r/WaterWellDrilling

Hey all,
The other day my fiancé filled a 300 gallon kitty pool, went to use the faucet and nothing came out. Waited about 20 minutes and water came out slowly and then eventually back to what seems like normal pressure. I checked the gauge downstairs and it’s stuck right at 25psi. Now I’m not sure what it was previously but reading around this seems to be low. When I run water everything seems normal but the gauge doesn’t move at all.
Could this be normal operation at this pressure?

Hi all,

Apologies if this is not the best place to ask this question.

Live on well septic. Currently have a 20 gal tank. Am getting some work done and trying to figure out if I upgrade to larger tank or leave it.

The installer teed off the exterior faucet lines after the water softener and charcoal filter tanks. I’m going to have someone fix this. Also running another exterior faucet line to the far side of the house as there is currently 1 exterior faucet.

House is about 4000 sq ft. Family of 3. Water softener and charcoal filter tanks. Highest water use is in the summer for gardening and watering lawn. I do not have an irrigation system.

Thanks in advance,

SPECS:

Centrifugal pump rated for 13,200gph (220gpm)

pump is elevated 2 feet higher than top of the ponds water line.

pump is connected via 2" pvc sch40 pvc.

the input run from pond to the pump is at least 150feet. 2" pvc. It includes a backflow prevented and about five 90 degree elelbows.

The run back to the pond (output) is also 150feet via 2" pvc pipe. The output is level with the input on a different side of the pond.

There is also a high pressure bio filter and a UV system that is connected on the return line back to the pond.

More info:

Im currently dealing with a professionally installed 10,000 gallon pond that the pump setup just does not work correctly. i believe that the setup was planned out incorrectly. I am by no means an expert on these setups but from what ive been able to gather this setup should not work.

i can get it primed and get it running but the pump sounds like its eating rocks. The vibration from the cavitation is very concerning. I had originally suspected air leaking into the input, but i have sense pressure tested the input line and it holds pressure without issue.

Before I declare a system that was installed by a professional company as incorectly done, i would like some input from real people (not ai) that know what they are doing. I know next to nothing about these systems, so i would appreciate any help. i can provide more info if needed.

ps: The pump is a Sequence 13200pwr81

Living in south Florida, we have a shallow well only for irrigation. It’s been a while but I think it’s a 2in line and feeds into a 1 1/2hp well pump with digital manifold for the zones. Since it’s the summer, I kinda expected water to be limited but I noticed earlier today that my pop up sprinklers were barely out of the housing.

I doubt there’s a break in the line/zone so my guess is either: 1) the pump is wearing out (\~5 year old) or 2) the shallow well is dry/compromised. I can’t really dig a new well, I’d like to save the $500 bill for the new pump if possible, and really don’t want to use city water for irrigation but what are my options to start pinpointing my issue? We don’t really do maintenance on any of the equipment (first time we owned a well pump) so idk if we dropped the ball and there are preventative measures we can take.

We need a well installed on our property, but have limited access getting in and out of our driveway. We have called multiple companies in the area, but they all have larger trucks. One company did come to look. His truck was 36 1/2 feet. He said if his rig were 2 feet shorter, he could make it. So far, we haven't found anyone with a smaller truck. We are continuing my search, but what can we do if we don't find a smaller rig. How else can we have a well put in? Wells around here tend to be around 200 ft deep due to the fact that we are on larger stream. Any help or advice would be appreciated.

I set my own pump yesterday.

TLDR - I've found water at 5 feet down, I installed a sand point well and a pitcher pump, but the pitcher pump fails to pull up any water. After pulling out all the air from the line the pump feels like it's just stuck, and the lever just gets really hard to pump, like I'm pulling on a clogged pipe. There's water, the pipe isn't clogged, but still no luck.

Edit Update: This whole project actually started with me driving the sandpoint down to 20 feet with 5-foot sections of pipe. Same problem down at that depth. I pulled it up with a floor jack and retested at each 5-foot depth and same problem. Used the jetter, cleaned out the mud, etc... everytime I hit the same issue with the pitcher pump.

I have a property with an existing well (18-feet deep) and a submersible pump. I can get water out of there if I run my generator, and that well has been working just fine for the past 100 years (family homestead). Now that I've taken stewardship of the property I decided I'd like a backup hand-pump so I went the simplest route with a sand point. The soil is sandy loam and very easy to drive pipe into. I was able to drive about a foot of pipe down every minute.

I bought the Water Source 3-foot sand point with the 80-mesh screen, and also the Water Source red pitcher pump. After driving the point down with a single 5-foot section I hit water at 5-feet down. I let it sit for a couple weeks and came back with the pitcher pump and checked again - found standing water at 5-feet down.

By my calculations, I drove the sand point down to 6-feet at the top, and 9-feet at the bottom (because it's a 3-foot well point) so that the top of the well point is 1-foot below the top water level.

The pipe is connected with the drive coupler, I used pipe dope, I tightened all the connections so even bujeezus couldn't undo it - they're air-tight.

After hooking up the pitcher pump, priming it, letting it get wet and the leather parts swelling for 20 minutes, I start to pump and I can hear it all working to pull air out. After about a minute I can feel more and more resistance on the lever, until finally it's really hard to push down. At that point I can pull it down but it just jumps back up like a stiff spring, feels very much like there's a vacuum just sucking the piston back down.

At first I thought maybe the screen was clogged, so I did these steps several times:

• Ran a garden hose down at the bottom of the pipe watching the water go from super muddy to rather clear over the course of 3 minutes
• Took my pressure washer (Harbor Freight 1750) with the mini-jetter kit and jetted out the pipe from top to bottom, and let it run for 10 minutes. I focused on the bottom 3-feet to jet out the mud if possible.
• Sealed off the pipe at the top with an NPT-GHT connecter, and connected a garden hose that's at 35 PSI and just turned it out to pressurize the inside of the pipe to push anything else out

I then hooked up the pitcher pump again and exact same issue - I pump until it gets hard to pump, and then there's a solid vacuum pulling back down on the piston and I can't pull water up.

Then I did these things:

• Took 2 weeks away and left the pipe open. When I came back water level was at 5 feet down again
• Pulled up the pipe and drive point entirely to inspect - everything looking fine, I pressure washed everything and got it clean and tidy, and then shoved it back down in the hole (didn't take much, the hole was still there no problem)
• Re-jetted, re-pressurized, then re-assembled the pitcher pump and tried it again

Still no luck!! I even pulled the well point up a foot, pushed it down a foot, thinking maybe I'm off with my calculations, etc.

There is water down there as evidenced by my dipstick showing it's wet, and my bobber on a string making water splashing noises at the same depth. If I drop a rock in there it goes "sploosh".

I've watched ALL the youtube videos on the topic, I've taken apart the pitcher pump and inspected everything - gaskets, bolts, etc.

What am I doing wrong? Is it possible my pitcher pump is defective? Something weird with the sand point that all the youtube videos didn't point out?

Any help is greatly appreciated!!

I'm in Northern New York State. I will be building home next year. Wells in this area are generally 100 - 200ft deep and they tend to have iron and occasionally sulfur. The soil is sand, no rocks. The well driller is charging $35 per ft, casing $45 per ft, and $1950 for dive shoe, well cap, drill rig setup. If I want a temporally water pump, all that is extra and I'll have to use a generator to draw the water. The house won't be built until next year, so I'm thinking not to have the pump installed yet...is that a good or bad idea??? I won't be able to tell if my well is any good if, I'm not using it.

I've never been through this process and don't know what questions to ask, about the materials, hopefully it's steel casing and not plastic, etc??? Would appreciate any advise.

Our well is used primarily just for watering around the house. The house itself is on rural community water.

We haven’t used the well since last fall.
We have had plenty of rain over the last several months so the water table should be quite high.

I hooked up one sprinkler to the well yesterday to start watering the lawn. Just one little round sprinkler with about a ten foot throw. After a few minutes, I saw that it was short cycling. The pump kicks on a 40psi and kicks off at 60psi. And it cycles after only a minute so.

We have had this problem for several years. But usually it’s late in the summer in drought conditions. Not this early and after plenty of rain.

In my research I have found two possible issues.

1. The pump (which I believe is 1.25hp) may be producing more water than one sprinkler can handle, so it keeps short cycling due to too much pressure. Maybe it will do better if we use more sprinklers at a time so that demand will meet the pump’s supply.

2. Possible issue with the pressure tank. The tank is only about 5 years old. I THINK it is bladderless. Is it possible that I should drain the tank, pull the shraeder valve to exhaust all air, reinstall valve, and turn on the pump again to refill and pressurize?
   Might that help?

I’d appreciate any suggestions.

Like a hand pump or generator?

I have a 8 inch casing (at the top) well that is sealed. If i lost power and needed water, how could i draw water from the well? Its a 260 foot well