TVL
Member
Didn't want to hijack another thread, but read something about proper cooling for submersible pump motors and would like your thoughts:
1- Many may or may not remember, but I encountered well issues in the early summer of this past year. Loooong story short; the well is used only for an irrigation system and I monitor the water well level with 1/4" tubing and a pressure gauge and for a year or so I had been experiencing very low water levels in the well. I had dropped the pump to just a few inches off the bottom (137 feet), but the water level would still settle to just a few inches above the pump intake when running. When nothing was running, the pump had approximately 20 feet of water above the intake.
2- The pump failed in mid-June and was replaced with an F&W with the same specs as the original. This pump being new, had no problem quickly pumping the well dry. The impellers on the old pump were so worn that I do not see how it was pumping any water at all! Any way, the well was 35 years old and it was suspected the screen was becoming clogged and not allowing water to flow freely. Backwashing did not help any at all!
3- So, a new well was dug just 20 feet from the original and ended up being 151 feet deep. It is suspected this is the very same aquifer as the static water level is the exact same (117 feet) and the depths are almost identical. The original well was documented as being 145 feet, but the casing went down only 137 feet.
4- Since the original well wasn't producing very well for the past year or so AND no one knew for sure if the well was going dry OR if the screen was partially plugged, everyone decided to lower the pump to 5 feet from the bottom of the newly dug well ...... or 146 feet. This would put the pump in the new well about 10 feet lower than it had been in the "old" well. And by the way, these are both 4 inch PVC SAND wells.
5- So, in the new well, the 1HP 10GPM F&W pump is approximately 29 feet under water (this well and the original BOTH had 40 feet of 4 inch PVC strainer). This past August, on a routine water cycle day, the water level in the well would drop from 117 feet to about 123 feet ................ which leaves the pump submerged under about 23 feet of water in a 4 inch PVC casing.
My question is as follows: If this continues to be the "norm", is the pump motor getting sufficient water flow around it to keep it properly cooled. I certainly do not want to pull the pump so that it can be raised a few feet, but then .................??? note: the irrigation system has 16 zones, runs a total of approximately 6 hours per day and each zone is designed to use approximately 10GPM.
Thanks for your replies!
1- Many may or may not remember, but I encountered well issues in the early summer of this past year. Loooong story short; the well is used only for an irrigation system and I monitor the water well level with 1/4" tubing and a pressure gauge and for a year or so I had been experiencing very low water levels in the well. I had dropped the pump to just a few inches off the bottom (137 feet), but the water level would still settle to just a few inches above the pump intake when running. When nothing was running, the pump had approximately 20 feet of water above the intake.
2- The pump failed in mid-June and was replaced with an F&W with the same specs as the original. This pump being new, had no problem quickly pumping the well dry. The impellers on the old pump were so worn that I do not see how it was pumping any water at all! Any way, the well was 35 years old and it was suspected the screen was becoming clogged and not allowing water to flow freely. Backwashing did not help any at all!
3- So, a new well was dug just 20 feet from the original and ended up being 151 feet deep. It is suspected this is the very same aquifer as the static water level is the exact same (117 feet) and the depths are almost identical. The original well was documented as being 145 feet, but the casing went down only 137 feet.
4- Since the original well wasn't producing very well for the past year or so AND no one knew for sure if the well was going dry OR if the screen was partially plugged, everyone decided to lower the pump to 5 feet from the bottom of the newly dug well ...... or 146 feet. This would put the pump in the new well about 10 feet lower than it had been in the "old" well. And by the way, these are both 4 inch PVC SAND wells.
5- So, in the new well, the 1HP 10GPM F&W pump is approximately 29 feet under water (this well and the original BOTH had 40 feet of 4 inch PVC strainer). This past August, on a routine water cycle day, the water level in the well would drop from 117 feet to about 123 feet ................ which leaves the pump submerged under about 23 feet of water in a 4 inch PVC casing.
My question is as follows: If this continues to be the "norm", is the pump motor getting sufficient water flow around it to keep it properly cooled. I certainly do not want to pull the pump so that it can be raised a few feet, but then .................??? note: the irrigation system has 16 zones, runs a total of approximately 6 hours per day and each zone is designed to use approximately 10GPM.
Thanks for your replies!
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