Suggestions for brands of well pump?

[Odysseus99]

Hi folks, looking for a little advice here from those of you with knowledge about well pumps.

Next week a driller will be on my site and will start drilling a well. I plan to install the pump, wire and pipe myself. So I've been surfing the web looking at pump options. There are a lot of brands- hard to choose. I'd like your experience and insight on what pump brand to buy.

Judging from my neighbors, I'll probably have a static level at 250-300 feet, then another 50-60 to get up into my 2500 gal storage tank (no pressure tank) so I'm looking at a 5 or 7 gpm pump, 3/4 to 1 horsepower in all likelihood. Probably not a lot of sand in the well for the pump to deal with. Hoping for at least a 10gpm draw rate at the well.

I plan to use a standard 230v AC 3 wire powered off a generator to top off the tank, probably 3-4 times a year. Vacation cabin.

I want to get a higher quality pump that will stand the best chance of lasting a very long time. So, thus far, it seems like Goulds is a good choice. Aqua Science sells them, and a 7gpm 3/4 horse 3 wire with controller from them is about $630. Sound like a good deal? Anyone dealt with Aqua Science before?

I've heard some people say they are dissatisfied with Grundfos 4" pumps. Any experience with them?

Flint and Walling have a good reputation. Dean Bennett supply has them, but a comparable pump to the Goulds from Aqua Science costs $850 from Dean Bennett. Seems high. Are Flint and Walling superior, worth the extra?

Franklin Electric is famous for their motors, so I gather, and they make good pumps. Haven't been able to find an internet supplier that sells them online.

Seems like there are few online retailers of the higher quality pumps, lots of sellers of cheaper pumps. I guess that the better pumps are mostly sold wholesale to driller's suppliers, but don't know.

Thoughts?

 

[Reach4]

Schaefer is Frankin Electric's pump brand. You will find sellers using that name.

http://www.franklin-electric.com/residential-light-commercial/schaefer-pumps.aspx

I think you will want a 5 inch casing where it is cased. That will give you a lot of space for a 3.9 inch "4 inch" pump plus some margin.

http://justicewater.com/articles/baad-pumps is an interesting article and I like it. It is not very recent. So things have changed since the article was writen. Some virus checkers give a virus warning; I think it is a false positive. However if you search for ""years ago both Sta-rite and Goulds asked Franklin Electric" (with the quotes) on Google and choose the cached version, you could avoid any worry.

You might want to bring up that you are looking for suggestions on a generator-friendly pump earlier in your post. You can click edit if you want to adjust. You might even change the title to that effect.

Setting a pump down that far is pretty tough for a DIYer. I think you will be using poly pipe to do that, since you are not going to have a derrick truck.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Craigpump]

Depending on where you are in Ca. the well will probably be lined to help prevent cave ins due to tremors.

There is NO safe way to install a pump on poly by hand with a static level of 250-300 feet, the weight is simply too much. Too many things can go wrong.

Gotta know the depth and yield before sizing a pump, offset distance to properly size wire.

Grundfos makes a terrific pump! We pulled one last week that was installed in 1987. I think a Grundfos pump with a Franklin motor is the way to go.

No experience with new Flint and Wallings, but we pulled an old one a while back that that had holes in the cast iron discharge head.... F&W makes their own motors now, a friend of mine installs them and says he hasn't had any issues.

Goulds is no better than the rest, but they have the name.

Downside to online dealers, if the pump craps out you have to pull it, send it back, wait for another, reinstall it....in other words too many potential hassles.

 

[Odysseus99]

thanks guys
Reach- good article. I'll get Franklin for the motor one way or the other
Craigpump- what would you say is the limit on depth that a poly pipe and pump can be installed by hand?

 

[Reach4]

thanks guys
Reach- good article. I'll get Franklin for the motor one way or the other
Craigpump- what would you say is the limit on depth that a poly pipe and pump can be installed by hand?

I think you would need to define "by hand". Are you picturing grabbing the poly pipe and going hand over hand? Not nearly what you were thinking of.

 

[Odysseus99]

I think you would need to define "by hand". Are you picturing grabbing the poly pipe and going hand over hand? Not nearly what you were thinking of.

Yes, that's what I pictured- three guys, two lowering the pipe hand over hand, the third guiding the pipe to the well head and attaching the T to the pitless once we get down there. What would you say is the limit of depth that this method will work? 200 ft to the static level?

Beyond that, please describe the support mechanism you use- tripod with winch? How do you grab the poly pipe with the winch? thanks for helping a beginner.

 

[Reach4]

Beyond that, please describe the support mechanism you use- tripod with winch? How do you grab the poly pipe with the winch? thanks for helping a beginner.

I have never put a pump in. I had well people with a derrick pump do that. In a few hours, and pulling, digging out and destroying a pit, welding on a casing extension, putting the pump back was done. The pump was only 140 ft down on threaded schedule 80 PVC.

I have seen an interesting youtube video (in 3 parts) where the people built structural framing over the casing. The structure had a vehicle wheel serving as a large pulley. The main lifting and lowering muscle was provided by a 4WD pickup truck that towed a rope attached securely to the poly. Communication with the driver was with signals and yelling, and it was often not that effective.

I don't find those videos now.

If you are going to do it yourself, I expect you will use poly. https://terrylove.com/forums/index....ease-help-me-decide-350-2hp-replacement.39220 may have some useful info.

Keep your health and liability insurance up to date.

If you could rent a "Pul-A-Pump" or up-z-dazy locally, that would be good to consider.

 

[Valveman]

I have installed a 3/4HP on 200+ feet of 1" poly by hand. The real question is the static water level. Mine was at 2' from the surface. This made the pipe and pump so buoyant that I nearly had to push the pipe into the well. I can actually lift it with one hand.

There is a big difference if the static water level is at 100' or 180'. I tried to pull up on that pump while the well was pulled down from pumping hard. I couldn't budge it. It gets very heavy if the static water level is deep. I just had to wait for the well to recover most of the way before I could pull it up.

 

[Craigpump]

There are guys around here who hang pumps on 500' of poly all the time. Like Valveman said, where's the static level? Three guy wrestling 500' off poly into a well with a 250' static is a recipe for disaster. Even with an Up Z Dazy you still have to set the pitless....

A few years back we got a call from a guy with no water. We went over, the pump was bad and needed to be changed. He didn't like my price or another guys, so he decided to pull 600'' of sch 80 by hand, in the middle of winter, in one continuos length.

He went to a local supplier, bought a pump (the wrong one), new #10 pump cable and started running it in. Everything was good until the last piece, that's where it broke sending everything down the hole.

Long story short, we fished it all out, sold him new wire and new couplings. As his wife paid us, he said he would never do it again.

 

[LLigetfa]

I often say "If you don't have the money (time) to do it right, where will you find the money (time) to do it over?".

The pump on poly is easier going down cuz there's no water in the pipe. Pulling it up full of water is another matter.

 

[Valveman]

Everything was good until the last piece, that's where it broke sending everything down the hole.

Its always the last inch that gets you. That is when it gets heavy, nothing to hold onto, and you have to go slow and precise to set it on the pitless or the well seal. If it only has a couple of feet to fall you can fish it back up. But if it set 200’ off bottom it has a long way to fall. Even 20’ down is hard to get a hold on.

He was lucky you were able to get that out. What a rat’s nest!

The pump on poly is easier going down cuz there's no water in the pipe. Pulling it up full of water is another matter.

It is easier going down because you are letting it down instead of pulling it up. The water fills the pump and pipe to the static level as you go. So there is water in the pipe coming and going. But water below the static level doesn’t weigh anything, so the higher the static level the less the pipe string weighs. Also poly is fairly buoyant so the higher the static water level the more float you get from the pipe.

 

[Reach4]

Its always the last inch that gets you. That is when it gets heavy, nothing to hold onto, and you have to go slow and precise to set it on the pitless or the well seal. If it only has a couple of feet to fall you can fish it back up. But if it set 200’ off bottom it has a long way to fall. Even 20’ down is hard to get a hold on.

Why wouldn't the T-handle screwed onto the pitless keep the pipe from falling down the casing?

 

[LLigetfa]

It would if they had it screwed on before they lost it.

 

[Valveman]

Why wouldn't the T-handle screwed onto the pitless keep the pipe from falling down the casing?

No the tee handle will hit hard and the pipe or a connection will break, which is how most people drop pumps.

 

[Craigpump]

Maybe it would, maybe it wouldn't. If the "T" breaks off, now you have more stuff in the hole to contend with.

Hoist trucks are the way to go

 

[Odysseus99]

Thanks for the insight folks.

So tell me- what do you think is the greatest depth to static water level that it's safe to set a pump by hand using poly? 50'? 100'? 150'? 200'?

I'm thinking no tripod or support, just two people hand over hand.

 

[Craigpump]

We've done 100' over a roller, but it gets heavy really quick. One wrong move would seriously injure you and/or your helper.

You're really better off hiring someone with a houst truck to set the pump on rigid pipe.

 

[Odysseus99]

Yeah Craigpump, I'm rapidly coming to that conclusion. Thanks