I recently purchased a house on a lake. The water system is comprised of a 1/2 HP Flotec jet pump (FP4012) on a bladder tank drawing water through a black pipe with a brass foot valve and pushing water through a garden hose to connect to the house. The pump, tank, pipe and hose are all exposed as the previous owner's didn't spend time there in the winter - they just unhooked and drained the pump and tank and put the whole thing in the shed.

This is not an option as we will be using the house year round. Living near Seattle, we don't get too many days below 32 degrees, but they happen often enough that I need to come up with an answer soon.

My home is approximately 10' above the lake water level and approximately 50' from the shoreline. I can get +12' deep by going out 60' from the shoreline.

I was planning on moving the pump and tank into an insulated enclosure attached to the house and burying the supply line. The problem is that I have lots of trees/roots in the line between my house's water line and the lake, so I am having trouble burying all the supply line.

As I have begun investigating, I have come across a system that utilizes a submersible pump that allows air to bleed into the exposed line, thus obviating the need to bury all of the line.

Should I switch to a submersible, or try to get through/beneath the roots? If submersible is the way to go, which pump and fittings should I use? Any design help would be appreciated.

If burying the line is best, what type of pipe and how large should I use for the supply line? I purchased 1 1/4" Sched 40 PVC for this purpose without knowing anything about water system design.

Also, is the strainer on the brass foot valve sufficient or should I install a Kleen-Flo or similar filter?

Thanks.

Andy

P.S. Wells don't work in this area. Many have tried and failed.