Well water versus city water depends on the quality of both and in most cases is six of one, half dozen of another. As far as emitters, high flow emitters generally will result in the water not watering evenly as it just runs through the pot. A couple solutions are use lower flow emitters for a longer time period or use emitters that disperse water over a greater area such as the misters or mini sprinklers (inverted types). Another solution is to add more drip type emitters (of lower flow). Example, a 1gph emitter delivers the flow you want, but not the coverage. Use 2 1/2 gph emitters. It does take some experimentation to get things dialed in the way you want. For larger pots you might prefer the drip hoses with emitters prebuilt in with 6" spacing. Wrap them around the pot to get a more even dispersal of water. Also keep in mind that just because the surface isn't evenly wet this doesn't mean a couple inches below the surface the same is true. The water tends to fan out horizontally as it goes downward.

The well is located in a pump house (it's got its own shed). The well is VERY old and is a non-standard diameter. It has a wooden board over the well, which I guess serves as its cap, but it needs to be properly capped with a custom fabricated cap. The water is very hard and typical of the area - high in iron, mostly with some sulphur and fluoride mixed in. I've heard from other people that the water is very churned up from the 4x normal rain we received in such a short time. If this is the cause, then we'll likely see this settle down. We know we need to replace the tank, but we also are wondering if we need to upgrade other items as well. The well guy told me our pump wasn't enough to power the sprinklers, but the pump is as old as the current house, so we know this passed building inspection. After our current pump went out and we had no water, I purchased an exact replacement for the current pump (except of course, the new pump is much more energy efficient). The well guy didn't call us back for 2 weeks (long after my husband cleaned out the old pump and got the water back on). I've spoken to 2 well guys and I'm not impressed with either of them. What is a pressure tank? I only have the big storage tank. The water supply to the house is standard and I'm definitely not digging up the driveway to replace it. I believe the sediment is coming from the redwood tank and not the well since there is only screening around the top 1 ft or so (it has a plywood 'cap' which is also on its last legs). Inside the pump house I have a jerry rigged mess of pvc and stainless pipes. It looks like patchwork has been done for many decades. We're in process of getting a permit to renovate and add on to the house and I'm trying to get a budget and an idea of what needs to be done. So far, no dice on finding a decent well guy, but I'll keep trying.

Let's start with water analysis. Gather water reports and get your water tested. It matters not one whit what Ms. Brokovich says - analysis and facts matter. Fort Worth gets its water from the Tarrant Regional Water District, which does not treat water at all - all treatment is at the wholesale customer side (you water treatment facility). All a chlorine burn means is that the system is periodically, temporarily, switched from chloramines to chlorine as a method to kill bacteria which may be resistant to chloramines or in greater number due to excess runoff. This is fairly typical for surface water sources. Free chlorine levels are still required to fall within specific, safe guidelines, but you will notice a difference in taste and odor - the human nose can detect chlorine at very low levels. Odor doesn't make the water dangerous. So, post analysis and then we can help.

I am looking for some general advice and confirmation on a few aspects of my design for a new shore well I plan to install at my house this spring. A little background on the project: My house is on Lake Ontario in Northern NY. The house is situated roughly 45' above the water on a steep hill that terminates into a 20' vertical cliff down to the shore. The previous owner had a small pump house at the top edge of the cliff with a shallow well jet pump servicing a cistern in the basement, but it gave up and the flow was also not great due to sucking near it's max of 25' head. My plan is to replace the entire system with a design that in the short term will make it easier to winterize, and in the long term be able to operate it in the winter. Here is the equipment I have tentatively selected: Pump: AY McDonald 8611 1 HP convertible jet pump Deep Well Ejector: AY McDonald 7903JP Tank: A.O Smith LPT 86 pre-charged pressure tank Piping house to shore: Anjon Manufacturing Freeze Flex 1" & 1 1/4" PVC (150ft') Piping shore to water: Fastenal 1 1/4" black steel pipe (2x21') Fittings: All Camlock stainless steel connections outdoor & underwater Pipe stand (underwater): Roll-a-Dock submersible plastic 27” wheels & 7’ Axle Pre-filter: Big Foot 80 GPM intake filter There are several other smaller fittings/piping/items needed to actually hook the system up, but right now I am looking to make sure that conceptually this combination of equipment will work with my design. My current plan has the convertible jet pump mounted on top of the pressure tank inside my basement. The twin pipes of Freeze Flex PVC will exit the basement at ground level and be buried 4’ traveling down the hill until they reach about 15’ from the edge of the cliff. Here they will enter a buried valve box/access point. At this time, the Freeze Flex PVC twin pipe will run straight through, but the access box is for adding a heat line in the future. At this point there is about 75’ linear of Freeze Flex PVC run and 25’ of vertical rise from the cliff edge to the house. The Freeze Flex PVC will then travel down the vertical cliff 20’, making the total linear run of PVC 95’ with 45’ vertical rise. In my current plan, the deep well ejector is installed vertically at the base of the cliff with a 90-degree elbow thereafter into a single “tailpipe.” The single 1 ¼” Freeze Flex PVC will resume after the elbow and run through a series of cinder blocks that will be buried just under the surface of the shore. The reason for this is due to the wave activity I see on this part of the lake when a storm comes through. The Freeze Flex PVC will run approximately 48’ linear from the elbow and well ejector terminating in approximately 4’ of water (at mean water level) and traveling 10” of vertical rise. A stainless steel camlock will connect the PVC to a 41’ run of black steel 1 ¼’ pipe mounted on wheels (for easy removal) and will terminate into a foot valve and large format 80GPM intake filter. At this point, the intake is approx. 10’ below water and has traveled a further 6’ of vertical rise. The total vertical feet or suction head for this project, intake to pump is approx. 60’. The total linear feet of piping from intake to pump is approx. 185’. The suction head from well ejector to intake is approx. 16’. The pump and ejector combination are rated at about 10GPM at 60’ head on a 20/40 pressure setting. A few questions I have aside from the obvious “is this going to work” are: My understanding about using a tailpipe is that the principles of a shallow well jet pump apply: as long as you are sucking under 25’ head, it should work. My design has 14-16’ head after the well ejector. Is this thinking true, and is the 45-degree elbow going to impede suction at all? Do I need a check-valve in between the well ejector and the tailpipe if there is a foot valve at the end of the tail pipe? Could the well ejector sit horizontally and is it better situated underwater before the Camlock disconnect (if twin pipes ran down further). I’ve attached some drawings for reference, hopefully they make sense. Any feedback is appreciated!