Multiple pumps on one well?

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Clif

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Hi all. New to the forum
Simple question. I own a 3 unit property with one well approx 240 ft deep and one pump ( located in basement ) on one electric panel box. Can i split off electrical seperately to each electric panel box? How can i seperate so everything is seperate and only have one well if not? Thanx again
 

Reach4

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If you found you could do it, you would decide against it because of the economics.

The power to drive a pump for apartments is not much money. What is your motivation. Trying to avoid having a fourth meter, or looking to apportion the electricity cost to the individual users?
 
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Clif

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Hi all. New to the forum
Simple question. I own a 3 unit property with one well approx 240 ft deep and one pump ( located in basement ) on one electric panel box. Can i split off electrical seperately to each electric panel box? How can i seperate so everything is seperate and only have one well if not? Thanx again
If you found you could do it, you would decide against it because of the economics.

The power to drive a pump for apartments is not much money. What is your motivation. Trying to avoid having a fourth meter, or looking to apportion the electricity cost to the individual users?

hello thanx for responding. Yes both trying to avoid fourth meter and split electricity costs to each user.
 

Reach4

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The power to pump water from a well is determined by how deep the water surface is rather than how deep the well is. 200 ft would probably be more than the actual water depth for a 200 ft well. A 1.5 HP 15 GPM pump would be big enough to pump from that deep with a 40/60 PSI system. Each person would use about 60 gallons of water per day. So if we take 10 people, figure 600 gallons per day. That is 40 minutes worth of pumping, but pumping gets slower as you approach the 60 PSI. So lets say 5o minutes of pumping. At roughly 1 KW per HP, you have 1.25 KWH per day. About 38 KWH per month. At 14 cents per KWH (above average), that is about $5.32 per month for all three apartments. So if you show the numbers to a tenant, you could probably offer to rent for $5 per month less for that one tenant. But you would not want the tenant to be able to turn off the power from his own apartment. So that argues for a 4th electric meter. How were you going to power the lights and outlets in the basement without a 4th meter?

It would be possible to have power from each apartment to be run to the basement, and the power routed to the water equipment with some kind of selection switch or even a plug+outlet system. Seems like an unneeded complication.

You could put your own electric meter in line to measure the real pull if it might become an issue. You could put water meters in line if you like if you fear some apartment will run the tub 24 hours per day for some reason. Maybe state in your contract that you have the option of adding a water meter and charging extra if there is over 8000 gallons used for an apartment per month.

Here is an example that presumes a 1 HP pump 2 hours per day. 2 hours per day is more than you should expect, but that can serve as a sanity check on my calculations.
http://www.mvea.coop/how-can-i-calculate-what-it-cost-per-hour-to-use-my-well-pump/

While doing your planning, you might want to do some water treatment. Treatment for iron, hardness, or whatever. Good water will add value to the apartments. I like kit60 http://www.karlabs.com/watertestkit/ for a home test.

In pricing, figure a new well pump and pressure tank and service every 10 years... less to be more pessimistic. Get a good big pressure tank with more drawdown than needed. So with a 15 GPM pump, I would use the tank associated with a 30 GPM pump. http://www.amtrol.com/media/documents/wellxtrol/MC7025_04_14_WXTsizingCard.pdf Well-X-Trol is the top tank, but it has a premium price. For your own accounting, set up a pretend sinking fund account to which you allocate every year 10% to 15% of the price of a new pump and pressure tank and water softener etc installed as an expense of doing business. I expect that fund will come out ahead over time.
 
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