Mike(NEOhio)
Well-known Member
- Location
- Newbury, Ohio
I'm trying to pump out my well because of a sediment problem. I had a driller in last week to bail and scrub it. Got a lot of sand and some clay. They said to leave the pump running till it cleared but that made it worse. The well is drilled 78 feet, cased to 28 feet, all sandstone below that. The water level is 12-13 feet and the pump is down about 30 feet. The well was always good but brought up sediment when we used a lot of water. Last couple of years the sediment is always there. I think over 40+ years the sediment built up to where it's close to the pump level. I think pumping from the 30 foot level is not flushing it enough because the well can deliver over 30 GPM. I pushed a 1-1/4 plastic pipe down about 70 feet and connected it to a 1-1/2 inch Homelite pump rated 100 GPM. My thinking was that to lift less than 15 feet, I could pull water from 70 feet and flush from the bottom up and get the sediment out. Not the full 100 GPM but a lot faster than the well pump. I have used this pump to empty a cistern in about a half hour from 10 feet down but I couldn't get it to work at all in the well. Primed it several times and left it running for an hour, nothing. When I drained it the water was hot enough to give vapors on an 80 degree humid day. I tested the pump from a drum and it pulled fine at a two foot lift.
I'm open to suggestions. Would it help if I added a foot valve and primed the whole vertical pipe? A different type of pump? Tried pumping from say 20 feet in stead of 70? I thought I understood the principles but I'm obviously missing something.
I'm open to suggestions. Would it help if I added a foot valve and primed the whole vertical pipe? A different type of pump? Tried pumping from say 20 feet in stead of 70? I thought I understood the principles but I'm obviously missing something.