Harry K wrote:
On Apr 24, 8:21 am, Tony wrote:
Mikepier wrote:
On Apr 24, 9:36 am, (Doug Miller) wrote:
In article , Mikepier wrote:
UPDATE: This morning I removed the well cap, and filled up to the top
with water, then tried the pump again, still water only coming out in
spurts, and not consistent.
I understand I need a check valve, but for the purpose of testing the
pump right now, shouldn't the pump work even without a check valve?
Why would you think that it should? Think about what the check valve is for:
to keep water from draining out of the pump back into the well. If you don't
have a check valve somewhere, the pump _cannot_ stay primed.
Like I said, I filled up the well pipe to the top,
And since you have no check valve, it all drained back into the well...
and I poured water
in the outlet pipe, so I'm sure the pump is primed.
And I'm even more sure that you're wrong about that.
I'm not familiar with pump operations, so please excuse my lack of
knowledge. If you say I need a check valve, can I put it on the inlet
pipe before the union?
You should have a check valve down in the well below the water table.
You should be able to fill the well pipe and it should stay full.
Another check valve is normally up near the pump.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Well..no. There should be nothing between the pipe and the pump
except 'pipe'. A checkvalve at the pump only adds uneeded
restriction. Now there _can_ be a check valve _after_ the pump but
that is usually not done.

My 800' well has a check valve every 100 feet going down, then another
one just before the pressure switch/tank. My last house was the same
setup. The pump here, with at least 6 or 7 or 8 check valves and a 1HP
pump, even after running constant for about 30 minutes or more, it still
puts out about 15GPM, so if those check valves are doing any
restricting, it's not much. When I first moved here it put out a full
20GPM. After a 2 1/2 year drought, it was only putting out about 10GPM.
It's been going up a little each year with average rainfall.