the point of needing to add more pipe, pull the running drill from the hole and, once it’s out of the water, turn the air pressure off. As you add pipe, secure each addition with PVC glue.

Add the next several feet of pipe and start again. Once the desired depth is reached, it’s time to case off the well. Casing is a matter of inserting SDR 35 pipe and securing in place with pea gravel and concrete. To do so, drill a hole through both sidewalls of the first piece of pipe, 2 or 3 inches from the bottom so you can attach the rope to lower the pipe into the well. When the top of the pipe is even with the ground, apply PVC glue and attach the next piece of pipe. Let dry for 15 minutes and then continue to lower down and add pieces as you go to meet the depth of the well. The last piece of pipe will be cut about 3 feet above ground level and capped off.

Pour pea gravel between the casing and the dirt. Next, mix the concrete and pour between the ground and casing. This will prevent the well from becoming contaminated from runoff. Once this is complete and you’ve added a well pump, you’ll need to run the well for a couple of days until the water is clear, and it’s always a good idea to get the water tested before using it for drinking.

Drilling a well can be a long process, but if you can save money and learn a new skill at the same time, why not give it a try? It’s a matter of getting back to basics and doing more for yourself.

However, the electrical and motor cooling requirements are certainly different with voltage drop to the motor and various other factors becoming much more important. In Part 2 of this three-part series on the design of a submersible pump we will design our pump end using the hydraulic design data to fit the same sample application we previously used for a vertical turbine pump.

Using our example installation in previous columns of The Water Works, we have successfully designed a sample water pumping installation for a vertical turbine pump with the following conditions:

Now that we have completed the determination of the required pump capacities and operating head, the first step in actually selecting a submersible pump end is to estimate the target horsepower required for the design conditions. From Part 1 (WWJ, January 2017):

From the above brake horsepower (BHP) estimates, it is apparent there will be a wide disparity of required horsepower (almost 30 BHP) between the two operating points. Generally, an application that requires two operating points so far apart requires strong consideration of either using a variable frequency drive (VFD) to use the affinity laws to lower the pump and motor speed for the alternate condition, an inline control valve to regulate outlet pressure and pump discharge, or a pump with an extremely flat head-capacity (H-Q) curve.

In our example, the use of a VFD has previously been determined to be the most cost effective solution, although an inline control valve could also have been used. However, it is highly unlikely the desired horsepower of 14.5 BHP at the alternate COS would have been met as the majority of submersible units have steep operating curves, owing to multiple stages plus the pump speed of 3450 RPM.

The final option, use of a flat curve pump, would also be unlikely as a preferred choice. Again, this is due to the pump’s rotation speed and number of pump stages required, except for the possible use of a 10-inch or 12-inch-diameter pump, which would require fewer stages than a smaller unit.

Although the hydraulic design is primarily vested in the pump’s capacity and head, the bowl diameter is also a critical factor. With a submersible pump, the bowl diameter is generally dictated by two primary conditions: the required pumping rate needed (in gallons per minute) and the limiting diameter of the well casing or wet well the bowl will be placed into (the maximum bowl outer diameter [O.D.]).

Table 1 cites the general maximum and minimum flow rates (including speed reduced minimum flows) for various bowl diameters at their respective best efficiency point (BEP) from various manufacturers for 3520/3450 RPM (3600 RPM synchronous speed) and 1760/1725 RPM (1800 RPM synchronous speed) rotational speeds.

The maximum rated capacity for each bowl diameter and speed are based on the typically highest BEP from various manufacturers, while the minimum flow for each bowl diameter and 3600 RPM speed represents an approximate maximum pump and motor speed reduction of 40% from the practical BEP at the lowest rated flow rate for each diameter and speed.

This would approximate correction of the performance of a submersible pump and motor when used on a VFD or when used with a control valve to maintain a minimum motor speed of 36 hertz (~2100 RPM) to maintain proper motor cooling and bearing lubrication, well above the manufacturer’s typical minimum of 30 hertz (~1750 RPM).

Vertical turbine pumps (VTPs) do not generally operate with the same flow range limitations as submersible pumps and motors. Therefore, the range of allowable flow rates with a VTP is often greater than that with a comparable submersible unit. The vast majority of 6-inch and most 8-inch-diameter submersible pump motors below 100 HP operate at a two-pole speed, or 3600 RPM. Therefore, this example pump selection should also be conducted using that same speed.

Given the knowledge of the primary and secondary (alternate) design capacities (500 GPM and 156 GPM) and the well diameter (12 inches) creates a fairly easy determination of the bowl diameter. From Table 1 it is apparent either a 6-, 7-, 8-, 9-, or even a 10-inch-diameter bowl assembly at 3450 RPM will likely work for this application with a 6-inch-diameter bowl at the extreme end of its practical and efficient flow range for 500 GPM.

The minimum recommended flow for a 10-inch-diameter bowl is also above the BEP for the low flow of 156 GPM and will most likely only require two or three stages to produce the needed head, which will result in a flatter total head curve. This is generally not as desirable for use with a VFD and compromises the pump efficiency and optimum clearance inside a 12-inch-diameter well by using a 10-inch-diameter bowl. This tends to limit the best overall selection to a 7-, 8-, or 9-inch-diameter bowl.

Building a unit through an analysis of a per-stage performance of individual stages (Figure 1), as with a VTP, and then dividing the total head required by the head per stage to determine the number of stages and horsepower needed to create an assembled pump.

Evaluating a manufacturer or supplier’s preselected and preassembled units and then selecting a pump that comes closest to the required flow and head (Figure 2).

When using a single-stage performance curve to evaluate a potential submersible pump, always be cognizant multi-stage pumps almost always display a higher efficiency at the same operating point, impeller trim, and capacity than a single-stage unit, so an efficiency correction may be needed.

For example, the single-stage bowl assembly shown in Figure 1 is the same bowl assembly with the same impeller trim (4.875 inches) and nominal speed (3600 RPM) as the 4-stage bowl assembly in Figure 2. However, the efficiency is three points higher (77.9% vs. 74.9%) for the 4-stage bowl. This relationship holds true for both VTPs and submersible pumps.

Usually, if any correction is required for multiple stages, this is generally indicated on the pump curve itself. In many cases this type of unit is further classified by the bowl’s BEP design flow and/or motor horsepower, especially when stainless steel impellers are used. Stainless steel impellers are not as easy to trim. Therefore, knowledge of the well diameter and the approximate required horsepower will often provide a shortcut to a pump selection.

For our example, 43.77 of estimated HP translates to the probable need for a 50 HP motor. This could provide the information required to select a preassembled submersible pump with a rating of 500 GPM and a 50 HP motor. This procedure is often shown on pump selection data sheets or curves with nomenclature to indicate the bowl diameter first, followed by the pump’s rated capacity or relative rating, the number of stages, or the motor horsepower.

For example, a specific manufacturer may use a model number such as 7TLC, 7CHE, 8RJO, or 8M23. The first number (7 or 8) usually signifies the bowl’s outer (nominal) diameter. The second and/or third letter (TL, CH, RJ, or M) may designate the manufacturer’s bowl capacity or head rating, such as L for low, M for medium, or H for high. The final letter or number often describes whether the impeller is an open (using an O) or enclosed (E or C) impeller. The use of a specific number (as in 23 for 230 GPM) may indicate the bowl’s rated capacity at its BEP. In some cases, “S” is inserted into the model number to signify the unit is a submersible pump.

Finally, the number of stages and the horsepower rating is often applied to the end or sometimes as part of the model number. A complete model number for an assembled submersible pump unit, for example, may be an 8SHHE-7-100, to signify an 8-inch nominal bowl diameter submersible pump, with a high capacity and head rated enclosed impeller, equipped with seven stages, and a 100 HP rated horsepower motor. In all cases, you should verify the breakdown of a specific model number with the manufacturer as many pumps do not follow these criteria.

Occasionally, I receive a request from someone to design a submersible pump using a semi-open impeller. Although I have used this type of impeller numerous times on VTPs, I do not routinely use them on subs for several reasons.

First, since they are locked onto the pump shaft and often situated several hundred feet down a well, they cannot be adjusted to regain performance or efficiency without pulling from the well. Secondly, although semi-open impellers are often a few points higher in efficiency, they usually display more axial and radial thrust than enclosed impellers, making them undesirable for use on the lower thrust rated submersible motor.

Finally, designing an application using semi-open impellers is at best an estimation since the pump’s performance and horsepower draw is primarily a factor of the impeller’s proper running clearance from the bowl. Any variation to this clearance from the manufacturer’s published curve data will adversely impact the performance by underperforming, overperforming, over possibly overloading the motor.

The seven submersible pump ends in Table 2 represent only a fraction of those available for the primary conditions of service. However, these potential selections nonetheless represent a cross-section of the typical bowl diameters and number of stages to consider for this application.

The final determination of the selected pump must weigh several factors. Some are universal while others may be site or locality specific. And since it is fairly obvious all the selected bowls will fit inside the 12-inch well casing, this initial factor can be ignored.

The next selection criteria I generally examine is the BHP requirement and pump efficiency at the specific operating condition that will be subject to the highest use. In our example, even though the bowl assembly has been designed for a primary design condition of 500 GPM, in actuality the pump will usually operate somewhere between the two design points with the alternate COS (156 GPM) in service much more than the primary COS. The three units with the lowest BHP requirement at the alternate design condition in the table are pumps R-1, F-1, and M-1.

My next criteria, particularly since the efficiency at the primary COS is close for all units, is to evaluate the operating speed at the alternate COS. This is more important to the success of the installation than one might imagine, particularly when a VFD will be used for motor control. Most motor (and some pump) manufacturers dictate the motor speed shall not fall below 50% speed (30 hertz, or ~1750 RPM). This is to provide adequate bearing lubrication in the motor as well as maintain enough velocity past the motor for cooling. As previously stated, when feasible, I prefer to design an installation so the pump and motor will not exhibit a minimum speed below 40% of the motor’s rated speed or about 2050-2100 RPM.

Tempered with this fact, however, is the knowledge the motor must be permitted to operate at a low enough speed to facilitate a reasonable VFD operating range and proper control settings. Experience has taught me this factor works best for a multi-stage submersible unit when using a shutdown speed between 70%-90% of full load (FL) speed—a range of 75%-85% of FL motor shutdown motor speed often works the best. Obviously, all these criteria must be ascertained after a full evaluation of the pump curve (flat vs. steep) and HP at the minimum speed.

From an examination of the pumps in Table 2, it is evident all the sample pumps fulfill these desires,