Big booster pump, small well pump

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Frank Demarest

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We bought a house last spring, and it has the following setup:
a) 3/4 HP well pump, 315 ft deep. Good for 5 gal/min (maybe more).
b) 32 gallon Amtrol WX-203 tank, switch controls between 60 and 80 PSI
c) whole-house cartridge filter (for sprinklers and all of house)
d) 1.5 HP automatic booster pump
e) Orbit sprinkler controller with 3 stations connected, the first station has 3 sprinkler heads.

When we tried it (last summer), the booster pump quickly sucked the tank dry down to 0 PSI, then started making noise. Without the booster pump turned on, the sprinklers do work.

Is it as silly as it seems to have the big booster pump with the smaller well pump? What would be needed for it to work correctly? Is there any reason to keep the booster pump? (we are far enough in the country that city water is not likely to happen)
 

Valveman

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You are only going to get as much as the well pump can supply. The booster pump could add more pressure, but 5 GPM flow is still the limit. And if the well pump is working at 60/80, that should be plenty of pressure for the sprinklers without using the booster pump.

You will need to adjust the sprinkler zones to use enough water so that the pump never reaches 80 PSI while the sprinklers are running. You certainly want that pump to run continuously and not to cycle on and off while irrigating. The pump won' t last long if it continually cycles on and off.

Whoever put a 1.5HP booster on a 3/4HP feed didn't know what they were doing. Remove the booster and adjust the sprinklers to match the well pump. That is all the water you have anyway.
 

Frank Demarest

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You are only going to get as much as the well pump can supply. The booster pump could add more pressure, but 5 GPM flow is still the limit. And if the well pump is working at 60/80, that should be plenty of pressure for the sprinklers without using the booster pump.

You will need to adjust the sprinkler zones to use enough water so that the pump never reaches 80 PSI while the sprinklers are running. You certainly want that pump to run continuously and not to cycle on and off while irrigating. The pump won' t last long if it continually cycles on and off.

Whoever put a 1.5HP booster on a 3/4HP feed didn't know what they were doing. Remove the booster and adjust the sprinklers to match the well pump. That is all the water you have anyway.

Thanks, that's about what I thought, it's good to have confirmation before I rip out the booster pump.
 

Valveman

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You need a larger storage tank. When the pressure drops to zero, the pump starts cavitating and that WILL destroy the pump fairly quickly.

Or like HJ says you can run the 5 GPM into a 1,000 gallon or larger storage tank. Then your 1.5HP booster can pump as much as you need to the irrigation until the storage tank is empty.
 
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