Anyone know much about well pumps?

[williamsak91]

Have a question in regards to my current well pump. I don’t know much about them so if you could break it down Barney style I have a well pump (I believe it’s a shallow jet pump) aka not the submersible kind. I live in “the low country” so the water table is pretty high or whatever. But anyways, the well house I have, that contains the well pump head and tank, is a clear obstruction to my driveway and I was wondering if I could dig down a few feet, add an elbow onto it and essentially move the well house with the pump head and tank and all over by about 30 feet. Is this even possible? What things and possible issues should I take into consideration? I know all the electrical side so that’s easy for me to do, I just don’t know the operating principle exactly of how well pumps work. If anyone could enlighten me, that would be much appreciated.


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[Maverick]

So you are using a shallow well pump? meaning your well is 25' slightly more or less? using an 1/2hp motor and you probably get about 10gpm from this well?

 

[williamsak91]

So you are using a shallow well pump? meaning your well is 25' slightly more or less? using an 1/2hp motor and you probably get about 10gpm from this well?

Yea more or less


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[TexasFreedom]

Mav,
Yes, that's basically it. He has a pump at ground level, likely the pressure tank right next to it.

I don't think it would be an issue to run the line laterally "some". 30 ft? Not sure about that. The key is going to be that you need to fill all of that line with water to get the pump 'primed'. But once it's full, it should work about the same. The pump works harder the more vertical it needs to pull, but horizontal has very little load.

Of course another option is to just drill a new hole. But 5 ft vs 20 ft are two different things.

Of course the line needs to be run below the frost line. And any leaks will cause constant problems. But this should be just fine.