Hello,

We bought a new home with a shallow well that we'd like to use for the yard. The old crappy 1/2 hp consumer grade jet pump was junk. I'd love to be able to just drop something cheap in place and start watering the lawn. I think long term I might want to change it out for a submersible. I also plan to do irrigation with this well. I don't yet know the output capacity of the well, as it hasn't been used in years. We do live across the street from a river, so I'm hoping it's got a great output.

I had a well guy out when I couldn't get this thing to prime and he was very good, indeed, but also very expensive. It would cost my for a pump + labor around $1k, possibly higher, so I'd like to at least research things a bit more on my own to see if maybe I could take a stab at this.

I'm monitoring CL for used jet pumps and if I come across something I'd like to clean up the piping at the pump, installing whatever the recommended configuration would be.

So ... could you help me design the layout of the pump installation, and/or point me to good resources that explain these things for a non-water flow expert?

For instance, I like the quick release hose hookup they put on this pump (it's in the barn) so it can be primed with the house hose. Is that still necessary if I find a "self priming" pump? Where should I put shutoffs? What about a pressure guage? (there's one now, but a) it's in a wierd place and b) it's old and defective). What about an output on the output side, instead of just going to the copper piping on the barn wall?

So ... I guess I'm looking for a good example of every plumbing segment that I should "wire up" to give me a decent, maintainable setup.

More details:

The well has a resevoir (old brick well).
It's 90 ' from the pump, using black 1 1/4" plastic tube that runs parallel through the foundation of the barn.
The water level is 6' 6" from below the ground and is a little over 8' in depth.


Thank you!

Todd N Beaulieu