well pump question?

[toy4xfun]

my well line is leaking down the well casing some where, i can hear it but i can not see where it is leaking, i used a 2 million candle power spot light, i am going to have to pull it to find the leak, my question is the company that did the well originally did not put the gpm on the bottom of the well cover so how can i find what the rated gpm is?

 

[KLF]

Of the well or the pump?

Do you know who the driller was? Can you just call them?

How old is the well? Most states require the driller to register them in a database now, so they can track depths and usage. There may be something at the state where you can look up all the info on the well ie: depth, flow test results, pump installed, etc.

 

[toy4xfun]

thanks KLF. i am looking for the info on the well.

i know all the info onn my septic system i got through the county so maybe they have the well info too.

the house was built in 1979, i do not know when the well was drilled or do i know who drilled it.

 

[AJP]

Likely the data you're looking for is on the pump. If you can't see the leak then probably not coming from the pitless adapter (but may wish to replace this anyway) A faulty check valve may be one culprit or a split line. The anti torque collars are "supposed" to help reduce stress on the pipe. How deep is the well?

 

[toy4xfun]

the well is probably 300' the pump is about 275' down, i know what the pump is rated for, i need what the well its self is rated, to see if i can up the GPM.

when i pulled it out after a lightning strike back in the 90's water was 3/4 the way up the pipe.

 

[Thornton]

What horsepower pump do you have now? Have you ever pumped your well dry? My well is at 200' and I've got a 1/2 hp pump. My neighbor decided to up his to 1 hp and within a year went back to a 1/2 hp pump. Too much torque. I allways thought that the size of the pump was more decided on how deep the well was.
By the way, where in the valley are you? Right now I'm at a job in Staunton, it's beautiful thru here

 

[1911]

Most states require the driller to register them in a database now, so they can track depths and usage. There may be something at the state where you can look up all the info on the well ie: depth, flow test results, pump installed, etc.

+1, both states where I own property with water wells (TX & NM) have this data available on-line.

 

[Pebble Pup]

To determine your well rating (or how many gpm your well can produce), you would have to do a pump test. Typically, the driller will do an abbreviated test after completing the well, so the pump in their should be sized about right.

Pump size is a factor of aquifer conditions (i.e. how much water it can produce) and well depth.

Another consideration would be a cost to benefit ratio. By upping your hp, you could just be wasting money and not get any benefit. Larger pumps use more power and if you have a small holding tank, my cycle more which would shorten it's life.

 

[splitshot]

If you have a reputable pump company, let them do the rating legwork.

 

[toy4xfun]

look i have a half horse, rated at 5 GPM, i do not want to up the horse power, i would like to up the GPM.

the addition of my wife,s gardens and a pool tax this pump bad, and from what i read the deeper the well, the less gpm you actually get. but that said, it does not look like financially we are going this rout right now.

but i still would like to know what the well is rated. the well company that drilled it is well out of business, and they did not stamp the cover.i wonder if this info would be on our deed? i guess i will dig it out and see.

 

[toy4xfun]

i should have known better when it got hit buy lightning it did not hurt the pump, after i replaced the pump, i found a sub panel that the well was feed from, the lightning came back through the panel and blew the buss out around the breaker. it was a federal pacific panel, it is now a square D QO. but the pump (it was a goulds) was still good, i tried it the a few years ago when a buddies pump went bad and it was locked up,

 

[1911]

look i have a half horse, rated at 5 GPM, i do not want to up the horse power, i would like to up the GPM.

It won't do any good to increase the rate of the pump if the well won't produce more, as a matter of fact it will harm the pump to run it dry if the well can't keep up. The pump doesn't suck any more out of the aquifer, it can only pump what enters the well bore and sits in the bottom.

 

[toy4xfun]

It won't do any good to increase the rate of the pump if the well won't produce more, as a matter of fact it will harm the pump to run it dry if the well can't keep up. The pump doesn't suck any more out of the aquifer, it can only pump what enters the well bore and sits in the bottom.

that is why i want to know the well rating, in this county they drill the well and that is it, so if the op decided that a well pump that could put out more was too expensive then he bought a cheaper pump. i am not going to put more pump than my well can handle. my neighbor is on the same aquifer and his system does not poo out like ours. i know he is on the same one as we are because he refinanced and they made him get his water tested and they told him to put Clorox in his well, and our water smelled like chlorine for a week.

 

[toy4xfun]

i live in the lower Shenandoah Valley, actually i live in Avon Bend, it is named after the bend in the river i am up stream from Harpers Ferry.

What horsepower pump do you have now? Have you ever pumped your well dry? My well is at 200' and I've got a 1/2 hp pump. My neighbor decided to up his to 1 hp and within a year went back to a 1/2 hp pump. Too much torque. I allways thought that the size of the pump was more decided on how deep the well was.
By the way, where in the valley are you? Right now I'm at a job in Staunton, it's beautiful thru here

 

[AJP]

the well is probably 300' the pump is about 275' down, i know what the pump is rated for, i need what the well its self is rated, to see if i can up the GPM.

when i pulled it out after a lightning strike back in the 90's water was 3/4 the way up the pipe.

I apologize for misunderstanding your question. I assumed you wanted to know the pump rating.

1) If the well went in when the house was built (30 plus years ago) then any "rating" provided then would only by sheer coincidence have any bearing on what the well is delivering now. As Pebble Pup says ... you will have to do another pump test. ALSO unlikely the driller spent a lot of time checking (and rechecking.... and rechecking) the flow rate when the well was put in... they are usually in a hurry to "PUFO" so most tests are a guess (and a little anecdotal evidence from nearby wells/depths)

2) The fact that you have have water 3/4 way up the pipe after it stands for a while (eg after a power strike) is irrelevant. I have a well at 200+ feet that will recover to within 3 feet of the surface after a few hours ... but "was" only producing a crappy 1/2 to a gallon a minute when we initially tested.

3) Determining the pump size is an arcane science that is worth engaging an expert on as Splitshot suggests. But first do a proper check your sustained flow . Incidentally - I have considered hydrofracting my well - and may have to yet - but as I use it - it seems to increase what it can deliver. And I have doubled up on water tanks to ensure adequate capacity.

 

[toy4xfun]

i up graded my pressure tank to an 80 gallon tank a few years ago. that helped out a lot.

 

['74 UA FJ]

Pump the water to an above ground tank large enought to get all of the gpm you want....

 

[Pebble Pup]

I did some research on how to determine the output potential of a well, and basically, there is no easy DIY way using a single speed pump. One would need to use a variable speed pump and measure the flow rate and drawdown. Based on this info, there are some basic hydrology equations that can then be employed to estimate well production. But like I said, this approach is impractical with a single speed motor installed for production. Though you could disconnect the pump line from the pressure tank and pump the well while measuring the depth to ground water. If the water level doesn’t drop or stabilizes quickly, and then stays constant after several hours of production, then you would probably be fine upgrading to a ¾ or 1 hp motor.

Your best approach would be to call local well drillers and ask them if they installed any wells in your area, especially in the last couple of years. They would have had to do some basic well test and they will know what size of pumps people have. In short, this is the best DIY step to determine your wells potential.

Also, toy4xfun mentioned that they tasted chlorine in their water after the neighbor disinfected their well. This would imply that the neighbor’s well is upgradient and their production may impact the yield (over lapping cones of depression). Furthermore, if you know when they dumped the chlorine and when you first started to taste it, one could do a rough order of magnitude estimate on the hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer, which would be useful information.

In typing this, the other thought that occurred to me, is what kind of aquifer is the well completed in. If it is in limestone/dolomite/marble, then well production may not be an issue at all.

 

[wob]

PP is wicked smahht about wells.

 

['74 UA FJ]

Yeah, but that doesn't help toy4tards. He should take my advice and install a large holding tank and a pump downline of that....