Any well pump experts? I had a thought...

[ncowan]

So I had a thought about my well pump. I'm in the process of trying to get my cabin On Grid right now, and while I'm building an off-grid solar for the cabin itself, that won't run my well pump. If I wanted to be able to run my well pump I'd have to get a 48v AGM or FLA 8-12 battery (4s/2-3p - $$$$) battery bank (because freezing!) a 6kw Low Frequency Split Phase inverter ($$!!$$), a 48v MPPT controller ($$) and a stack of panels ($$$) to get the 2500Wh a day I need (on average) just to run the 300ft deep 2500w 240v well pump. That's "Real Money" and I have cats to feed.

So I had a thought about rigging up a mechanical positive displacement pump in parallel with a big flywheel and some sort of gearbox/bicycle setup outside to pump up the pressure tanks (see doodle) on pedal power. Since the whole system takes about 10-15 minutes to do it's initial tank charge and water line fill (bleeding the air and such) and then only runs for about 5-6 minutes to recharge the tanks when they're drawn down (not a LOT of water usage) it only actually runs for 30-45 minutes a day on average. Currently I just fire up the big generator and power it that way but that's a lot of starting and stopping.

This whole idea can be killed really easy with 1 question though and that's why I'm hoping someone here has some extensive knowledge of how well pumps work. Can I "Suck" water 300ft up the pipe through the existing pump? I.E. will the water get past the impeller and such down at the bottom of the well or will the pump itself stop any water from getting through the pipe if the pump itself isn't running?

I just installed a new controller box and the pump house sits over the well head Sheet Pipes Egypt(see photo) so replacing the pump is pretty much a No-Go without moving the entire pump house (8x16) up and over the head and leaving it exposed to the elements.

Or is my crack habit flaring up again?

I'm having water pressure issues. Well pressure is reading 12psi. I checked the well tank and it good at 38 psi. I put a multimeter to the pump switch and for a 230V unit it's at about 238. I'm guessing that the pump is going bad.

If I have to replace the well pump I assume the one I have to one of those slender submersible styles given the size of the pipe coming up. Picture attached. Can I "easily" swap this out for one of the cast iron pumps? I'm looking at a 1HP Everbilt convertible Jet pumps, any problems with going with this style?

Also, is it better if I swap things out to PVC pipe and drop that down with a foot valve?

 

[Rednecktek]

You can't replace a submersible pump with a jet pump unless your well is really really shallow. Jet pumps don't have the lift for a deep well, ypou've got to get the pump down in there to get the water lifted up and out.

Stick with the poly pipe as you can get your entire run in 1 pipe rather than having to do 20ft, glue, coupling, wait for cure time, next piece, rinse, repeat.

 

[SupraSPL]

If your well is shallow enough (less than 25ft) , jet pumps can lift using just suction from a single suction line. If it is deeper (25-80ft in theory) the jet pump has to use 2 lines, one to jet water down into the well which helps the lift into the suction line. That is a very inefficient way to pump water which is fine on grid but off grid that's a bunch of extra equipment or a generator.

So it's is much better to use a submersible pump in that case and in particular a brushless DC pump which will have soft start and very high efficiency.

OP Is rain water and option? If so you can pump from rain barrels/tote with a $60 12V RV pump, on demand or with a pressure tank.