Pump selection

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bak1057

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Howdy, after 33 years my Grundfos 16s15-14 pump gave up the ghost.
My well was 257' deep when drilled and as I recall the gentleman set the pump one stick up from the bottom of the bore. I cannot find that info now so I can't swear to it, my 70 year old brain skips a beat now and then.
First water according to the well log was about 120' but there is no mention of static level (I'd assume that it would be the same as first water?)
The well produced 25 gpm when drilled. Beautiful water if I say so myself.
The water is pumped out of the well into a 7500 gallon storage tank maybe 15' above the well and then gravity fed to the house so there is no pressure tank.
Sorry for taking you "the long way around the barn," trying to get all the info in the post.....Anyhow I know the 16 gpm pump is over sized for our needs, what I'm trying to decide is which is better, a pump that cycles less (the 16 gpm) or would a smaller pump that runs longer, say 1 h.p. 10 gpm be a better choice?
Also, the old pump was installed with 1 1/4" galvanized, would you stick with galvanized or changeover to pvc?
Another also....I'm trying especially hard not to buy Chinese, I don't want to support those trying to kill us. Do you know if any drop pipe is made in the USA?
Thank You for suffering through my ignorance.
 

Fitter30

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1.250" gal pipe weighs 2.73 lbs per ft. 57 lbs a length
Well pump company can pull it, inspect the pipe, measure the depth and recommended a pump that they use.
 

bak1057

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1.250" gal pipe weighs 2.73 lbs per ft. 57 lbs a length
Well pump company can pull it, inspect the pipe, measure the depth and recommended a pump that they use.
Thank you for your reply, actually they are saying either pump will do the job. At the time the well was originally drilled , I asked the pump company to oversize the pump in case of wildfire. In 2003 we had a major fire. 160 homes in our area burned up. I had given my genny to a friend who needed it prior to the fire and of course we lost utility power. We survived just fine with the 7,500 I had on hand and the exterior sprinklers I mounted under the eaves even though the fire burned right up to the house. So given the fact either pump would do the job, is it better to have a larger pump that cycles less or a smaller pump that runs longer? Thanks again.
 

Valveman

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That pump lasted 33 years. Why would you want to change a thing? I would go back with the same pump. Cycling don't matter much when just filling a cistern. You can put more distance between the on and off positions of the float switch to get longer pump runs with any pump.
 

Reach4

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If filling the cistern tank with the well pump, a lower powered pump would be better IMO.

Do you really need the cistern in the path?

To just fill the cistern from 240 ft, a 1/2 HP 7 gpm or even 10 gpm would probably do the job fine.

To supply the house and barn directly, a 10 gpm 1 HP or a 7 gpm 3/4 HP would give plenty of pressure.
index.php
 

bak1057

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That pump lasted 33 years. Why would you want to change a thing? I would go back with the same pump. Cycling don't matter much when just filling a cistern. You can put more distance between the on and off positions of the float switch to get longer pump runs with any pump.
Thank you
 

bak1057

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If filling the cistern tank with the well pump, a lower powered pump would be better IMO.

Do you really need the cistern in the path?

To just fill the cistern from 240 ft, a 1/2 HP 7 gpm or even 10 gpm would probably do the job fine.

To supply the house and barn directly, a 10 gpm 1 HP or a 7 gpm 3/4 HP would give plenty of pressure.
index.php
Thank you.
 

bak1057

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Thank you
Excellent points, I was thinking the same thing hard to knock 33 years and that was with galvanized pipe. One advantage of the smaller pump I guess would be less generator in the event of a power failure. My 5k Honda generator is beginning to get heavy for this old man but with 7,500 gallons on hand, we can wait a bit to refill. I had not even considered changing it until the pump guy suggested it. So I got to thinking maybe the pump lasted so long in part because it did not cycle often. Thank you for your time.
 

bak1057

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If filling the cistern tank with the well pump, a lower powered pump would be better IMO.

Do you really need the cistern in the path?

To just fill the cistern from 240 ft, a 1/2 HP 7 gpm or even 10 gpm would probably do the job fine.

To supply the house and barn directly, a 10 gpm 1 HP or a 7 gpm 3/4 HP would give plenty of pressure.
index.php
Yes, the storage tank is necessary, it gravity feeds to supply our household water and provide water for wildfire if necessary. Very tempting to go smaller on one hand, pump would have to run longer to fill but less electricity to power with a backup generator and cheaper to purchase initially. I'll lookup the specs on these two pumps. Thank you for your time.
 
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