Sandpoint well and irrigation

[311Hemi]

Anyone running an irrigation system off a sandpoint well here? Just trying to figure out feasibility.

I live on the edge of a wetland and the soil is all sand (Anoka county), and half my property is a wetland river basin that at least right now and every spring has some standing water. The back side of the property is a small river.

I was thinking about doing this to prevent having rust color from the iron in my main deep well.

[Jared_P]

I think that you would have to determine oh deep you would have to go to know how big of a pump to get. One guy that I talked to did it with the DIY kind and found that it clogged up and he lost pressure in a years time. Ended up getting a company out to do it and regained hi pressure plus. I would first see how far down you have to go...IMO

JP

[LwnmwnMan2]

I'm in the same type of situation, and asked my buddy that does irrigation installs.

He basically told me that a sandpoint won't work for an irrigation system, they just aren't big enough/deep enough.

You can get rust remover built into an irrigation system.

[311Hemi]

I know I don't have to go down far, I have a wetland right behind my house with standing water right now and I believe the water table is fairly high in my area. My parents neighbor is about 1 miles away from me, and he runs his irrigation off a 2" sandpoint. Granted, he is right across the street from a lake, so maybe that helps his situation? It's still 300+' from the lake.

I do need to find out from him how many heads he is running per zone, and what the total pressure is. He said he can get around 18 gpm, but I don't believe that. That might just be what the pump is rated at.

Could be an expensive test to have fail if I wanted to try it.

The rust remover might be an option. I know it's around $600 installed, plus $100+ per year for the liquid for it.

[Moose]

We run some pretty big systems at work off of ground water wells. They average 25-35 feet down where we are. Your gpm and pressure will depend on the size of your pipe we have a 5" well with a 30 hp top mounted well motor that will run 5 toro 670 golf heads at 44 gpm each at 100 psi. Just depends on how much you want to spend on the system. I would talk with a well guy and see where the best water vain is on your property and go from there. Sometimes the irrigation guys consider a sandpoint 1" or smaller and that would have a hard time running anything but a garden hose even with a pressure tank.

[LwnmwnMan2]

I wouldn't consider a 5" well with a 30 hp motor a "sandpoint".

You basically need to figure out how big your system will be and how many gpm you need.

It doesn't matter where your water table is at. I live nowhere near water and our water table is only 22' down in sand. We've put in 2" sandpoint wells 3-4 times over the 30 years but eventually they dry up.

The house I own next door that my MIL rents from us, that well is a sandpoint for the whole house. Washer, dishwasher, everything runs off the sandpoint.

No issues.

[311Hemi]

I was wrong on the rust remover. It's around $1400 installed, not $600.

Maybe I will call the well drillers that have been in the neighborhood to see what they have to say. 5-6 wells have been drilled in the past few months.

[RumRiverRat]

I have a 2" sand point with a 50 gallon pressure tank.

I do not have an irrigation system, but I can run 6 sprinklers wide open with pressure to spare.

I love watering on the odd days when I am not suppose to, it riles up my neighbors, they do not know I have a sand point well.

I get a least a dozen notices a month from the city that I am violating the watering ban. I write return to sender on the envelopes and send them back.

[corncob]

A 500 gallon pressure tank?....Say what!

[LwnmwnMan2]

A 500 gallon pressure tank?....Say what!

That's what I'm wondering.

[RumRiverRat]

One too many zeroes. Should have typed 50.

500 would be a bit of overkill methinks.

[CANOPY SAM]

I'm by no means an expert at this subject, but I have done a little looking into it for our gardens. I think the biggest concern you have is not how deep the water table is, or even what size the pipe is to the well.

I think the main concern you have is what is the "refill" rate of the well itself. Even surrounded by wetlands the soil or sand may be only semi-permeable, and thus the surrounding water may not permeate and enter the well at a rate that would support drawing it up as quickly as you need it.

We live alongside a river, and own about 5 acres of some of the lowest river-bottom land for many miles around. We did a soil test thinking that a sand-point well would be a slam dunk for irrigating our land and gardens, but the soil test came back showing a high percentage of clay, hence a sand-point well, even quite deep, wouldn't refill quickly enough to support an irrigation system.

Although it's a bit more work, we'll be drawing water directly from the river with a simple gas powered pump.

[311Hemi]

Who or how did you do the soil test to determine that? It's pretty much sand where I am at.....

[3pronghook]

the biggest factor will be the static water level in your area. if its greater than 20 feet you wont have much luck with a sandpoint. not saying you wont get some water but harder the pump has to work to pull the water up the less gpm you will get. knowing the geology and water table before you start pounding is important. the MN dept health has the county well index online and you can search well info in your immediate area. google cwi and you will find it. search by twp, range, section and if youre in an area that has wells you will get the info you need. look at the geology, you want sand. then look at the static water level. talk to neighbors too and see if any have sandpoints. as for pumping gpm and psi from a sandpoint I think 20 gpm at 50 psi is realistic under ideal conditions. well depth not as important as static water. ideal example you would see geology of sand to at least 25 feet and static of 15 feet or less. you need sand to have water. good luck