Well head and pump construction

cptdondo · May 2020

I have a well on a property I just bought. It's 140' deep, and the water level may be at around 70 or deeper.

Right now the well consists of a 6" casing, 1-1/4" black (ABS?) pipe, electrical wire going down to the pump. We have established that the pump runs on 120VAC and produces about 10 GPM.

That's the good news.

The bad news is that I know nothing about this pump, but for obvious reasons I don't want to replace something that's working.

How do I get this to work correctly? I need both the electrical controls as well as the physical design of the well seal and associated plumbing like a pressure tank, check valve, etc. I know the general principles but I've never really designed a well from almost scratch. Youtube videos are a dime a dozen and few agree on what's needed.

mike95490 · May 2020

First, will this be running off of Solar power ?

Have you measured the current draw of the pump?

Is the pump 2 wire (no controller module) or 3wire (has a pump control module) ( a pressure switch is not a pump control module)

Do you need it to run at night ?

Can you pump to an elevated tank and get static water pressure simply from elevated tank ?

If no elevation, can you pump to ground level tank, and use a small pump for pressure building ?

cptdondo · May 2020

I have power near the site. Just depends on how much the electric company is going to want to extend the service. So for now I'm assuming I will be going solar.

I have not measured the current draw, but that's a good idea.

It's 2 wire (plus ground).

Not sure if it needs to run at night; the plan is to pump to a ground level tank, then use a second pump to pressurize the house and provide irrigation. Although we will be doing gray water reuse for the vegetable garden as much as possible.

Aguarancher · May 2020

Is there a safety rope attached to your pump? Using a black polypropylene tubing is ok if you have the rope also. I’d almost want to pull the pump and do it right. The well seal will need a hose barb attached to its underside and a couple hose clamps to attach the poly and an eyelet to attach the safety rope. Nothing worse than trying to fish out a pump from the bottom your well. You also want to “shock” the well with either a couple of pool chlorine tablets or a 1/2 gallon of liquid Clorox and let it sit in there 24hrs. I’d then pump out the well onto the ground for a couple of hours. Some pics of the well head would be useful.

Most submersible pumps are 220V. Is there a motor control box in the system? There should be one. A pic if there is one would be helpful.

cptdondo · May 2020

No rope. Just the tubing and the electrical cable.

Also no well seal. It's literally a 6" steel pipe with black tubing and a power cord sticking out the top. The power cord ended just bare laying on the ground.

We thought the pump was 220 but it would safety out after a few seconds, so we tried it on 120, and it pumped 10-20 GPM for an hour with no problem.

When I get back this winter I will probably pull the pump and do it right.

Any diagrams on how to set up the well seal? And what kind of rope to use for the pump?

For the electrical, I am assuming a disconnect and a pressure switch near the well head?

Aguarancher · May 2020

Is your tubing 1 1/4" i.d. or o.d.? I use sch 120 PVC and S.S. couplings on all my pumps and don't need any safety rope. The rope is 1/4" yellow poly. Any well supply house can set you up with the correct well seal and related parts. Probably a bit more expensive than Amazon type retailers, but that's the price you pay for the hand holding. lol You will need a pressure switch to control the pump if you're using a pressure tank and a float switch if using a storage tank.

cptdondo · May 2020

1 1/4" ID. Yeah, I'm in a very remote area with a couple of well drillers and I get the distinct vibe that they put in the casing and everything else is up to me. I asked about a well seal when we were doing the pump test and they put a piece of scrap plywood over the top. Sigh.

Well head and pump construction

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