help sizing well pump

[pascal]

hi folks. our 1/2 HP goulds well pump left us today after 24 years of service, for the time being I put in a utilitech 3/4 HP. I have no expectations that this will last as long, alas the ladies in the house were not liking the thought of waiting a few days to order a new pump!



well is about 6/5" and 40' deep (according to old receipt) - pump is about 30' (guessing, forgot to measure)
wiring: ~250' 10 gauge to well, another 35 or so feet of new 10 gauge,
piping: 1' semi-flexible black piping 30' up and then the 250; to the house.
CSV PK1A side kick installed

could I get an assist on what a good pump is and what we can run to push a decent amount of water with he current wiring & pipe?

two showers at once at 65 PSI would be great the receipt for the old pump said 5GPM and was inadequate. thanks!

 

[ThirdGenPump]

There are 2 reasons someone would have installed a 5gpm pump in a well that shallow. 1. The yield is low and they didn't want to out pump it or 2. they didn't know what they were doing. Combination of the 2 is also a possibility as there are cheaper ways to limit flow. You should run the water wide open with the new pump and see if the water pulls down to the pump. You are ultimately limited by the yield of the well, putting higher volume pumps in a lower yielding well just means burning up pumps.

The utilitech you got in there now is most likely a 10gpm pump, You'd just use a 1/2hp over a 3/4. A 3/4hp10gpm and a 1/2hp10gpm will produce similar outputs at that depth.

I'd leave the utilitech in till it fails and see how you like it. Performance-wise the utilitech will be similar to other pumps, they are just cheap and won't last.

After that's done you could do another Goulds. Grunfos and Flint@Walling are also good options.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[pascal]

thanks for the info. I should have clarified we live by the seneca river (canal system) and from talking with the neighbors most of the wells are in the 40-60 range. we aren't right on the water - well is probably 2000' from it. The ladies are ruthless with water consumption and we haven't run out yet, though I see your point that the smaller pump could be holding us at bay,

The previous owners that put this in were cheap with some stuff, not others - personally I would have put a 1-1/4" line in to reduce losses over the distance.

I don't mind using the utilitech till it fails - though I would like to have a pump ready so I'm not forced to buy another one Or better yet put the utilitech away as a backup.

Goulds is local to my area so that is nice!

 

[Valveman]

With any pump cycling on and off is what destroys it. You have a Cycle Stop Valve in the PK1A kit, so that pump could last a long time.

 

[Reach4]

hanks for the info. I should have clarified we live by the seneca river (canal system) and from talking with the neighbors most of the wells are in the 40-60 range. we aren't right on the water - well is probably 2000' from it. The ladies are ruthless with water consumption and we haven't run out yet, though I see your point that the smaller pump could be holding us at bay,

The previous owners that put this in were cheap with some stuff, not others - personally I would have put a 1-1/4" line in to reduce losses over the distance.

Over what distance? Are you implying that the well is 2000 feet away? I don't think so. Ten gpm through 200 feet of 1 inch pipe will have fairly low (low is good) pressure drop. http://irrigation.wsu.edu/Content/Calculators/General/Pipeline-Pressure-Loss.php The altitude difference will have more effect.

As ThirdGenPump pointed out, a 1/2 HP 5 gpm pump is longer than a 10 gpm pump, because it has more stages. It costs more than a 1/2 HP 10 gpm pump.

 

[pascal]

Over what distance? Are you implying that the well is 2000 feet away? I don't think so. Ten gpm through 200 feet of 1 inch pipe will have fairly low (low is good) pressure drop. http://irrigation.wsu.edu/Content/Calculators/General/Pipeline-Pressure-Loss.php The altitude difference will have more effect.

As ThirdGenPump pointed out, a 1/2 HP 5 gpm pump is longer than a 10 gpm pump, because it has more stages. It costs more than a 1/2 HP 10 gpm pump.

I can see why my post was confusing well is 250' to house and 35-40' down. we are fairly close to a water body which I suspect plays a role in not running out of water