THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



169 



Irrigation by Deep Well Pumping 



E. B. KIEISTZ, NILES, CAL.* 



"Reclaim the Deserts" and "Make Homes on the 

 Land." These are two of the four cardinal objects of this 

 Irrigation Congress and they can be accomplished only 

 through irrigation. 



It behooves us, therefore, to give publicity to any 

 method of irrigation which has been found practical by 

 ihorough trials, and the more general use of which will 

 make large areas of our arid and semi-arid western coun- 

 try of greatly increased value and productiveness. 



A great deal of our land can and is being irrigated 

 by the gravity system, but in all districts supplied by this 

 system there are large areas of fertile land, that, owing 

 to the contour of the land, can not be irrigated with grav- 

 ity water, but have an abundant supply of waer below the 

 surface within a practical depth or lift of deep well pumps. 



In view of the fact that there are such large areas 

 that can only be irrigated by deep well pumping and the 

 consequent important part this method will play in the 

 development of the West, and as suitable machinery for 

 this method of irrigation is of comparatively recent de- 

 sign and manufacture, it is particularly opportune that we 

 should give to this subject our serious consideration. 



Deep well pumping, as the term is generally used and 

 accepted, means pumping from a source below the surface 

 beyond suction limit. Until recent years, if water could 

 not be secured within the suction limit is was not consid- 

 ered a feasible proposition to attempt to pump water for 

 irrigation purposes. But it had been shown what could be 

 done by irrigation, and this was an incentive for those own- 

 ing land that could not be supplied by other systems to ir- 

 rigate also. Their only altern.itive was deep well pumping. 

 Hence a great need was felt for a pump that would de- 

 liver an irrigating head from below suction limit to or 

 above the surface efficiently and make irrigation, under 

 these conditions, practical and profitable. Such a pump, it 

 was fully realized, would prove of unknown value in devel- 

 oping arid and semi-arid lands. 



The ordinary type of double deep well plunger pump 

 was found to be impracticable for this work because each 

 bucket completed its stroke at the instant the other com- 

 menced and both were on the dead center at the same 

 time, causing a stoppage in the upward flow of the water 

 and the necessity of starting the long water column from 

 rest twice in each revolution of the pump, and that both 

 clappers must close under the full pressure of the water 

 column. The load on the buckets changing instantly from 

 nothing to full load twice in each revolution caused r 

 heavy shock or water hammer on the moving parts, and 

 not only shortened the life of the pump, but a large part 

 of the useful power applied was wasted in starting the 

 water column from rest at the end of each stroke. 



To overcome this obstacle in deep well pumping it 

 was realized that it would be necessary to construct a 

 double plunger pump that would produce a continuous 

 stream of water from deep bored or dug wells efficiently. 

 To meet this demand a type of pump was designed since 

 known as the double plunger continuous flow deep well 

 pump. This type of pump overcame all the foregoing 

 objections by keeping the water column in constant motion 

 upward, without stopping at each stroke, thus permitting 

 high piston speed and great capacity, a saving of the 

 power lost in starting the water column from rest and 

 eliminating the shocks on the moving parts. This is 

 accomplished by a patented two sets of eccentric gearing 

 in each powerhead, each bucket in the cylinder in the well 

 being connected to the crankpin of a gear by steel rods. 

 Each gear is on a separate shaft, independent of the other, 

 and driven by a long double eccentric pinion. Both pin- 

 ions are keyed fast on the same pinion shaft. Uniform 

 revolution of the pinion shaft produces uniform upward 

 motion of the buckets, but the down stroke is made in less 

 time than the up stroke. 



As the upper bucket carries the load up, the lower 



Address delivered at Seventeenth National Irrigation Congress. 



bucket, with clapper wide open, travels down at a higher 

 speed, passes the lower dead center, and travels part of its 

 up stroke before the upper bucket has passed the upper 

 dead center. As the lower bucket rises, it reaches a point 

 where its speed is exactly equal to the speed of the upper 

 bucket, when the lower clapper closes, and the lower 

 bucket takes the load. As the lower bucket is then travel- 

 ing at exactly the same speed as the upper bucket, and 

 consequently at the same speed as the water column, it 

 follows that it takes the load without shock, no matter 

 what the piston speed may be. It is like giving a push to 

 a moving body instead of starting the same body from 

 rest. 



This action of the valves, termed lap, takes place with 

 each bucket alternately, or twice in each revolution of the 

 pump, and this combination of a spur gear with a crankpin 

 :s the simplest and most efficient known way of producing 

 such action. There are no cams, levers or exposed sliding 

 surfaces and in combination with the other mechanical 

 features of these pumps is the best and most economical 

 way of pumping water. 



This design not only gave great efficiency, but dura- 

 bility as well because there is no undue strain on any 

 part in operating. These are two all important points in 

 deep well pumping for irrigation as the cost of irrigation 

 by pumping is not the cost of the initial installation, but 

 is the cost of operation and maintenance, which the 

 above described type of pump reduces to the minimum, 

 attaining an efficiency as high as 70 to 80 per cent. 



With this perfection of suitable machinery by which 

 deep well pumping for irrigation was made successful 

 and extremely profitable, this system of irrigation has come 

 to be preferred even where gravity water is available. The 

 reasons for this are: A person owning his own irrigation 

 plant is more independent, he can irrigate when he wants 

 to and when he can do so to the best advantage; the 

 water is pure and free and there is no danger of scattering 

 the seeds of obnoxious weeds and plants, which are liable 

 to ruin any crop; there is no loss from evaporation and 

 seepage. 



The first thing to consider in deep well pumping is an 

 adequate water supply usually procured from bored wells. 

 All over our western country there is a large supply of 

 water below ground which only needs to be brought to the 

 surface to transform the barren plains into gardens of 

 productiveness. 



The wells should be bored large for two reasons: 

 First It gives more area for the water to get into the 

 well. Second A larger cylinder can be used which will 

 deliver a greater amount of water. The largest diameter 

 of cylinder that can be used in a 10-inch well is 8-inch, 

 using 9-inch O. D. casing for column pipe and having a 

 capacity of 300 gallons per minute. A 9-inch cylinder can 

 be used in a 12-inch well using 10-inch O. D casing for 

 column pipe with a capacity of 400 gallons per minute, or 

 a 11-inch cylinder using 12-inch O. D. casing for column 

 pipe in a 14-inch well with a capacity of 600 gallons per 

 minute. 



The well should be cased and casing perforated at each 

 water strata, either before or after the casing is put into 

 the well. It is much the better plan to perforate the casing 

 in the flat before it is rolled. 



As will be noted from above, in all installations of 

 deep well pumps, the pump column pipe in well connecting 

 cylinder in well to powerhead at surface is of larger inside 

 diameter than the cylinder. This allows the valves to be 

 pulled for repairs without taking the pump column put of 

 the well, and the large pipe also reduces the friction to 

 the minimum. The pumps deliver either at the surface or 

 through long pipe lines at high heads above the surface, 

 as desired. 



The hydrostatic pressure of water is 335^ feet, that is 

 water will rise to a height of Zy/z feet, in a perfect vacuum, 

 at sea level, but in practice, with the most perfect of suc- 

 tion pumps, it is necessary to place the pump within 20 

 feet of the water level when pumping, in order to operate. 

 This is impractical when the water level is at a great dis- 

 tance below the surface. Pits are sometimes dug to place 

 centrifugal pumps within the suction limit, but there are 

 two objections to this method: First The cost of the 

 expensive pit. Second The necessary low efficiency of 

 the centrifugal pump makes the cost of operating exces- 

 sive. 



