Simple Pump. 4-inch wells and pitless adaptors.

4” Wells and Pitless Adaptors

Note that clearance past a pitless adaptor can be an issue for well casings 4-5" in diameter, but not for 6” or larger casings.

This is a special advantage of the Simple Pump. Most competitor hand pumps cannot be installed beside a submersible in the same well.

Is there room in my 4” well for a Simple Pump? I have a submersible with pitless adaptor

We need 1-3/4" access to get the Simple Pump pipe past a pitless that is configured with a submersible. Some pitless models do not leave enough room within a 4" casing for the Simple Pump to access the water.

In the common 4" schedule 40 casing, there are three conditions you need to satisfy:

1. You will need to use a 6-8 foot piece of 1" pipe, with an 1-3/4" diameter fitting on one end, to see if you can get past the pitless. 1-3/4" is the minimum diameter clearance needed.
2. The pressure discharge from your submersible must be no larger than the usual 1-1/4" nominal piping.
3. And the butt couplers must be stainless steel (more common). The more bulky galvanized or brass couplers are too bulky.

If these three conditions are satisfied, installation in a 4" casing will be fine. No other pump we know of offers this capability.

Should I tie in to my existing pitless or pump out the well cap?

Connecting to your existing underground line from your pitless adaptor requires substantially more work than exiting from the well cap.

If you do wish to go that route, the piping from the Simple Pump pitless is always tied into the pressure discharge piping from the submersible at or very close to the well head.  A separate line from the well casing to the house for the Simple Pump pressure discharge is not necessary.

To avoid digging, many customers buy the check valve and gauge that allows them to hook a garden hose from the Simple Pump discharge nipple to a yard hydrant, or spigot on the outside wall of the house, or to the drain in the area of the pressure tank. No digging, but still affords power outage back-up. You simply need to detach the hose from the pump outlet each time you fill your tank, so air can get in and allow the water in the pump to descend below freezing level, by exiting through the weep hole at 48”.

Can the Simple Pump work through my existing pipes and pitless adaptor?

The pipe from the submersible is just that - a pipe.  The submersible pushes water up.  When it reaches the pitless, it does a right-angle bend, goes out through the side of the casing and runs underground to your house. The pitless is, essentially, just a joint that redirects the water ninety degrees and fastens securely to the side of the casing.

The Simple Pump is a completely separate system, alongside your submersible.  We can't, somehow, use the submersible pipe because our pipe is not JUST a hollow pipe - it contains a mechanism that connects the lever arm at the top to the pump piston and cylinder at the bottom.

So, there needs to be some way to get the water in the Simple Pump drop pipe out through the side of the casing. That way is our specially engineered pitless which allows pumping from the top while diverting the water sideways. This is essential to the operation. So even if someone could do the "surgery" inside a well casing, we couldn't tie into that existing pitless.  We have to take the water out with OUR pitless. Once it is taken sideways outside the well casing, the pipe can then easily be joined up, with a T junction, with the pipe coming from the submersible, so one pipe continues underground to your house. Each branch of the T has a one-way check valve, so the operating pump doesn't pump water DOWN the other branch to the other pump.