My water supply comes from a borehole, about 4m deep I think, with a
submerged pump. The pump seems to be on the end of a galvanised steel pipe
that carries the water up. It works but the water coming out (I've just
restarted it after a couple of years disconnected) is full of rust and about
as transparent as cream of tomato soup.

It seems to me that the pipe must be terribly rusty. It is about 20 years
old and I want to replace it before the pump drops off the end and gets
stuck down the hole.

What should I replace the pipe with? Copper, stainless steel, plastic? - or
just hang the pump from a rope and use a flexible hose for the water?

Thanks

Roger

"Roger Moss" wrote in message
...
My water supply comes from a borehole, about 4m deep I think, with a
submerged pump. The pump seems to be on the end of a galvanised steel
pipe
that carries the water up. It works but the water coming out (I've just
restarted it after a couple of years disconnected) is full of rust and
about
as transparent as cream of tomato soup.

It seems to me that the pipe must be terribly rusty. It is about 20 years
old and I want to replace it before the pump drops off the end and gets
stuck down the hole.

What should I replace the pipe with? Copper, stainless steel, plastic? -
or
just hang the pump from a rope and use a flexible hose for the water?

Thanks

Roger


If the last section of galvanised pipe lasted twenty years whats wrong with
some more of the same?

"John" wrote in message
...
If the last section of galvanised pipe lasted twenty years whats wrong
with
some more of the same?

I like the thought of "permanence" (house has been there for a couple of
centuries, & apparently there was a pele tower there before that). I don't
want to be wondering in years to come whether it's all rusted away!

Roger

"Roger Moss" wrote in message
...
"John" wrote in message
...
If the last section of galvanised pipe lasted twenty years whats wrong
with
some more of the same?

I like the thought of "permanence" (house has been there for a couple of
centuries, & apparently there was a pele tower there before that). I
don't
want to be wondering in years to come whether it's all rusted away!

Roger

I can appreciate your desire for permanence, but I presume you also want
cost effective! You could end up with a pump that's rusted away on the end
of a permanent pipe! Pumps (and wells) are engineering not architecture -
they expect tlc and regular maintenance.

Galvanised steel pipes are fairly normal for putting submersible pumps down
holes. I certainly wouldn't use copper. Putting a pump down on plastic pipe
is also fairly common, in a shallow well the mechanical strength of a
plastic pipe is likely to be acceptable, in deeper wells plastic may not be
strong enough to support the pump and its pipework. A problem with plastic
pipe is how to make up the joints - as you need to be able to extract the
pump for maintenance - but as your well is shallow handling a 4 metre length
of pipe is probably acceptable.

I can't see anything other than properly engineered flexible hose giving you
the long life you would require (think stretch, think connection
corrosion) - something like
http://www.flexiblepipelines.co.uk/w...llmaster.shtml
would do, but I have no idea what it will cost.

If your well is really only 4 metres deep you could use a surface mounted
suction pump, which would make a plastic rising main much easier to engineer
(although I somehow doubt it will last 100s of years).

Andy McKenzie