Well Pump Trouble?

Don't you have a pressure tank on the well? There should be a pressure gauge there. If so you can probably set a higher pressure at the tank and see if it makes any difference.

It sounds like you need to adjust the pressure differential on the well pump pressure switch. Here is an article describing this on your garden variety system:

An irrigation system can easily overwhelm a well. You need to plan your irrigation system carefully. Add up the GPM rating of each head. If it is too much for the well and/or pump then you would need to divide the system up into more zones.

Most wells have a cut-in cut-off pressure switch. My well pump is set to come on at 30 PSI and shut off at 50 PSI. Most well systems also have a bladder tank which helps keep the water pressure up when water is being used but the pump is not on yet. The bladder tanks need to be properly charged with air in order to work properly. You need to check that once or twice a year.

Your running PSI will be somewhere between the pressure switch settings but will depend on the rate of flow (demand) and the size (HP) of the pump motor. I doubt you will get 50 more like 35. There should be one or more PSI gauges already installed near the pump or tank.

You could get better results by getting a larger well pump and/or adding a large storage tank and pressure pump.

Note: Saying a well pump can pump 10GPM is not the same as saying a well system can continuously deliver 10GPM. My well pump (1.5HP) can pump 10GPM no problem for about 5 min., then it runs dry.

Kevin

I examined the tank but didn't find a regulator. I'll call the people who installed it years ago, and ask.

Ah, so that's it. My wife, who is surprisingly knowledgeable about the installation, said we were told by the installers not to mess with that box. I'll call them and find out the story tomorrow.

...

I've been down that road in the past, but the possibility of clogging emitters messes up calculations, if not just the need to get water out reliably.

I'll check into it tomorrow with the people who installed the pump.

I believe it.

I'm quite sure we are asking too much from our system. It was originally designed for house and lawn usage. We certainly didn't account for a need for trees to block views from light and other sources. That plus my burgeoning interest in trees, which has finally been reigned in. However, I think the problem is solvable, but not with the garden variety or drip-irrigation we have.

I think I need to find out how people with orchards do it. It may take more timers/stations than we have and probably larger tubes to delivery the water, something like watering directly with the 5/8" (1/2"?) tubes that delivery the water to the trees now.

On a positive note, many of the trees are deodora, which really do not require water during the summer in our climate (Mediterranean). I'm experimenting carefully with that idea--cutting down on their watering. It certainly proved true on one line last year when it broke and went unnoticed. Every tree but the one deodora there wilted badly. Fortunately, the break was discovered and all trees rescued.

On the tank you should see only a bladder valve. The pressure is set at the pump.