Commercial water heater in home

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If it is deep enough to be using a submersible, you can't use a suction pump at the top -- you would need a moving pump rod going down to the piston and valves down at the bottom. (Anything over about 30 feet deep, at least.) Even with perfect seals all the way down from a suction pump to the water you could pump all day at say 33 feet and not get the water to come out. You would simply build a vacuum in the top end of the pipe. :-)

Understood.

Enjoy, DoN.

I'm scratching my head over what a vent provides in a well. To allow the level of the water to rise and fall, perhaps? My vent is plugged with a 1/2" pipe cap, as are others I've seen.

No, I can't. The existing pipe hole is centered. I need a couple off-centered holes, plus one for the wiring.

I have a split type like this:

There isn't room for an additional 1"+ pipe. The guys at the irrigation supply asked if I had a liner. I don't know yet because it means I'll have to:

1- Shut the power and water off and remove the union. 2- Loosen the seal and get a jack to lift the existing seal out along with the submersible pump, pipe, wiring, and safety rope. 3- Remove the top fittings and replace the seal with the new one, once I've measured all the goodies and found a new one, which may be a real problem...

I'm waiting for a nice spring day to try this, but it's high on my list of things to do.

I'm sure these are easily had at the well supply place, but they'll certainly want $400 for a $30 cap/seal. Effem!

Here's a sample pump the style I'm building.

It's a pressure-style, Don. Raise the handle and it pulls water in the bottom via the foot valve. PUsh the handle down and the check valve in the center pipe stops the water, pushing it through the pipe. That beats the 30' rule for vacuum lock. Simple and effective for up to several hundred feet, depending on leverage. Mine will be down about 40', in case my 26' level drops during a drought. (which we were in but are getting lots or rain right now.)

And everybody smelled pretty ripe by Friday :-)

When I was a soldier in Europe I discovered that wasn't so bad for cold, dry living spaces in winter. We spent two weeks in tents on a snowy mountaintop radio relay site in December and weren't particularly offensive when we were trucked en mass to a Kaserne for a shower at the end of the exercise.

The reason for the vent is that I have a plastic tube that runs down into the water to show the level. This tube should be connected to a pressure gauge but is not now. Anyway, I didn't know how a sealed well would affect the pressure reading of the gauge and it was a simple matter to tap the cap for the air filter. BTW, regarding e coli in the water, the lab where I send my water sample said the test fo coliform bacteria is so sensitive it will detect contamination from something as small as a spider. It is not specific though. So the coliform bacteria could be harmless to humans. Or not. The point is that if even this tiny amount can be detected, and none is, your well is probably not containing surface water or other contaminants, such as septic water from a drainfield. My water pipe does not come out of the top of the well casing, but instead goes out of the side. Below ground level. Eric

Try working for a living :-)

When I was a lad I remember seeing people working in the woods stripped down to their long underwear tops and the sweat running down their face. That leaves you a bit odorous :-)