i have an underground well and pump on my land it was put in the 70's i want to know the gernal design of it

Question

i have an underground well and pump on my land it was put in the 70's i want to know the gernal design of it i am pretty sure the pump it at the bottom of the well but i would like to know what some of the gernal designs and names of them when they were put in in the 70s because i want to know how mine operates if you look it up on the web please list the site.

the guy who put it in is dead

Answer 1

You can ask for a water well survey from the USGS.

If the well was registered, then it would have some specific information such as depth, installation dates, well screen intervals, gallons per day, etc...

Answer 2

If you've got wires and a tube coming up out of the well shaft, it's a pump at the bottom of the well. You'll also often have a rope that does down into the well to let you pull up the pump for servicing (although finding a spot to stretch out 100-600 feet of 3" black tubing in a long line usually makes this a serious pain in the ***).

Various brands are sold, all use similar concepts. You might find a brand seal on the pump controller, get information from the pump installer (even back 30+ years!) or just make a good guess based on pipe diameter, flow rates, the amps of current the pump pulls, and known well depth.

Early windmill pumps used a series of rods and one-way seals (like a bike pump) to pull the water up incrementally. Priming a pump was literally to wet those seals. But those are rarely used for domestic wells and I've never seen one electrified.

Answer 3

As already mentioned, if there is a pipe, hopefully black plastic, and wires going into the well, then you have a submerged pump. My advice is to find out just how deep the well is, and pull the pump back up about 5 feet. That will keep mud and sand out of the pump, and your water system. Pumps of then, and now, are cascade centrifugal pumps. Pressures range from about 30 PSI and up, water capacity in GPH range from 5 and up to about 30, possibly a little higher. If the pump is a submerged type, your well is most likely a 6 inch well, with a 4 inch pump. That pump will be about 4 inches diameter, and about 18 to 24 inches long.