Jeannot wrote:
Guys, thanks for your continued interest.

898gpm = 15 gallons/sec. That's a lot of water to expect from a
3" by 13 foot hole.

The well is 3', 3 feet in diameter. I figure 8' of usable water * 1.5 *
1.5 * 3.14 * 6 gal/cuft = about 350 gallons. I'm still looking for my
sprinkler specs (I'll just measure it if I can't find the specs), but 4
sprinklers ought to take at least

I would expect that pump
to fail under such a design.

Harry, the tank does have the reserve tank integrated, so I'm guessing
the people who designed the system sized the pump and the tank taking
into account a wide variety of flows.

In any case, I will take the many advices about testing the system
before trenching the whole cheebang.

Say, if I loose my pump or it explodes, would a submersible pump at the
bottom of the well be a better ideeyer? For sure, less maintenance and
no priming hassles.

Thanks to all

Okay, we are getting somewhere here. I suspect your pump specs are
wrong. PUmp that puts out that much gpm with a 4-5 gallon pressure
tank just does not compute.

You are correct that you aren't going to lose much if the pump does go
tits up so why not use it.

4 sprinkler heads will use about 20 gpm max (5gpm per head - that is a
bit high but good for ball park figuring). A pump putting out near 900
gpm will start and instantly stop as it will have filled the tank that
fast. The hardest part as far as wear goes for a pump is the start
cycle. That's why, if your specs are correct, I say your pump will
fail in short order.

I can't even begin to picture a pump putting out that much volume being
either available for $61 dollars or small enough to install without
heavy lifting equipement as in cranes.

I have rethought one of my replies above. You listed 'max lift...' and
I computed that as being 'max head'. I don't recall seeing 'lift'
being used in pump specs before. 'Head' refers to the hieght the pump
can push a column of water and is directly covertable to pressure
output at .46 psi per foot. If the 'lift' is the same as 'head' for
your pump, the pressure is just right for irrigation use. 60psi while
a bit high makes impulse sprinklers run very nicely.

Of course after all my rambling here, I am still of the opinion that
you aren't going to get the pump primed over that much distance. But
then, why not try and if it works, great, you will have saved a bund of
work and money!

Harry K