posted 6 years ago
>reduce inlet pipe diameter
That's not my understanding how hydraulics works. For a large pipe, the _weight_ of the water in the pipe would be greater if you weighted the pipe and the water - but the _pressure_ would be the same, for the same height in the pipe, no matter the diameter of the pipe.
If you have 12' water sitting in the well, you might be able to get more pressure by pumping from 10' off the bottom instead of from the very bottom. But the well would need to replenish as fast as you pumped because there would be only 2' of draw down before you ran out of water.
"Fresh water: 0.43 psi per foot Sea water: 0.44 psi per foot. So, for each additional 10 feet of depth, figure about 4.3 to 4.4 psi increase in pressure. You can calculate this yourself by using the fact that fresh water weighs about 62.4 pounds per cubic foot (pcf) and sea water weighs about 64 pcf.Oct 27, 2009"
This is a standard hydronic heating calculation because pressure in the system needs to be maintained as low as possible while still reaching the top floors of the building. Eg. 12psi, the default setting for most residential boiler feed regulators, will keep the system happy to about 20', two stories. Doesn't depend on pipe size at all.
Seems like you would get better results with a stronger pump (more head capacity) and/or a larger pressure tank at the top.
Rufus