what electric shallow well pump do we need? and other questions...

Now that the rains have stopped we are focused again on getting a pump for the old house well.

It is in a fairly nice insulated well built pump house with lots of shelves as though it might have also been a pantry/root cellar maybe.

The well is 34' with 6" casing.

The distance to the water during the wet season was 10' so 24' of water max.

We want as simple and good quality a pump as possible that will pump from the well through 150' of hoses to our gardens....the distance is flat.

needs to be for potable water both for the garden and possible use in the house.

the pump will only be running when we are watering or filling a container for the house.

pressure needs... it might be I'd want to use a sprinkler but more likely just water by hand.

I have a thread specifically for sprinkler pumps with helpful answers but the more we've looked into pumps in general the more confusing it gets. https://permies.com/t/179996/Sprinkler-pumps-shallow-pumps-irrigation

Given the shallow depth, I think a simple jet pump setup would do the job. It's an above-ground impeller pump. These will last for a decade or two. Anyone reasonably handy could set one up.

Do you have a pressure tank already in place? Jet pumps are available with small ones attached as a complete system, but with a larger capacity tank the electrical use tends to be less.

What electrical source do you have in the pump shed?

thanks Douglas!

We do not have a pressure tank nor any thing needed to set up a pump yet although we had the pump house rewired to a separate breaker and there is an outlet and a light...120V  

We've been pulling water up by hand with a rope, pulley and two gallon long narrow well bucket just to see what's there...at 100 gallons we gave out before the well a few times.

Will start looking at jet pumps.

A jet pump can run on 120V. Make sure you get one with a dual voltage motor that can be rewired from 240V to 120V. It's a simple job.

we're looking at stainless pumps at this site...
https://burcam.com/product/shallow-well-stainless-steel-jet-pump-with-pressure-tank/

anyone familiar with this company?

Have you heard of using an air compressor to pump water from a well?
The air is pushed down a pipe and as it comes up it brings water with it.
I saw it on FRYTV called an airlift waterpump:
https://www.youtube.com/@frytvnow/search?query=airlift%20water

Judith Browning wrote:we're looking at stainless pumps at this site...
https://burcam.com/product/shallow-well-stainless-steel-jet-pump-with-pressure-tank/

anyone familiar with this company?

Product Details
The BURCAM 3/4 HP, 115/230V stainless steel jet pump and 7 US Gal (506537SS), 16 US Gal (506548SS) and 21 US Gal (506541SS) tanks systems are designed for residential applications to deliver potable water to the home, cottage or farm.  Its stainless steel body is large, easy to prime, and delivers clean rust-free water.  The 3/4 HP, dual voltage 115V/230V, 60 Hz, totally enclosed fan cooled motor has thermal and overload protection.  The pump can deliver a maximum pressure of 65 PSI, but comes preassembled with a 30/50 PSI pressure switch.  The steel tank has a synthetic butyl rubber bladder for reliability and long lifespan. The maximum vertical suction lift is 25 feet and the capacity is up to 900 US GPH.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The BURCAM 3/4 HP, 115/230V stainless steel jet pump and 7 US Gal (506547SS) and 16 US Gal (506538SS) tanks systems are designed for residential applications to deliver potable water to the home, cottage or farm.  Its stainless steel body is large, easy to prime, and delivers clean rust-free water.  The 3/4 HP, dual voltage 115V/230V, 60 Hz, totally enclosed fan cooled motor has thermal and overload protection.  The pump can deliver a maximum pressure of 65 PSI, but comes preassembled with a 30/50 PSI pressure switch.  The stainless steel tank has a synthetic butyl rubber bladder for reliability and long lifespan. The maximum vertical suction lift is 25 feet and the capacity is up to 900 US GPH.

The name has certainly been around a long time. I haven't used their pumps so I can't comment on quality.

The all-in-one design (pump, tank, pressure switch, pressure gauge) is certainly convenient. All that's needed is an inlet pipe with foot valve (check valve) to keep the pump primed, outlet pipe with shutoff valve, and the electrical connection.

We're almost ready to go for the one I linked to above BUT I'm having second thoughts about 'losing' that last 9' of water.

The distance to the water from the floor of the pump house is 10'.
The water itself is 24' deep so a total of 34' meaning we won't be able to use that last 9' of water?
I can see not touching 2' or 3' at the bottom in order to not stir up any silt.

So, I'm wondering what problems might be caused by pushing the limits and trying for another 5'.  total of 30' rather than 25'?

I did look into submersibles for deeper wells...seems like a big jump though, especially cost!

That looks like a self priming centrifugal pump as we call them.
They can draw water vertically about  23-26 feet only.
If using electricity, a submersible pump may be the best.
I use them here in tanks etc to transfer water

I don't think you will have trouble putting the pipe deeper. I certainly ran pipe much deeper than 25' on my old well.

My understanding is that the maximum vertical lift refers to the *top* surface of the water in the well.

The wildcard here is how quickly your well replenishes itself -- how many gallons per minute it can produce without running dry. It would be nice to test that before buying equipment.

thanks Douglas!
replenishing speed is what we were hoping to get a clue to with the well bucket but have not put in the time yet.  
The well was plumbed to the house and was in use for 25 years  until there was municipal water.  Water use was probably minimal but they had a flush toilet.  I'm guessing the washer came after city water.

John C Daley wrote:That looks like a self priming centrifugal pump as we call them.
They can draw water vertically about  23-26 feet only.
If using electricity, a submersible pump may be the best.
I use them here in tanks etc to transfer water

thanks John!

it does say it's self priming...does just the water depth count for the vertical draw or the total distance to the pump?

If you are not using the water as the house supply, then the pump you displayed will be ok.
You have a 10 foot lift now that is very manageable, if flow reduces during pump turn the tap down.
Are you using a large diameter hose for that 150' I would have at least 1 inch poly pipe over that distance.

My understanding is that we have a 35' foot lift
10 feet from ground level to the surface of the water (static level) and another 25 feet of water....so, total depth, we are 10 feet past the maximum lift for the jet pump I linked to above.

So I'm looking into this one https://burcam.com/product/convertible-cast-iron-jet-pump-with-pressure-tank/

it's iron rather than stainless.

Ideal for a deep well application. Recommended for home, cottage, and farm applications. Can be use in a shallow well application at max 25ft of lift or deep well application at max 70ft of lift ( with 2 pipes and the nozzle in the well).

Product Details
The BURCAM 506327 cast iron convertible jet pump and 7 US Gallon tank system is designed for residential applications to deliver potable water with a maximum vertical lift of 70 feet to the home, cottage or farm. This pump can be used either in a shallow well application with a maximum vertical lift of 25 feet, or in a deep well application (with the ejector in the well) for a maximum lift of 70 feet.  The 1/2 HP, dual voltage 115/230V, totally enclosed fan-cooled motor, bearing to bearing, is equipped with automatic thermal and overload protection and a full-time run capacitor.  The large cast iron body is easy to prime. The pump can deliver a maximum pressure of 65 PSI, but comes assembled with a 30/50 PSI pressure switch. The pump also includes a 0-100 PSI pressure gauge.   The epoxy-coated steel tank has a synthetic butyl rubber bladder for reliability and long lifespan. There is neither water-air contact nor water-tank contact.  The system is assembled for quick and easy setup with a 1-inch NPT connection.  The capacity is up to 805 US GPH (shallow well application) and 650 US GPH (deep well application).  Drawdown for the tank is 1.9 US gallons (at 30/50 PSI).  

yesterday Steve lifted 100 two gallon well buckets from the well and at about 75 the level was not going down anymore.  It took just a few hours to recover.

We had a lot of rain this spring and into the summer so water table is probably still high.
Watering a bit every day should work fine.

The well casing is iron.

I think we are talking about different things.
Here are some clearer details
The theoretical maximum lift for a pump using suction is limited by atmospheric pressure, typically around 10.3 meters (33.9 feet).
This limit is due to the fact that pumps create a vacuum, and the atmosphere pushes water up to fill that void. In reality, friction losses in the suction line,
water temperature, and altitude can reduce the achievable lift.

In your case consider a lower capacity pump [ gallons  per hour as the well pump with float levels in a storage tank.
install that tank somewhere with a second pump connected to the reticulation system you have.