How to Hook Up a Jet Pump to a Shallow Well for Home Use

In many areas, the water table is close enough to the surface that a shallow well can tap into the ground water. Shallow wells can provide water for a home, or you can install one to irrigate gardens and landscape plantings. You'll be off the city water supply -- and off the water meter. Shallow wells are made by positioning a well point -- a stainless steel mesh that filters water from the soil -- below the water table and running a pipe from the point to an above-ground pump. You can then pull the water from the ground.

Jet pump
1 1/4-inch PVC pipe
1 1/4-inch PVC pipe fittings
Hacksaw
PVC pipe cleaning solvent
PVC pipe cement
1 1/4-inch check valve

Instructions

- 1
  Cut off the pipe leading from the well point as close to the well point as possible.
- 2
  Clean the pipe end. Glue a 1 1/4-inch PVC pipe thread fitting to the cut-off pipe.
- 3
  Thread a 1 1/4-inch check valve onto this fitting. The exact location in the pipe between the well point and the pump to install the check valve doesn't matter. But the closer to the well point the check valve is located, the easier it will be to prime the pump.
- 4
  Install the jet pump in a location as close to the well point as possible. The closer to the pump, the less work the pump will have to do to suck the water up from the ground. Jet pumps are available with 1/2-, 3/4- and one-horsepower motors. Don't expect much more than 5 or 6 gallons per minute from any of the pumps. Go with a medium or large pump if the water table is more than 15 feet below ground level or if you are using the well to provide water for a home.
- 5
  Thread a 1 1/4-inch male pipe thread to a 1 1/4-inch PVC pipe adapter into the port of the jet pump labeled "inlet."
- 6
  Use lengths of 1 1/4-inch pipe and the appropriate elbows or other fittings to route the pipe from the check valve to the inlet fitting you installed on the pump.
- 7
  Connect the pump's port marked "outlet" to the water-system's pressure tank.

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