Stainless verses Thermoplastic Impellers

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Rutherfordman

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Neighbor just had their 5 HP submersible replaced. Original pump was a Grundfos stainless steel impeller and it lasted over 10 years. The one replaced after that had a thermoplastic impeller I believe and it only lasted 7 years, evidently the motor was good but the impeller was shot according to the well guy. I guess the $3000.00+ question is will a stainless impeller last longer than a thermoplastic for this type of pump (high head submersible)? These wells are about 750 ft deep so they are expensive to maintain. They serve multiple properties depending on output. I have a similar situation although my second pump is still OK with about 6 years on it. I live in my house where the other folks – two houses are weekend or less second home folks.
 

VAWellDriller

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Either style of impeller is just fine, and properly applied CAN last 20 years easily. The more important details as to which would better suit you would be water quality, presence of debris in the water, static and pumping water levels, flow rate, and cycles per day. These are the more important factors that determine a pump or motor's life span. I do a lot of work with 5 - 25 hp pumps, and making a good pump pick .....working in the middle of it's curve is crucial to maximizing pump life....
 

Rutherfordman

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OK, just wondering if there was a quality difference between the materials. I guess alot rides on how well the person sizing the pump knows how to use the curves. My well has less output than theirs but also much less debri. I have a filter at the house but really don't need it and have put it in bypass now for many years. It was interesting watching the guy put the pipe back in. 700+ feet of 1-1/4" galv. pipe is alot of work. I especially thought the little vice contraption they use to hold the pipe while they thread the next section on was interesting. It was a simple thing but I got to thinking how much weight must be on it with all that pipe and pump. Plus it just rested on a 6" PVC casing. Pretty amazing.
 

VAWellDriller

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There is a difference in materials and quality....though sometimes I wonder if the stainless really is any better when it's almost as thin as soda can.....a piece of sand grit that lands in the wrong place in a pump can destroy either impeller.....if there is much heavy debris or sand, I've had great luck with Lakos in well sand seperators...they are a centrifugal sand seperator that you install on the pump like a shroud....the debris is spun out of the water before the pump ever touches it. 700' of 1 1/4 is a little weight...not in the grand scheme of things....we recently pulled a 100 hp on 462' of 6" steel...weighed about 13000 lbs with water weight and 00 pump cable.
 

Craigpump

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I have used those in well Lakos seperators too, they work great! Whole house filters are ok, but the material still passes through the pump wearing it out....

460' of 6".... You didn't do that with a 5t Smeal! Hopefully you have a pipe spinner.
 

VAWellDriller

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We have a 5t and a 6t, both max at 12000....had to rent a crane; unfortunately, no spinner.....chain tongs and 8' cheater bars. It was one day out and another day in.
 

Craigpump

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Tongs. Oh that sucks. Did you have a way to tail out the pipe with a winch or did you do that by hand too?
 

Rutherfordman

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Yep my driller told me the same thing about the stainless so you just verified that. He has been pretty honest with me over the years so although I have choices I have stuck with him. When he does a pump replacement he also recommends a new control box. Being a poor mountain hillbilly I can't usually swing that so he just told me to bring the new one back when he did my pump last time and he would take the charge off. He gave me a new set of contacts for my old one and said that's all it probably needs. Can't beat that. My box takes alot of abuse from lightning. Even with the breaker off and ground from the pole disconnected (I have it on a plug) it can still get my box. Franklin Electric is great as they have directions on the cover on how to test the components even for an electrically challenged person as myself. Everytime lightning cooks my box it is the same part, the relay. I keep a spare box and hook it up until I rebuild the other with the $50.00 part. Better than a new box, usually happens once a year, just got hit last week with a close in strike. Part of living on a mountain I guess. I get a very small bit of grit, it is a very hard material so probably bad for the pump. The other folks get more of a clay material I think in much greater quantity to where they have to filter. I design commercial plumbing systems for hospitals (no not one of them college boys, just learned it from others and been doing it 25 years) so I am somewhat familiar with pumps. Don't do any well pumps so these submersible ones are amazing to me with the head they can develop.
 

Craigpump

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Why don't you just pull the control box cover off when there is lightning and save having to buy relays?
 
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