About Well Pumps
Simply put, a water well pump is a type of pump that is used to draw, or extract, water from a water well. There are different kinds of pumps for different kinds of uses, and different kinds of wells. The following article discusses two of the most popular types: submersible pumps and jet pumps.
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Well Pumps For Shallow and Deep Wells
by Anthony J. Howell
Hauling water used to be a daily chore that was required if anyone was going to bathe or wash the dishes. This was a process that was often laborious; water was sometimes carried for over a mile. After a while, the water didn’t have to be transported from a nearby stream or river. The water was eventually able to be pumped by hand, directly into the house. Today, well pumps transport water automatically when the faucet is turned on.
City water is maintained by the local water company and many neighbors will share the same water source. This means, if one person is without water pressure, then the person next door is most likely going to be without as well. Houses in rural settings usually have their own well available for personal use. This well is ran by an electric pump and it is the responsibility of the house owner to keep it running. There are times when it gets clogged, struck by lightning, or the motor quits working.
The location of the house will often determine the depth of the well. A house located in a low lying area will often be able to have a shallow well. Houses placed on a hill top will have to drill deeper to reach the water table, which can be expensive.
No matter if the well is deep or shallow, there are filtering systems attached to the well pump. This filter will take out excess lime, silt, sand, or any other debris that isn’t desirable and likely to ruin the pump.
Jet pumps are commonly used on shallow wells, but they can also work on deeper wells. 25 feet deep or less is considered to be a shallow well and there isn’t a lot of pressure needed to draw water up this amount of footage. The jet pump works like a straw, in that is sucks the water up the pipes with the help of atmospheric pressure. A one-way valve is placed on these pumps so the water isn’t pulled from the well back into the ground. Priming needs to be performed on these pumps before they will work.
Water is added to the pump, in order to set the pressure at the right amount needed for the pump to work. In rocky areas where the water table is below all the rock, either an altered jet pump or a submersible pump can be used.
The submersible pump is a long cylinder that has a sealed motor in the bottom of it and it connects to wires that are above the ground. This type of pump is extremely reliable and doesn’t need much maintenance.
A build-up of sediment can clog well pumps to the point where they quit working completely. There are many filtering systems available to keep this damage from occurring. Maintaining proper faucet and toilet function will extend the life of the pump as well. A leaky faucet is the quickest way to burn up the motor on a well pump.
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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