Shallow Well pump change

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Hwkmn05

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The water was left on in my barn recently and ran the spring down. It did recover in 4 hours. Spring is turn of century and redone in 1969 with 5 ft tiles, 3 deep. During inspection with excavator for Rehab of area, an old pump was on the ground next to it, a Goulds 1/3 hp, year code C83, according to neighbor who helped change once, guess is that is last change of a submersible pump, 25 to 30 years ago. Ive been here 14 years. Run to house is level to slight downhill, 275 to 300 ft away, pressure tank in basement. For ease of install and monitoring, would it be wise to swap out submersible for jet pump? I have great pressure now and dont want to lose that. The noise factor is a concern so possible to install in detached garage where lines run through. If not, what submersible pump should I install next? Thoughts to have on hand until present pump dies.
 

Reach4

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A 1/2 HP 10 gpm would be cheaper than a 1/3 HP pump. Do put a flow inducer on the pump. How deep is the water? The pump could be horizontal. 2-wire 1/2 hp submersible pumps are good. Probably not as good as the old pump with the Franklin motor. If the current pump still works, I would stay with that. But plan ahead so you could move quickly if the old pump dies 2 or 20 years from now. Would a new pump fail later than the existing pump? Maybe, maybe not.

Jet pumps are more problems. Do you know about priming? Jet pump owners do. Were you thinking of putting the jet pump into a non-freezing garage?

Incidentally, the latest turn of the century was 2000 . ;-)
 
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Hwkmn05

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Gosh youre right, I dated myself! Agree on the 1/2 HP, 1/3 are not available I believe. The jet pump is out, makes little sense with priming and pressure issues. Water is 3 tiles down with half of top tile out of ground so roughly 7 feet, runs out at seam non stop. Why 2 wire on a 230 volt in there presently? Good call on the horizontal install, I like that. Right now its hanging vertically near bottom.
 

Reach4

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While 3-wire pumps are more efficient, and start easier with a generator, for 1/2 hp pumps, the difference is small. Advantage of 2-wire is that you don't have to mount a control box at the well, or in the basement.
 

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Just to be clear, I would be reducing the DP 40 breaker to a S20 amp while eliminating one wire and disconnecting the control box on pressure tank? Still would keep pressure switch?
 

Reach4

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I think so. Some would suggest that you turn the unused wire into a ground wire. Mine is not grounded.

Same pressure switch with the same wiring. My control box is still on the wall, but with the innards removed and the wires spliced in there.

If he old pump was 3 wire, there is not really a problem with 3-wire. If using a Grundfos 4-inch pump, 3-wire would be the better choice, since their 2-wire motors for 4-inch pumps have caused problems for some.
 

Bannerman

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Just to be clear, I would be reducing the DP 40 breaker to a S20 amp while eliminating one wire and disconnecting the control box on pressure tank? Still would keep pressure switch?

A 230 volt pump will continue to require a 2-pole breaker.

The difference between a 2-wire and a 3-wire pump is the 3-wire requires a control box, and the 3rd wire is run from the control box to the pump.
 

Hwkmn05

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There are differences between a 3 wire vs a 2 wire pump. If there is a 3 wire in that spring now which Im most certain there is with a control box inside, I wont be changing it to a 2 wire. The biggest difference is when the control box or capacitor fails on a 2 wire, the fix involves pulling the pump from the spring. A 3 wire disadvantage is mostly the initial cost of thicker wiring and set up. The 3 wire may have been installed for greater torque to increase pressure over 250 ft from the house.
 

Reach4

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3-wire has some advantages, but after the first few seconds, there is no advantage unless you use a CSR box. Initial higher starting torque is not usually an advantage. 3-wire has more connections.

The 3-wire with the CSR box has a run capacitor, which reduces power consumption a bit. But for a house, power consumption for a 1/2 hp well pump is minimal due to the duty cycle.

A disadvantage of 3-wire pumps is the start capacitor is a non-polarized electrolytic. They have limited lifetime... 8-10 years might be typical, but that depends not only on age, but also the number of starts. A run capacitor is not electrolytic, and thus does not have that degradation.

I am not against 3-wire pumps, especially if you might want to run the pump from a generator. A Franklin 2-wire motor uses a higher resistance start coil instead of a capacitor. I don't know how the Faradyne and Grundfos 2-wire pumps compare, but I suspect that they may be less reliable.

Again, I am not trying to talk you out of 3-wire. The higher the power, the more 3-wire becomes more desirable. Do search this forum for flow inducer.
 
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Hwkmn05

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Im not concerned with power usage, it would be a minimal savings. We lose power more than 5 times per year and the generator has worked excellent for water and water heater. Franklin is in there presently, but Im not certain that is what we will use this time. Im actually leaning towards doing nothing about the pump until it fails because I can get it swapped same day by a well driller here for $200 in labor, chump change for that service. Rehabing the area and maybe filtering for drinking quality is priority now.
 

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I like your plan. If you plan to store your own in-reserve 4-inch pump, I think you want it immersed in water with a few drops of chlorine bleach. There is water+ non-poison antifreeze in most 4 inch pumps, and if storing over two years, protect from drying out. There has been discussion on that.
 

Hwkmn05

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Yes, I would purchase and store pump (with supply issues these days), and in an emergency, call installer. Great idea on the immersion.
 
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