The water level in my well is dropping, which I understand is normal for
this time of year. Once it drops below the pickup, I can't pump any more. Is
there anything that can be done to deepen the well or clean out the bottom,
or am I stuck with what I have? The well is 17 feet deep, I don't know how
much debris or mud might be at the bottom. I have a 2" pipe going into the
ground. The guy that drilled it dropped a stick of dynamite into it and blew
out the bottom, but I don't know how big of a cavity might be down there.

Matthew Reed wrote:
The water level in my well is dropping, which I understand is normal for
this time of year. Once it drops below the pickup, I can't pump any more. Is
there anything that can be done to deepen the well or clean out the bottom,
or am I stuck with what I have? The well is 17 feet deep, I don't know how
much debris or mud might be at the bottom. I have a 2" pipe going into the
ground. The guy that drilled it dropped a stick of dynamite into it and blew
out the bottom, but I don't know how big of a cavity might be down there.

All you can do is pull the pump and do a sounding to find the water
level and the existing hole bottom. Is it cased? Depending on the
hydrology and the geology of the area you're in, it's possible you may
be able to drop the pump a little--oh, I guess you've got an above
ground pump, so it would be dropping the pipe a little farther.

How long has the well been there and what is its history? Do you get
significant surface regeneration or not? Is level dropping because of
current drought or high usage or area-wide usage or ...???

Lot's more questions here than answers--you're best bet is to talk to
local well folks, most likely the guy who drilled it to begin with.

"Abe" wrote in message
...
The water level in my well is dropping, which I understand is normal for
this time of year. Once it drops below the pickup, I can't pump any more.
Is
there anything that can be done to deepen the well or clean out the
bottom,
or am I stuck with what I have? The well is 17 feet deep, I don't know how
much debris or mud might be at the bottom. I have a 2" pipe going into the
ground. The guy that drilled it dropped a stick of dynamite into it and
blew
out the bottom, but I don't know how big of a cavity might be down there.
Troll.


And what, exactly, about this post makes you think I'm a troll?

"dpb" wrote in message
ups.com...

Matthew Reed wrote:
The water level in my well is dropping, which I understand is normal for
this time of year. Once it drops below the pickup, I can't pump any more.
Is
there anything that can be done to deepen the well or clean out the
bottom,
or am I stuck with what I have? The well is 17 feet deep, I don't know
how
much debris or mud might be at the bottom. I have a 2" pipe going into
the
ground. The guy that drilled it dropped a stick of dynamite into it and
blew
out the bottom, but I don't know how big of a cavity might be down there.

All you can do is pull the pump and do a sounding to find the water
level and the existing hole bottom. Is it cased? Depending on the
hydrology and the geology of the area you're in, it's possible you may
be able to drop the pump a little--oh, I guess you've got an above
ground pump, so it would be dropping the pipe a little farther.

How long has the well been there and what is its history? Do you get
significant surface regeneration or not? Is level dropping because of
current drought or high usage or area-wide usage or ...???

Lot's more questions here than answers--you're best bet is to talk to
local well folks, most likely the guy who drilled it to begin with.


I have a suction pump - JRS something or other, shallow well adapter in the
pump itself, so it's just a pickup tube that goes into the hole. I'm using a
1" pvc pipe with a foot valve at the bottom of the pipe. I also have a 1
1/4" pipe with a backflow valve at the top instead of a foot valve at the
bottom, but I would have to extend it (easy enough to do). I may do exactly
that - angle the end of the pipe, and push it into the bottom of the well.
It was in the well when I bought the property, but the backflow valve was
bad and I had to prime it everytime I wanted to use it, so I replaced it.

The well is 17 feet deep. I'm wondering if there is debris/mud at the
bottom, and if it's possible to remove it? The well casing is a 2" pipe. I
can pump for hours on end, but lately I've started to get air bubbles in the
output. Not sure if that means the water level is down to the foot valve, or
if there is a leak somewhere that lets air in when the water gets low enough
(because the suction at the pump is higher).

I think it's about 20 years old, I met someone that knew the person that
drilled it. According to the neighbors, the water level drops in summer. All
they can tell me is that in mid-August their wells all run dry. I'm guessing
due to irrigation and area-wide usage, a lot of nieghbors have wells. Also,
it stops raining for a few months. The water level a few months ago was at 9
feet, I think I'll pull out the pickup tube and take another sounding. We
had heavy rains last winter, and the water level rose enough that my
basement started taking on water, so did my neighbors basements. This is
rare - happens every 10 years or so.

On Tue, 11 Jul 2006 10:01:48 -0700, "Matthew Reed" nospam at zootal
dot com nospam wrote:


"Abe" wrote in message
.. .
The water level in my well is dropping, which I understand is normal for
this time of year. Once it drops below the pickup, I can't pump any more.
Is
there anything that can be done to deepen the well or clean out the
bottom,
or am I stuck with what I have? The well is 17 feet deep, I don't know how
much debris or mud might be at the bottom. I have a 2" pipe going into the
ground. The guy that drilled it dropped a stick of dynamite into it and
blew
out the bottom, but I don't know how big of a cavity might be down there.
Troll.


And what, exactly, about this post makes you think I'm a troll?


You ARE a TROLL. Everything you said indicates that you are a troll.
You can not escape it. Everyone on the internet knows for fact that
you are a troll. You have the word "troll" written all over you.
Worse let, you're attempt at trolling was extremely poor. You win no
awards for your trolling. You could have been much more creative and
then you would have gotten many more bites on your troll bait. I'm
sorry to tell you this, but you flunk. Go back to troll school and
start your lessons over. Maybe next time you can do better.
For this post, you receive a MINUS 50 on the trollometer.

About the well issue. 17 feet is NOT a well, it's a puddle. It
collects contaminated surface water which is unsuitable for human
consumption. Everytime a dog urinates on the lawn, you will be
drinking that urine. Of course a troll such as you don't know that to
qualify as a well, it must be at least 40 feet, and in most cases is
100 feet, or may be as much as 1000 feet, or even more.

Either way, dont worry about it. The world will be destroyed by
terrorists before the end of 2006, most likely this August. The US
government is not protecting you or anyone, in fact they are
terrorists themselves. You will unlikely run out of water before that,
and if you do, buy bottled water for the last few weeks of life, or
better yet, drink alcoholic beverages. I know this. When the bombs
start to drop, I will be drinking lots of alcohol.

Come to think of it...... If your well "expert" used dynamite, he's
most likely a terrorist himself and I'd be very careful not to tell
him anything. He has most likely already stolen your identity and is
impersonating you on the internet. He just does not yet know that
he's impersonating a troll. Once he finds out about your trolling, he
will come over to your home and blast you to pieces by placing
dynamite in the base of your toilet. The next time you sit down to
take a ****, ***** BOOM *****

---- Beware ....... TROLLS DIE QUICKLY !!!!! ----

.............. You Lose ...........

*** PLONK ***

wrote in message
...
On Tue, 11 Jul 2006 08:54:29 -0700, "Matthew Reed" nospam at zootal
dot com nospam wrote:

The water level in my well is dropping, which I understand is normal for
this time of year. Once it drops below the pickup, I can't pump any more.
Is
there anything that can be done to deepen the well or clean out the
bottom,
or am I stuck with what I have? The well is 17 feet deep, I don't know how
much debris or mud might be at the bottom. I have a 2" pipe going into the
ground. The guy that drilled it dropped a stick of dynamite into it and
blew
out the bottom, but I don't know how big of a cavity might be down there.

We have that problem all over Florida. The problem is too many people
are taking water from a finite source. The only answer, once a shallow
well pump starts working, is a deeper well and a different pump. You
might be able to convert to a jet pump setup to buy some time but a 4"
well with a submersible pump will probably end up being the real fix,

Is there anything that can be done with an existing well, or do you pretty
much have to start over from scratch and drill a new one? I'm guessing the
best I could do is try to suck the gunk from the bottom of this well - in
fact, I think that is all I can do, though I'm hoping for some ideas.
Starting over is an option - maybe go down 30 feet this time.

How deep can a "shallow" well go? I think you can suck water from about 32
feet, but I don't know if most pumps can do that, and I think the deeper it
is the less volume you can get.

On a related topic - my pump is a Gould JRS5, and I can only get about 55
psi out of it with everything turned off. How much pressure should I be able
to get? Under load, say 3 impact sprinklers, I can only get about 30 psi.

On a related topic - my pump is a Gould JRS5, and I can only get about 55
psi out of it with everything turned off. How much pressure should I be
able to get? Under load, say 3 impact sprinklers, I can only get about 30
psi.

NM, I just found the specs. It's good to 25 feet. Max pressure seems to be
64psi, but I can't get it past 55. I guess that's not too bad. Default
regulator settings are 30/50 psi, I have it set at 20/40 psi.

You ARE a TROLL. Everything you said indicates that you are a troll.
snip

So are you suggesting that I'm a troll?

According to Matthew Reed nospam at zootal dot com nospam:
How deep can a "shallow" well go? I think you can suck water from about 32
feet, but I don't know if most pumps can do that, and I think the deeper it
is the less volume you can get.

A "pure suction" shallow well is limited to about 20-22 feet at the very
most. Once you start getting closer to 32', the efficiency goes WAY
down.

You can likely convert your Gould to a jet pump. While they're not
nearly as nice as a full submersible, they can get you down to 100'
or a trifle more.

On a related topic - my pump is a Gould JRS5, and I can only get about 55
psi out of it with everything turned off.

Presumably the switch is set to cut out at that point.

How much pressure should I be able
to get? Under load, say 3 impact sprinklers, I can only get about 30 psi.

That's fairly good.

Most impact sprinklers take quite a bit of water, and are seldom
adjustable (like 3gpm). In contrast, Orbit gearheads, as an example,
can be choked down to about 1 gpm apiece. I get ample throw off
four of these units. The impact sprinklers struggle a bit with 3,
and will sometimes get stuck if on the downside of the pressure
cycle.

[I've tried making new orifices for our impact sprinklers, and it
didn't work very well in my brief test.]
--
Chris Lewis, Una confibula non set est
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.

wrote in message
...
On Tue, 11 Jul 2006 10:01:48 -0700, "
You ARE a TROLL. Everything you said indicates that you are a troll.
You can not escape it. Everyone on the internet knows for fact that
you are a troll. You have the word "troll" written all over you.
Worse let, you're attempt at trolling was extremely poor. You win no
awards for your trolling. You could have been much more creative and
then you would have gotten many more bites on your troll bait. I'm
sorry to tell you this, but you flunk. Go back to troll school and
start your lessons over. Maybe next time you can do better.
For this post, you receive a MINUS 50 on the trollometer.

About the well issue. 17 feet is NOT a well, it's a puddle. It
collects contaminated surface water which is unsuitable for human
consumption. Everytime a dog urinates on the lawn, you will be
drinking that urine. Of course a troll such as you don't know that to
qualify as a well, it must be at least 40 feet, and in most cases is
100 feet, or may be as much as 1000 feet, or even more.

Either way, dont worry about it. The world will be destroyed by
terrorists before the end of 2006, most likely this August. The US
government is not protecting you or anyone, in fact they are
terrorists themselves. You will unlikely run out of water before that,
and if you do, buy bottled water for the last few weeks of life, or
better yet, drink alcoholic beverages. I know this. When the bombs
start to drop, I will be drinking lots of alcohol.

get the feeling that you use a lot of alcohol before hitting the
keyboard.

Bye-bye.

PLONK

--
Jim McLaughlin

Reply address is deliberately munged.
If you really need to reply directly, try:
jimdotmclaughlinatcomcastdotcom

And you know it is a dotnet not a dotcom
address.

You can likely convert your Gould to a jet pump. While they're not
nearly as nice as a full submersible, they can get you down to 100'
or a trifle more.

My well is a 2 inch pipe - can I use a jet pump in that? I'm assuming this
would overcome the pressure/volume issue, assuming the well itself had the
capacity for that?

On a related topic - my pump is a Gould JRS5, and I can only get about 55
psi out of it with everything turned off.

Presumably the switch is set to cut out at that point.

No, I adjusted it up so the pump did not turn off. It ran the pressure up to
about 55psi, kept running, but the pressure did not go up anymore. I'll go
try it again to see for sure.

/runs out and cranks up regulator.

58psi no load. Guess that is good enough. Well pumps water, don't want to
waste a couple hundred bucks to find out the pump is doing what it should






How much pressure should I be able
to get? Under load, say 3 impact sprinklers, I can only get about 30 psi.

That's fairly good.

Most impact sprinklers take quite a bit of water, and are seldom
adjustable (like 3gpm). In contrast, Orbit gearheads, as an example,
can be choked down to about 1 gpm apiece. I get ample throw off
four of these units. The impact sprinklers struggle a bit with 3,
and will sometimes get stuck if on the downside of the pressure
cycle.

[I've tried making new orifices for our impact sprinklers, and it
didn't work very well in my brief test.]
--
Chris Lewis, Una confibula non set est
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.

On Tue, 11 Jul 2006 08:54:29 -0700, "Matthew Reed" nospam at zootal
dot com nospam wrote:

The water level in my well is dropping, which I understand is normal for
this time of year. Once it drops below the pickup, I can't pump any more. Is
there anything that can be done to deepen the well or clean out the bottom,
or am I stuck with what I have? The well is 17 feet deep, I don't know how
much debris or mud might be at the bottom. I have a 2" pipe going into the
ground. The guy that drilled it dropped a stick of dynamite into it and blew
out the bottom, but I don't know how big of a cavity might be down there.


Get the guy with the dynamite back to your well to drop two sticks
next time. You will have twice as much water.

"JimL" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 11 Jul 2006 08:54:29 -0700, "Matthew Reed" nospam at zootal
dot com nospam wrote:

The water level in my well is dropping, which I understand is normal for
this time of year. Once it drops below the pickup, I can't pump any more.
Is
there anything that can be done to deepen the well or clean out the
bottom,
or am I stuck with what I have? The well is 17 feet deep, I don't know how
much debris or mud might be at the bottom. I have a 2" pipe going into the
ground. The guy that drilled it dropped a stick of dynamite into it and
blew
out the bottom, but I don't know how big of a cavity might be down there.


Get the guy with the dynamite back to your well to drop two sticks
next time. You will have twice as much water.


Hmm...seriously - would doing so deepen it any? If I could just get a foot
or two, it might be worth it. Just my luck, it would blow the casing out of
the hole and the hole would collapse and I've have nothing at all LOL.

Get the guy with the dynamite back to your well to drop two sticks
next time. You will have twice as much water.


I get the impression that blasting the bottom of the hole is not a standard
practice? I wonder if he did this because he hit rock and could not get
through? We are on an old river bottom, and if you go down deep enough you
hit river bed rock, and lots of it.

On Tue, 11 Jul 2006 13:18:39 -0700, "Matthew Reed" nospam at zootal
dot com nospam wrote:

Get the guy with the dynamite back to your well to drop two sticks
next time. You will have twice as much water.


I get the impression that blasting the bottom of the hole is not a standard
practice? I wonder if he did this because he hit rock and could not get
through? We are on an old river bottom, and if you go down deep enough you
hit river bed rock, and lots of it.


How about rigging up to clean out your well or drill another well
nearby? Here are some instructions you can order off ebay:


http://cgi.ebay.com/Drill-Your-Own-W...QQcmdZViewItem

It sounds silly, but lots of people have done it.

How about rigging up to clean out your well or drill another well
nearby? Here are some instructions you can order off ebay:


http://cgi.ebay.com/Drill-Your-Own-W...QQcmdZViewItem

It sounds silly, but lots of people have done it.


That was really how my OP started - I was looking for advice on cleaning out
my well and thereby getting some additional depth by just cleaning the junk
out of the bottom. I'm not sure how to do this, or if it's even feasible
given that the wall casing is a 2" metal pipe.

Matthew Reed wrote:
That was really how my OP started - I was looking for advice on cleaning out
my well and thereby getting some additional depth by just cleaning the junk
out of the bottom. I'm not sure how to do this, or if it's even feasible
given that the wall casing is a 2" metal pipe.

I might suggest posting on the misc.rural usenet group. They tend to
have a lot of "well-meaning" people there.

According to Matthew Reed nospam at zootal dot com nospam:

You can likely convert your Gould to a jet pump. While they're not
nearly as nice as a full submersible, they can get you down to 100'
or a trifle more.

My well is a 2 inch pipe - can I use a jet pump in that? I'm assuming this
would overcome the pressure/volume issue, assuming the well itself had the
capacity for that?

Jet pumps require _two_ lines down the well - one a gozinta, and
the other a gozouta. They work by pushing a small amount of water
down the hole, which by venturi action, draws up a larger amount
of water up the other pipe. Can be hard to prime.

Our well has a 1 1/2" gozouta, and a 1 1/4" gozinta.

On a related topic - my pump is a Gould JRS5, and I can only get about 55
psi out of it with everything turned off.

Presumably the switch is set to cut out at that point.

No, I adjusted it up so the pump did not turn off. It ran the pressure up to
about 55psi, kept running, but the pressure did not go up anymore. I'll go
try it again to see for sure.

40-50psi is considered ample for well systems. Much beyond that,
you're wasting electricity.

We do a fairly extensive irrigation system off our well. Well
capacity, and careful design of layouts matter more than PSI.

/runs out and cranks up regulator.

58psi no load. Guess that is good enough. Well pumps water, don't want to
waste a couple hundred bucks to find out the pump is doing what it should






How much pressure should I be able
to get? Under load, say 3 impact sprinklers, I can only get about 30 psi.

That's fairly good.

Most impact sprinklers take quite a bit of water, and are seldom
adjustable (like 3gpm). In contrast, Orbit gearheads, as an example,
can be choked down to about 1 gpm apiece. I get ample throw off
four of these units. The impact sprinklers struggle a bit with 3,
and will sometimes get stuck if on the downside of the pressure
cycle.

[I've tried making new orifices for our impact sprinklers, and it
didn't work very well in my brief test.]
--
Chris Lewis, Una confibula non set est
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.




--
Chris Lewis, Una confibula non set est
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.

On Tue, 11 Jul 2006 11:33:21 -0700, "Matthew Reed" nospam at zootal
dot com nospam wrote:

You ARE a TROLL. Everything you said indicates that you are a troll.
snip

So are you suggesting that I'm a troll?


Not suggesting you are a troll.
I KNOW YOU ARE A TROLL !!!!

*** YOU LOSE ***

Matt,

Sounds as if you do not know what's wrong with your well or how to fix
it. You need to get someone to look at your well and advise you. I presume
this is an ag well so give the ag extension service a call. They may have
some good, local advice about wells. If they can't help you then you need to
talk to drilling companies. The solution that they will propose will be
based on the equipment they own so get more than one opinion. Or hire an
engineer to look at your well.

Dave M.