On Apr 17, 1:38 am, "rb" wrote:
Putting a new pump on my 22' well. I'm also replacing the vertical check
valve just above surface.

Will the pump pick up water without priming the well? To prime it, I'd
have to find a way to push the plunger back down the well head, and fill it
with water.

I'm hoping the pump will suck up water to do the job. That's the way it
first happened, I think.........

Andy comments:
I don't know if "just above the surface" means the surface of the
water
or the surface of the ground. However, if you put the check valve
near
the bottom of the pipe that goes down into the ground, you can easily
fill
it with water after the pipe is in place. I do this by adding a Tee
near
the pump input, and positioning a spigot in the threaded port. I can
then open the spigot and pour in water until the pipe is filled, then
close the spigot and leave it closed before running the pump.

If you have "city" water, and are using the pump for irrigation ,
you
can just connect the city water from an outside spigot to the
pump water line, either at the input or the output, and run it for
a while. The pressure will force water back thru the pump into the
intake pipe to fill it up....

As long as you have access ports at both the pump input and the
pump output, you have a lot of flexibility in this.

I live on a lake, and use this method for priming the intake of
the cheap Harbor Freight pump I have each year...

The more expensive pumps will self-prime, but 22 feet is a LONG
way to self prime, and your pump may not draw enough suction
so your hand priming might be necessary.... But put the check
valve as near to the water as you can...

Andy in Eureka, Texas