Is the pump defective?

[Thomas Doyle]

My lawn irrigation pump stopped working. The motor froze up. Not sure what kind of pump although the motor was an A O Smith. Couldn't find any A O Smith irrigation pumps online, only motors. Did some further research on line and settled on a Gould pump.

I bought a 1.5 hp Gould G15s irrigation pump from Pump Products. After I installed it and turned it on I got very little flow or pressure. No water came out of any of the sprinklers.

What I have done:

When I installed the electrical I checked the rotation of the pump and it is clockwise as per the manual

Re plumbed for the configuration of the new pump which was different from the old pump.
When I cut off the pipe from the well there was water in the pipe indicating that the well check valve was working.

Before starting the pump I back filled the pump and pipes with house water using a facet in the output pipe between the pump and zone control valves.

Turned on the pump and checked the zones to see which was getting water. None were.

Opened the facet on the output line to see if the pump was working Some water was coming out and when I held the hose vertically water squirted up 6 inches.

There is a ball valve between the facet and the zone control valve. I closed this valve so that all the output was directed to the hose. Now the water squirted 2 feet. In comparison, house pressure squirts 6 feet.

I connected the hose to house water, turned on the pump then turned on house water. With the combined input from the house and pump all sprinkler zone work fine. When I turn off the house water the sprinkler dwindles to a dribble.

I use well water to top off the swimming pool. With the old pump water would shoot out 8-10 feet and I would need to brace the hose end to keep it from moving. With the new pump water shot out 2-3 feet and no bracing was required.

Less than two weeks elapsed between the failure of the old pump and instillation of the new.

Trouble shooting:

I rechecked the rotation. The manual says the motor should rotate clockwise from the motor end. It does. The info plate on the motor says that it is counter clockwise from the shaft end which I took to men the output shaft end.

I checked the electrical. 238 volts across the terminals, 120 on one leg and 128 on the other.

I closed the ball valve before the zone control and pressurized the pump and pipes with house pressure. No leaks on the new plumbing.

Looked up Gould pumps on Google. Called and went straight to voice mail. Left 8 or 10 messages over 4 or 5 days. No response.

Called Pump Products to see if they would help. Was promised an email with contact information for technical support. Never got the email.

Called Pump Products and was given Gould Tech support email address over the phone.
No response from Gould.

Pump Products agreed to replace the pump.

The question is:

Is the pump defective or just not adequate for the job? Pump Products has agreed to replace it but what to replace it with?

 

[Reach4]

I think you may mean GT15. I did not find a G15S.

Is the pump defective or just not adequate for the job? Pump Products has agreed to replace it but what to replace it with?

Pumps are made to produce a volume of water and a pressure. To pick a pump, you would want to know what pressure you need/want out of the pump, as well as an idea of the gpm you want. That Gt15 might be good for 30 or 40 psi.

How far water squirts will depend on things including the diameter of pipe coming out. Water coming out of a 1.5 inch diameter hole may not squirt very far where water at a higher pressure through a smaller hose or nozzle might squirt farther.

https://www.lockewell.com/pdf/goulds/GT_IRRIGATOR.pdf

Looking at the graphs, 1 psi is a little less than 2 ft of dynamic head.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Valveman]

Picture of the old pump?

 

[Thomas Doyle]

I think you may mean GT15. I did not find a G15S.


Pumps are made to produce a volume of water and a pressure. To pick a pump, you would want to know what pressure you need/want out of the pump, as well as an idea of the gpm you want. That Gt15 might be good for 30 or 40 psi.

How far water squirts will depend on things including the diameter of pipe coming out. Water coming out of a 1.5 inch diameter hole may not squirt very far where water at a higher pressure through a smaller hose or nozzle might squirt farther.

https://www.lockewell.com/pdf/goulds/GT_IRRIGATOR.pdf

Looking at the graphs, 1 psi is a little less than 2 ft of dynamic head.

I think you may mean GT15. I did not find a G15S.


Pumps are made to produce a volume of water and a pressure. To pick a pump, you would want to know what pressure you need/want out of the pump, as well as an idea of the gpm you want. That Gt15 might be good for 30 or 40 psi.

How far water squirts will depend on things including the diameter of pipe coming out. Water coming out of a 1.5 inch diameter hole may not squirt very far where water at a higher pressure through a smaller hose or nozzle might squirt farther.

https://www.lockewell.com/pdf/goulds/GT_IRRIGATOR.pdf

Looking at the graphs, 1 psi is a little less than 2 ft of dynamic head.

You are right it is a GT15. When I was researching pumps before purchase I found a table which said that the GT15 output was 54 gpm at 40 psi. I don't know what the performance of the old pump was other than it was 1.5 hp. My largest sprinkler zone has 10 heads. At 3 gpm per head I need at least 30 gpm so the GT15 is more than enough. The pump doesn't put out enough for the smallest zone which is 5 heads The only direct pump to pump comparison I can make is topping off the pool. The old pump put out more pressure and volume.
The name on the old pump was faded to invisibility, only the motor information was legible. When the new pump arrived I removed toe old pump and put it out on the curb, someone came along and picked it up.

 

[Thomas Doyle]

Picture of the old pump?

No, tossed the old pump when the new pump arrived. If there was a name on it it was faded to invisibility. Only the motor plate was readable.

 

[Reach4]

At 3 gpm per head

What is the sprinkler head?

 

[WorthFlorida]

Irrigation pumps do not fail unless it is not turning. It's only a motor with a shaft seal and an impeller. You prime it at the pump and you should have installed a plug at the top of the pump housing just for priming. Your model does read self priming but not completely dry. It sometimes take several attempts to get the well water up to the the check valve. It could have leaked a little and the water level dropped. While the pump is running, pour water over the intake to see if there are any leaks. A tiny pin hole will prevent full suction and water over any leak will usually seal it for a few seconds. 1.5 HP 220v is plenty of HP and the same size I had on my well at my last home.

A O Smith and a few other companies sold out or merged and now all irrigation pumps, at least with those with hydro glass structure are all made in Mexico and all replacement motors are made in Mexico. You could have just replaced the motor on the old pump with a new seal. All can be bought at Pinch A Penny. You can have any name on the label and HD name theirs FloTech. Gould is a good pump are cast iron housing. Look at the label, the motor was probably made in Mexico and it is the same motor as your old pump and used on pool pumps.

 

[Valveman]

Test the pump circulating water in a bucket. If it works fine from the bucket then the well is the problem.

 

[Thomas Doyle]

Irrigation pumps do not fail unless it is not turning. It's only a motor with a shaft seal and an impeller. You prime it at the pump and you should have installed a plug at the top of the pump housing just for priming. Your model does read self priming but not completely dry. It sometimes take several attempts to get the well water up to the the check valve. It could have leaked a little and the water level dropped. While the pump is running, pour water over the intake to see if there are any leaks. A tiny pin hole will prevent full suction and water over any leak will usually seal it for a few seconds. 1.5 HP 220v is plenty of HP and the same size I had on my well at my last home.

A O Smith and a few other companies sold out or merged and now all irrigation pumps, at least with those with hydro glass structure are all made in Mexico and all replacement motors are made in Mexico. You could have just replaced the motor on the old pump with a new seal. All can be bought at Pinch A Penny. You can have any name on the label and HD name theirs FloTech. Gould is a good pump are cast iron housing. Look at the label, the motor was probably made in Mexico and it is the same motor as your old pump and used on pool pumps.

Irrigation pumps do not fail unless it is not turning. It's only a motor with a shaft seal and an impeller. You prime it at the pump and you should have installed a plug at the top of the pump housing just for priming. Your model does read self priming but not completely dry. It sometimes take several attempts to get the well water up to the the check valve. It could have leaked a little and the water level dropped. While the pump is running, pour water over the intake to see if there are any leaks. A tiny pin hole will prevent full suction and water over any leak will usually seal it for a few seconds. 1.5 HP 220v is plenty of HP and the same size I had on my well at my last home.

A O Smith and a few other companies sold out or merged and now all irrigation pumps, at least with those with hydro glass structure are all made in Mexico and all replacement motors are made in Mexico. You could have just replaced the motor on the old pump with a new seal. All can be bought at Pinch A Penny. You can have any name on the label and HD name theirs FloTech. Gould is a good pump are cast iron housing. Look at the label, the motor was probably made in Mexico and it is the same motor as your old pump and used on pool pumps.

Priming the pump is not the problem. When Installed the pump there was water in the well pipe indicating the check valve was working. I filled the pump with house water and got immediate flow from the as soon as I turned it on. The problem is that there wasn't very much flow, only a little water dribbled out of the sprinkler head. The problem is that every time I turned on the pump I got flow just not much of it. Nowhere near the 54 gpm I expected.
The old pump was working fine when it stopped, putting out plenty of water and the sprinkler heads were working fine. It could be that the water table had dropped between the time the old pump stopped and the replacement pump was installed but that was only two weeks and I don't think it would drop that fast.
I did check for a suction leak by filling the pump and pipes with house pressure which seems to be higher than pump pressure. No leaks on the suction side.
I thought about replacing the motor on the old pump even locating a replacement. When I tried to disassemble the old pump I couldn't get the motor shaft to release from the pump. Also the pump was making a lot of noise and I thought that the pump bearing were going. Just as soon go for a new pump. Somebody thought the old pump was worth something as when I put it out on the curb it was gone before the garbage men got it.

 

[Valveman]

The GT15 will only do 54 GPM from 40' of head. 40' is the same as 17 PSI. You need about 40 PSI (92' of head) to make sprinklers squirt very far. That pump will still do about 30 GPM at 40 PSI, as long as the water level in the well isn't very deep.