How deep to place your submersible well pump depends on the well itself. There isn’t a rule that applies to every well, but there is a general idea that you will see most people follow. If you are unsure about specifics on your well such as its refresh rate (how many gallons per minute the well produces), then you will want to place your well pump around 5-10’ off the bottom of the well. The reason you don’t want to put it directly on the bottom is because you want to avoid sucking up particulates or debris that may have fallen into the well and settled on the bottom. It isn’t a hard line rule that you have to place the pump close to the bottom of the well though. Here are some examples of when you might not want to place it all the way at the bottom.
Let's take an example of a very deep well, say 900’ deep. If that well has a high water level of 150’, and it is a high producing well with no chance of the water level drawing down as the pump is running, then you do not have to place the pump all the way at 940’ or anywhere close to that. You can place the well pump at somewhere like 250’-300’ and you won’t have any issues. There is just no reason to put the pump all the way at the bottom unless there is a possibility the water level in your well will draw down.
In the same example with the 900’ deep well with a 150’ static water level, even if you do have drawdown when pumping you still may not need to drop the pump all the way to the bottom. If you have light water usage, as in you don’t plan on doing any heavy irrigation and your household is small in number, then you may not need to drop the pump as far down the well. Let’s say you have a two person household and are not planning on doing any irrigation, and on average a person will use 50-100 gallons of water per day. If we assume that your well casing is 6” in diameter and you place the pump at 300’ in the well, that leaves you with about 220 gallons of water above the pump. If your water usage is light, then you likely won’t exceed 220 gallons per day in a two person household. And that is just the water that is in there, not counting the fact that the well will continue to refill once you stop pumping. Someone in this situation doesn’t really have a reason to drop their pump all the way to the bottom of the well, and in fact would likely be spending way more money than is necessary on wire and pipe if they decided to.
So to conclude, a good rule of thumb is to place your well pump around 5’-10’ off the bottom of your well. But that isn’t a hard line rule you need to follow and can change based on your specific well and situation. If you have any questions, you can always give our pump specialists a call at 855-560-5670 and we would be happy to help you out.
Wondering how many years you can expect a submersible well pump to last? Take a look at this blog to learn more about what influences the life expectancy of a well pump!
