Down in the bottom of our irrigation well is an accumulation of sand. Our irrigation pump objects to this. Something about irritating and not meant for this kind of thing and I'm going to give up soon if you keep making me do this. Now its not to say that a person should always listen to what an irrigation pump says - they're whiny at the best of times. However, we do want the thing to keep running all year, so we felt that a little consideration was in order.
How do you get the sand out of the bottom of a 16' well? Descending into the well on a ladder got vetoed. Too dangerous, and the well is half full of water anyways. I spent far too much time obsessed with the idea of a long handled shovel-like device. Guy pointed out some flaws with the idea. Long enough handles aren't plentiful and they're hard to maneuver at the bottom of a well.
We tried a small, air powered diaphragm pump, but it didn't like sand either. The larger particles tended to clog the intake valve. The obvious answer is a settling tank before the pump. Guy plumbed up a 5 gallon bucket for the purpose, but the poor little pump couldn't lift the water all the way up the draw pipe, through the bucket and out. The bucket and pump had to be lowered down the well. The bucket needed stones in it so it would sink. It also needed reinforcement so that the sides wouldn't cave in under the pressure. We did get some sand out that way. Honestly. I forgot to take a picture of the whole apparatus, but do note the big metal tripod over the well in the picture below. That's a hint.
Eventually we ran short on local volunteers so we resorted to renting this beast:
We tried a small, air powered diaphragm pump, but it didn't like sand either. The larger particles tended to clog the intake valve. The obvious answer is a settling tank before the pump. Guy plumbed up a 5 gallon bucket for the purpose, but the poor little pump couldn't lift the water all the way up the draw pipe, through the bucket and out. The bucket and pump had to be lowered down the well. The bucket needed stones in it so it would sink. It also needed reinforcement so that the sides wouldn't cave in under the pressure. We did get some sand out that way. Honestly. I forgot to take a picture of the whole apparatus, but do note the big metal tripod over the well in the picture below. That's a hint.
Eventually we ran short on local volunteers so we resorted to renting this beast:
It's a gas powered trash pump - specially designed for things like sandy wells. It took a little effort to prime. We filled the pump with water, wondered why it wasn't pumping, filled the green intake hose with water, tried again, tried again with both the hose and the pump topped up, then with the outlet hose disconnected, and finally it ran (a few attempts omitted for brevity's sake).
Nice sandy water.A pump this size draws the water in the well down pretty fast. The flow then decreases and the sand stops flowing. After a few sessions we got a little sand out. It should be good for a couple of years.
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