One-line jet pumps:

This article describes the components of a one-line jet pump water system, what the components look like, and what they do.

This article explains how a one-line jet pump works, where one line jet pumps are used, the pumping depth or lift height capacity of jet pumps, and jet pump installation, troubleshooting & repair procedures. We provide advice about what to do when things go wrong with your well pump.

Shallow Well with a One Line Jet Pump Q&A

These questions and answers about troubleshooting and fixing single-line jet pumps (on shallow wells) were posted originally at WATER PUMP, ONE LINE JET . Be sure to see the advice given there.

Carson Dunlop Associates sketch shows the difference between a 'deep well' and a 'shallow well'.

[Click to enlarge any image]

On 2018-07-06 by (mod) - pressure drops to zero after the pump turns on

That sounds odd indeed - once the pump turns on you'd expect pressure to steady or rise. Usually when there's a pressure drop as you describe it's due to a delay in the pump turning on - from debris clogging of the pressure control.

But you can see and hear your pump so you know for sure when it's turning on.

Sometimes I've seen this when the issue was simply a debris-clogged pressure gauge or pump control. Tell me what your plumber says too.

On 2018-07-05 by mikestreck

We have a single line shallow well pump. When a tap is open, water pressure slowly drops to the pump's cut-on point.

AFTER the pump kicks on, the pressure gauge drops to near zero and flow also drops dramatically at the faucet. Once I close the tap, pressure quickly rises back up to near the cut-on pressure. After about 5 minutes, the system reaches the cut-off pressure.

Any educated guesses as to what’s causing the severe pressure drop? I have drained the system, confirmed that the bladder tank is working, and primed the pump, but no real difference. Thank you!!!!

On 2018-06-19 by (mod) - it's time to call a pump repair company

You want to find a local well driller or a local plumber who does well and pump repairs.

On 2018-06-19 by Sheila R Phillips

who would i contact to do work on an older shallow well?

On 2018-06-15 by (mod) - We have a BIG water problem. According to the county, we have no water. T

Molla

Our sympathies on your well and water problems. Your choices, from your note, are clear: drill a new well or connect to municipal water. I would want a more definite answer to the costs involved to connect to city water (why so high?) and also on the probability of a functional well, at what depth and what cost, before making a choice.

On 2018-06-14 by mollja

We have a BIG water problem. According to the county, we have no water. The house was built in 1950, and they just drove a 1.25" galvenized pipe into the ground, poured some cement around it, and called it a well, no permit.

Unfortunately, over time that pipe started to rust inside, and some idiot put a thin walled pvc pipe inside it, and then thought they fixed the problem.

Well the rust continued, and it cracked the pvc pipe, and to hook on to city water, it will cost us about $20-25 thousand. I was also told that a new well to be drilled would cost us about $3,000.

We had the money for a new well, by my father-in-law passed away and the money went toward his funeral expenses, so we are trying to get by for as cheap as possible till we save up for a new well again, but we keep having to dip into our savings to try to keep water running.

Currently we have a 1hp shallow pump jet pump sucking up water upto 40 ft though a half inch hose (the largest diameter we can fit down that stupid pvc pipe and using a small nut on a string, the bottom of the well is 40 feet down).

We can only have one thing using water at a time, or we have no pressure, and if we run water to long, we lose our prime on the pump, even though we have a sediment filter before a back flow valve, that are before the pump.

We also have a another sediment filter that will also remove clorine smell (works for sulfur smell too) and a back flow valve between the pump and pressure tank, and another back flow valve after the pressure tank.

I completely replumbed the house with 3/4" pex supply line and 1/2" to each fixture and repaced the pump 2 years ago, and pressure tank last summer.

The tank is almost 100 gallons, and set at 28 psi, the pump pressure switch was replaced 2 days ago and is a 30/50 switch. We are currently now 48 hrs without water, because our pump, after priming, will overheat and shut down and the pressure is not going over 25 psi. Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated.

On 2018-04-03 by (mod) - failure of internal pump seal

I suspect an internal seal has failed.

On 2018-04-03 by Terry

I have Ace shallow waterpump. Pipe froze 4 years ago, just fix all pipes, primed with water from city water with hose through spicket. Pump is pumping water,but water is steady flowing out vent hose on pump. What is my problem?

On 2018-02-22 by (mod) -

I'm baffled by all of this as well Scott. For example I thought that the word leather is referred to an old hand pump used in a shallow well.

On 2018-02-22 by Scott favorite

I have a 2 line jet pump but only a suction line going down about 40 ft with a single pipe jet it lifted water fine.

How is this when everyone says 25 ft max it not a shallow well.my well head cracked and i dropped pipe to bottom.got it up put new well head on now it wont hold water in outer casing. someone says the leathers are messed up.

On 2017-08-04 by (mod) - can the jet pump be lower than the water line?

Sandy,

Supply line? From the well to the pump?

Assuming we're talking about a 1-line jet pump here.

If that's the question, yes the pump can be lower than the line, BUT assuming, for sake of illustration that a "supply line" from the well for a one-line jet pump is routed such that the TOTAL PUMP LIFT from the foot valve in the well to the highest point in the piping, say the ceiling, is more than about 27 feet then the pump may have trouble lifting or trouble priming.

In principle, if the total lift AFTER we get back down from the ceiling to the pump was under 17 ft. then you'd be in-range of capability of a one-line jet pump, even if the ceiling was pretty tall (more than 27 ft total lift) because the portion of pipe coming back down from ceiling to pump will help the pump overcome that portion of the lift - as a sort of siphon.

But in the real world where we sometimes lose prime, you could find it very difficult to prime the pump in that condition.

On 2017-08-04 by Sandy

Can a jet pump be lower than the supply line?
Line comes in at floor level, goes up to ceiling, across room, down to pump?

On 2017-05-31 by (mod) - Well packers and even pumping sealants

Darrell,

Certainly there are well casing repair kits, basically a sleeve that is inserted into the well bore. You wouldn't re-line an entire well bore in most circumstances.

But a 2-inch O.D. well bore is so small I'm doubtful that you can re-line it. Are you sure we've got this dimension right?

We discuss repairs to well casing leaks at https://inspectapedia.com/water/Well_Casing_Leaks.php WELL CASING LEAK REPAIRS

Please take a look at that article.

If you can get a well camera down the well bore, that's where to start. You want to know the location (depth from ground surface) and nature of the damage.

The repair sequence is to use a swage to push a deformed casing back into proper round cylindrical shape, then a well casing repair sleeve - a metal (or other) liner is pushed into the well to the proper depth.

I looked for sources of small-diameter well casing repair sleeves and report on:

T.D. Williamson sells steel repair sleeves for damaged well casings in sizes 2" to 48" in diameter. I'd contact the company about the ability to fit one of their sleeves into your well casing once we have accurate measurements of the inside diameter of the casing.
As we have readers world-wide and you didn't mention your location I'll include several contact numbers for the company, as they have locations world-wide.

T.D. Williamson, Inc., Website: http://www.tdwilliamson.com/
North & South America: +1 918 447 5000
Europe/Africa/Middle East: +32 67 28 3611
Asia Pacific: +65 6364 8520
Offshore Services: +47 5144 3240

Well packers and even pumping sealants down to a leak location are other well casing leak repairs but those are more-likely not going to be suitable for a 2 inch residential water well casing damage repair job.

An example of these more-sophisticated well casing patch systems is the XPatch Expandable Casing Patch - described in this PDF

http://www.tiwoiltools.com/Images/Interior/downloads/xpatch.pdf from TIW Corporation , 12300 South Main St. Houston, Texas 77035

Tel: 713-729-2110 Website: http://www.tiwoiltools.com/

Owen Oil Tools, 12001 CR 100, Godley TX 76044 USA Tel +1 817 551 0540, Website: www.corelab.com/owen also provides well casing patcy systems such as the company's X-Span Tubing/Casing Patch.

Keep me posted on how you progress as what you find will doubtless help other readers as well.

Daniel

On 2017-05-31 16:28:24.271649 by Darrell

I have a satrite msn 6 2 stage one line 1 hp jet 326 feet deep 2" out side case that was put in between the late 40s early 50s that I believe has a hole in the casein can I reline it

On 2017-05-01 00:34:41.046309 by (mod) -

If you use a mechanic's stethoscope to confirm if the vibration is specifically coming from your pump motor then I suspect a failing motor bearing.

The other possibility would be a damaged pump impeller. But in that case you would probably see reduced flow.

On 2017-04-30 23:51:57.553119 by Anonymous

@Deven,
Discharges 5-6 feet of pipe, not inches.

On 2017-04-30 23:50:58.847238 by Deven

Hello all,
I have a StaRite DS3 1 1/2HP shallow well pump running on 220VAC on a 1 1/4" auction line, no tee or gauges, sits about 10-12" away from the well pipe, discharges about 5-6" through a 1/4 turn ball valve to my indexing vale on 1 1/4" pipe

. I had some noise coming from it so I decided to remove the pump, pour a 4" concrete pad with rebar, reinstall pump on thick rubber feet and anchor to pad.

Now I have a very ominous vibration that picks up into a loud hum that can be heard through both mine and my neighbors' homes. All the wells around me are setup the same. My system ran, and still runs, fine I just have this hum. Any thoughts?

On 2017-04-23 19:33:54.100809 by (mod) -

Kelly

Try not to freak out as that can only increase the ultimate repair costs of any home fixit problem.

If the pump is "above the water" but is "in the well" then I think the well water level has fallen too low to be functional. If waiting a few hours doesn't show water level having risen in the well it's time to call a well contractor to see if they can take steps to increase the yield of the well.

On 2017-04-23 16:39:57.503811 by Kelly

Shallow well ...have no water this a.m people said they didn't leave any water running I've got nozels on hose so water can't just run out of hose. The pump is above water down in the well...please help I'm freaking out I rent this home

On 2016-09-09 14:37:18.664213 by (mod) -

Amit:

A one line jet pump works for shallow wells, say 25 ft. or less of total lift height.
A two line jet pump works for deep wells and higher lift heights.

On 2016-09-09 11:51:23.456792 by Amit

What type of jet pump should I buy for my home shallow well jet water pump. Or. Deep well jet water pump. Because water level of my land is low.

On 2016-09-09 11:47:48.059980 by Amit

What type of jet pump is suitable for hoome
Water level is low then should I use

On 2016-03-21 19:45:02.598757 by (mod) -

Dave you could search InspectApedia.com for WATER PRESSURE BOOSTER PUMPS that include pumps that do not themselves require a pressure tank, but in my view you are not taking the best approach. I'd start by finding out what is wrong with the present pump and tank and piping system. Normally a well pump delivers adequate pressure to your home without needing a boost. Let's find and fix the problem rather than treating the symptom.

On 2016-03-21 01:42:09.530716 by Dave

I have a well which has a pump that puts water in a 4-5' tall pressure tank. The pressure is too low and I would like to install an inline pump to increase pressure in the house. What things do I need to consider? The ability of the current pump to feed to pressure tank I assume? What else?

On 2016-01-06 10:41:32.154494 by (mod) -

Candy

I hate when that happens, but take comfort that it's happened to plenty of people, including to the pros.

There is a whole world of well retrieval tools and pipe grabbers designed for snagging and pulling these back out of the well. See https://inspectapedia.com/water/Well_Pipe_Grabbers.php

On 2016-01-05 21:44:24.128950 by Candy

Well, well, well. I dropped the pipes of my 2 pipe jet pump down the bore hole and cannot retrieve them. I have been told that I can convert the 2 pipe pump to a 1 pipe pump. Unfortunately I cannot get the face place with the pipe attachments off to replace it due to rust. ANybody had a similar experience I wonder?

On 2015-11-03 03:17:34.646475 by (mod) -

Sure, unless I'm missing something

On 2015-11-03 01:29:54.699902 by R J

Thanks wanted to be sure u could replace the 2 inch b 4 digging a new well

On 2015-11-02 00:22:02.863430 by (mod) -

RJ

Typical repair is to replace the damaged, leaky section of piping.

On 2015-10-31 10:41:03.872509 by R j

If ur 2 inch line on a jet pump is leaking can you fix it,the pipe want hold water have a new jet and foot valve.

On 2015-10-01 12:40:14.032781 by rick

How do you set brass valve on top of one line water pump?In other words, Where is the setting?

On 2015-07-10 19:13:31.574640 by (mod) -

Edward

I don't know the Berkeley water pump brand's resistance to damage from running dry but certainly for many pumps 3 hours dry running is enough to mess up a seal or impeller. You'll know if the pump was damaged as when water returns the pump either won't deliver water or will have trouble reaching the original cut-out pressure to which its control was set.

An expert well and pump diagnostician might also make current draw measurments as knowing the current draw can sometimes tell us what's going on with a motor and pump assembly.

On 2015-07-10 19:04:28.455090 by Edward Bittner

I have a Berkeley 5PN-10 pump. The water feeding it went dry and the pump ran dry for 3 hrs. What is the likely hood I have damaged the pump, and how would I know if I ruined the seals? Thanks E bittner

On 2015-06-21 15:53:27.761290 by (mod) -

To check well recovery rate you can use any pump capable of exceeding the in-flow rate of the well itself; you'll also need to measure and monitor the height of the water level in the well. Typically a well expert uses an adjustable flow rate pump.

On 2015-06-18 18:40:20.084420 by Paul

I want to pump water out of a 55' well, just to check the recovery rate. The well was drilled in 2001 and never used. The pump would not be pumping into a water system, pressure tank etc.just onto the ground. Could I get away with a single line jet pump?

On 2015-04-23 23:18:06.543820 by (mod) -

John see

https://inspectapedia.com/water/Water_Tank_Bladder_Adjust.htm

On 2015-04-22 03:02:29.786560 by John

How much air pressure should there be in the bladder inside the tank?

Comments:

(Apr 20, 2011) Jay Ward born2b1@yahoo.com.my said:
This website gets a giant attaboy, more clout than my ole lady. I came to your site for my water supply problem. Thanks to this site, at least now I'm gettin some (WATER that is) Thanks folks Saved me a bundle.

Reply:

Thanks Jay, we're glad this information was helpful, and we very much welcome critique, questions, or content suggestions for our web articles. - Editor

Question: no water, hot pump

(June 23, 2011) leticia said:
changed everything but the air tank and pump. still cant get pressure to stay in tank and pump gets extremely hot

Reply:

Leticia, has anyone checked for

- low voltage

- seized or damaged pump bearing or impeller?

If your well pump is getting very hot it must be running continuously, unable to reach cut-off pressure, or it is running dry. That suggests loss of prime, a bad check valve, a damaged pump impeller, a well piping leak, or loss of water in the well.

see WATER PRESSURE LOSS DIAGNOSIS & REPAIR

for help in figuring out what's wrong.

Question: Will it damage the pump if the well flow rate is less than the pumping rate?

Stan said:

Will it damage the pump if the well flow rate is less than the pumping rate?

Reply:

Stan

if the well water level or well recovery rate are low the pump might run continuously and not reach cutoff pressure - and could become damaged. Also an older pump could have a worn or damaged internal pump impeller that no longer can reach the shutoff pressure.

If you set down the cut-out pressure to a lower number - say 40 psi, and the system operates normally, I suspect the pump. If even at lower cut-out pressure the system can not pump water, either the pump is still more worn or the well water level is poor. Just check that your safety switch that shuts off the pump in event of no water is itself working.

Question: erratic pump operation

(Jan 13, 2012) scott said:
I have a new shallow well jet pump that works fine sometimes and others times it kick on but deliver no water I can unplug it for few seconds and plug it back in and it will start pumping water and work fine for a week or two and then it will do this again. this has went on for 6 months. Any idea's what wrong.

Reply:

When the pump won't pump water turn it off immediately and then check to see if it has lost prime. Sometimes a system will only lose prime when the pump doesn't run for a time - such as when the foot valve or well piping has a slow leak.

Question: change from two pipe to one pipe

(Mar 10, 2012) Anonymous said:
i have a two pipe system & want to change it to a one pipe system . i was told a jet fjord connection is whats needed for the change . what does it look like . im thinking its like the letter h . . any help is appreciated

Reply:

If your well is shallow, less than 25 feet, you can convert to a one line jet pump. If it's deeper you can't as the one line pump can't lift more than about 25 ft.

Question: where to put the chlorine

(Apr 11, 2012) Clyde Boyer said:
How do you "shock" a shallow well, one line, system when there is no riser visible?

Reply:

At WELL CHLORINATION SHOCKING PROCEDURE we describe these procedures.

It *might* be possible to inject chlorine into a 2-line jet pump system or even to pour it down the riser of a one line jet pump, but I'm very doubtful that this is a a safe procedure - for one thing, if we don't know the well depth and static head we can't determine how much chlorine to use for an effective disinfection.

(Apr 26, 2012) Bryan said:

My well casing is at the bottom of a square pit about 4' deep. Which was full of fowl water when we bought the house. I pumped the water out. We want build a deck of the back of the house.. Can I know the well house down and bury the well casing and pipe leading to basement?

Thanks

(May 6, 2012) Michael said:

Pretty good, but, I have a question, where can I find parts for the well pumps? Been trying google, and no luck at all so far. I know that most folks plan to throw everything out, but, I would rather fix the one I have than buy a new one! I have a wel-bilt shallow well pump and I need to replace the impeller, it kinda ran dry when the pond dryed up suddenly.

Reply:

Michael it depends on what's wrong to define what you need, but if you call your pump manufacturer they will be glad to tell you who has parts for it.

Question: pump can't reach cutoff pressure

(May 16, 2012) Serge said:
Last weekend I found out my water tank (bladder type) was malfunctioning, no water would go in the tank.

I replaced the tank (went from 20 gals to 33gals) and now the tank works OK, I have water entering the tank. My setup is 30/50 and my tank was pre-loaded at 28...cuts-in at 30 on the nose and cut-out at 50 on the nose.

My new problem is that when I use water, the tank pressure starts going down (evidently) and once it reaches 30 the pump cuts-in (as supposed to) but the pump is not able to raise water in the tank back to 50 if the water is being used...stays at 30 until I close the tap...I checked the injector of the pump and it is clean...is my pump defective?

(May 20, 2012) Brandon said:

My pump is doing the same thing as Serge except my set up is 40/60. My pump will run continuously at 55 psi with a constant stream of water (10 GPM). I am building a new irrigation system and I"m struggling with my design flows at each zone. Each zone is designed to run around 3.5 gallons. So a couple questions you may be able to help me with.

1) When irrigating, do you want your pump to run continuously until there is no more call for water?

I would assume this is the most efficient way to run the pump....on the entire time? Then I would need to combine zones to get as close to the 10 gpm as possible

2) If I run below the 10 gpm by constricting flow, say at my design flow of 3.5 gpm, the pressure in my system will eventually build until it reaches the cut off pressure.

From there, water is flowed by tank until it reaches the 40 psi cut in when the pump will turn on. So now I've got two things going on, pressure differentials during irrigation (from 60 to 40) AND what I would think would be short cycling of the pump (constant on and off). Is this bad or is there perhaps a recommended amount of times per hour you would want your pump to turn on and off?

Sorry a long drawn out question but I'm really struggling with trying to make my system as efficient as possible. Any knowledge you may have is greatly appreciated.

Reply:

Serge & Brandon:

If the pump does not reach the cut-off pressure while water is being run in the home it means that you are running water fast enough that the pump just can't get ahead of the usage rate - that's quite common.

If the pump has become damaged internally, say to its impeller, or if it were running at low voltage, it might have lost some pumping capacity.

See WATER PUMP WONT STOP RUNNING

Question:

(Aug 19, 2012) Anonymous said:
In the past few days we have experience our water faucet, toliets and shower splurting water and the water turning brown or black. We leave it run a little bit and it clears up. The well pump seams to be working fine and cycling as it should be. How is the air getting in the lines and how do we correct it. We also have a softner unit connected up to our water system.

(Aug 31, 2012) Tomohio said:
I just purchased a new jet pump/ejector for my cistern application. Depth is approx 15 feet. Ejector came with 4 different nozzles/venturi ( inside diameter is different ) . Which do I use with 1/2 HP motor-pump? No manuals or literature came with either.

(May 15, 2014) greg said:
hi I have a 5.5 hp fire fighter with 50 mm inlet and 50 mm out can I use it to pump from a 14 metre bore hole.

(Nov 17, 2014) Brian said:
Hooked up 1/2 hp flotec pump, small unit has its own pressure tank, to old concrete well on front lawn, want to use for irrigation exclusively. Plastic pipe comes through basement wall and was capped off with no pump at all when I bought house.Now that pump is hooke up I have primed it several times but it will only pump out the priming water and runs dry and is not drawing from well, what can I do? Thanks

Reply:

Brian

Either the prime quantity is insufficient or there is a leak in well piping or a similar problem such as damaged impeller or low voltage.

Question: maximum horizontal distance between the well head and shallow well pump

(Feb 26, 2015) Walter said:
What is the maximum horizontal distance between the well head and shallow well pump assuming the vertical distance is within 25 feet? What effect will be the difference between a 1/2 horse power and a 3/4 horse pump?

Reply:

Walter

We give pump sizing data at

WATER PUMP CAPACITIES TYPES RATES GPM

including tables for different pump types and horsepowers

...

Continue reading at WATER PUMP, ONE LINE JET - topic home, or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Or see these

Recommended Articles

• WATER PUMP, ONE LINE JET OPERATION
• ELECTRIC MOTOR OVERLOAD RESET SWITCH
• SHORT CYCLING WATER PUMP
• WATER PRESSURE PROBLEM DIAGNOSIS TABLE
• WATER PUMP REPAIR GUIDE
• WELL FLOW TEST PROCEDURE and see
• WELL YIELD IMPROVEMENT

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