I hooked up a goulds 3/4 hp water jet pump to irrigate my lawn. I attached a rainbow sprinkler to a hose that I attached to the discharge line. Water is flowing well but vacuum gauge reads about 26 hg. Manual says anything over 22 is too much of a vacuum. The manual states the cause of this high vacuum is that the check valve is stuck closed or the suction pipe is buried in the mud. The water is very clear coming out so I don't think it is stuck in mud and the water is coming out fast so I don't see how the check valve could be stuck closed. Also the pressure gauge needle is shaking rapidly between 40 to 50 psi. This is on a sand point well that is only about 13 feet in the ground. When I did the well there was about 4 feet of water up the pipe. I ran the pump today for the first time and in about 10 minutes the pump was already pretty hot to the touch. Any ideas what I can do to fix this or is this normal. Any incite would be much appreciated. Thanks.

I was able to speak with goulds pump rep who advised this is normal operation. No need to respond. Thanks though.

Glad you got it fixed. I'm not familiar with a vacuum measurement on a pump, though I could see it could be useful. The pump getting hot would concern me, but evidently that is not a problem.