Unusual Parameters and Needs

I only have a little water in my well. What do you recommend?

The difference of just ten feet between your static water level and the bottom of your well is unusually small. It leaves a very small buffer of water to pump that would be quickly exhausted if you had a modest recovery rate. (The recovery rate is the speed at which the well refills after pumping.)

Because there is so little margin of error for this well, it would be prudent to make quite sure about the depth. See the instructions for measuring depth on our site: http://www.simplepump.com/Support/Questions3-Depth.html.

You should also ask the person who drilled your well what the recovery rate is. With a recovery rate significantly higher than 3 GPM (which is the capacity of our of our smaller 100L pump), installing that model in your well would be workable, even with that very small buffer.

If that is not viable, another option is to drill the well deeper, at least 30 more feet.

Speaking with the driller, or someone else who understands your well, is critical to answer another question: Does the water table fluctuate significantly throughout the year? If the static water level is (as you say) 90 feet, but at the driest part of the year is 100, then you do not have a viable well at all, without further drilling. 

Pumphouse ceiling lower than length of drop pipes

“The drop pipe lengths are 9 feet but the roof to where my well is is shorter than that.  Are the pipes flexible enough to bend a little?  The roof is about 8 feet."

Yes, the drop pipes can flex a little. YOu can bend the 1" drop pipe to feed the well casing beneath an 8 foot ceiling. You will need another person tending to the safety tool when you do the bend. (The safety tool keeps the drop pipes secure, as you do the install. You’ll see how in the installation instructions.)

I have a Buried Tank

“I have a 550 gallon tank buried underground, not a well, would I be able to use your pump for this type of installation?”

Yes. You would be able to use our pump for this type of installation.

Details

The Simple Pump is a positive displacement progressive lift pump...sometimes referred to as a "sucker rod" pump.  The sucker rods provide the mechanical connection between the business end of the system that pumps from the bottom - (stainless pump cylinder with stainless ball and seat and PVC piston with stainless ball) - and the lever arm or 12V DC motor at the surface. The pump head to which either the lever arm or motor is attached must be positioned directly above the pump cylinder at the bottom. 

To make our pump work with an underground tank, it needs to anchor to a (cylindrical) well casing (2, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 inches diameter). Specifically, the pump head is attached to the cap, and the cap is affixed to a casing.

The well casing must be vertical from top (ground level) to tank, terminating at the top of the tank, or within it. The series of sucker rods connecting the top (pump head) to the bottom (pump cylinder) would extend into the tank, terminating very near its bottom, and ending with the pump cylinder.

For a 7" casing diameter

7" water well casings are very unusual, but they do exist. Here's what you need to know to make sure the diameter is accurate.

The water well industry standard is to specify diameter using INSIDE DIAMETER (ID). So, in your case, if you have a standard 7" pipe, the inner diameter (ID, measured from the inside edges of the pipe, viewed in cross section) would be 7". The outer diameter (OD, measured from outside edges of the pipe, in cross section) would be 7 5/8 (7.625) inches.

To really confuse things, the oil drilling industry measures the other way. So, if someone used an oil industry casing, a 7" casing would measure 7" OUTSIDE DIAMETER, that is, from outside edge to the other outside edge (in cross section)

We should mention that the worst case could require some custom machining. We can do this for you at a very moderate price - some tens of dollars, depending on the amount of work needed.

I have a low recovery rate

We have a standard rule of thumb, that works in most cases, for how much drop pipe to propose. The point of suction proposed here is positioned according to that rule, at 118.5 feet. However, we are concerned that, in this case, it may not be deep enough.

If the 125L is pumped at its maximum 5 GPM throughput for a period of time, you might end up sucking air. Your 2 GPM recovery rate means that, for every minute of pumping at maximum, the volume of water located above the point of suction is reduced by 3 gallons. If pumping is continued at maximum throughput, the pump will start sucking air in around 18 minutes.

Pumping air for any length of time can void our five-year warranty. When pumping air, after the seals disintegrate (which doesn't take an awful long time, when dry), the piston starts etching scratches into the precision-machined pump cylinder, rendering it, well, no longer precision-made.

There are several potential remedies. It may be that your well is a rather deep 540 feet precisely because the driller wanted to ensure that your submersible could be set to pump fast, but not run the well dry. He may have located the submersible several hundred feet down. Applying this same theory to this pump, more drop pipes could be added in order to create a bigger buffer of water.

For example, at the current 118.5 foot-depth for the point of suction, there is 38.5 feet of water above it. In a six-inch casing, this translates to about 56 gallons. If you move the suction point down 36 feet, to 154.5 feet, your buffer would be 109 gallons. Pumping at maximum throughput would have to be sustained for 53 minutes before starting to pump air. The cost of the extra drop pipe kits to achieve this added buffer would be $140.

Another approach would be to buy our 100L 3 GPM pump instead of the 125L. At its 3 GPM maximum, the pump would have to operate for about an hour at maximum throughput before sucking air. However, if your household's water needs are great, then more drop pipe is the better solution. That way, you can pump the gallons you need in less time.

Very Little Water in Well AND Low Recovery Rate

You have a 1 gpm recovery rate, as only 5 feet buffer between the static water level and bottom, and a 4" casing size where the water is. At about 2/3 gallon per linear foot, your buffer is around 3.33 gallons. That is, after pumping just 3.33 gallons out faster than the recovery rate can recharge the well, you will be pumping air.

Even our lower-capacity 100L will quickly exhaust this buffer. Pumping at capacity, you will exhaust the available buffer in less than two minutes. You will know to stop when you feel a change in the stroke indicating you are pumping air. With continued pumping at that point, premature wear to the piston and its seals is the likely result.

Clearly, to avoid this, your well needs to be dug farther down. We will be delighted to sell you a pump. However, our five-year warranty on the piston and its seals will be voided in such an application. We strongly recommend you dig a deeper well.