Submersible well pump health?

[tomplum]

We're not having any apparent issues with the pump. Are there indicators that I can check to determine health of the pump? Like amp draw as an example? Our well is 160' deep and 25 years old. I've no clue if anything had been done with the well itself since. If logic says to replace it, what do I look for to replace it with? I had another thread on the pump house being rebuilt earlier, but it looks like the actual build will be next spring. I thought this may be a good time to ensure the well health.

 

[Carl_NH]

Wow - 25 years on the same pump - that's really good life - get another one like it! As far as pump health you can check the amperage - you need to know the pump HP its probably a 1/2 or 3/4 HP, and an Ampmeter and if it has a two wire (no control box) or three wire (will have a control box) pump motor.

See the attached gould pump manual -the two wire 1/2 HP 230V runs 5-6 amps, and 3/4 HP 6-8 Amps. You can also check the windings with an ohm meter to see the health of the motor.

The biggest thing impacting pump life is # of starts and run time, so either have a large storage tank like Wellextrol, 20 gal drawdown, and or install a cycle stop keeps the pump running during water use.

 

[ponytug]

FWIW: If you are really serious about knowing, well pump specialists can come out and measure the quality of the insulation on the motor, its' efficiency (and therefore wear), but at the end of the day failure is not a predictable event on a single unit. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

At that age, I would mentally put aside the money to have the pump replaced, and then don't sweat it. If your water supply is mission critical, plumb in a storage tank with enough of a reserve to get you through whatever you think the delay would be in getting your well pump team out. In clean water, with not running the pump dry, and no lightning induced power surges, pumps can last a long time. You may have a gem!

All the best,

Peter

 

[tomplum]

I have the original install paperwork and 6 years ago they replaced the pressure tank. The rest is a big question mark. We've been here for 5, the last people for 9. My guess is if they had it done that I'd have the paperwork. The only time critical thing here is everything is wide open now. It would just be easier. Thanks for the manual.

 

[PILOON]

I looked after and or are aware of most well pump installations on my lake of 75 homes.
They range from lake water to 400 ft wells.
Proper installation is important.
Using all brass or stainless fittings goes a long way to a healthy system as does quality bladder tanks.
(dissimilar metals created corrosion and often quite rapidly)
Most problems that I found were related to air leaks and or corroded fittings with rust growth clogging lines.
From gathered experience my observation is that 25 years is definitely to be expected and probably much more.
I know of some installations that are in the 50-60 year range.
Many modern improvements (fiberglass bladder tanks, solid state relays etc) will assure even longer life.

One common maintenance item is the start capacitor so the pumps that have the control box in the pump house are at an advantage.
Pressure control switches are probably the most common item but fortunately always easy to reach and at a reasonable cost.

 

[Roadworthy]

My five horsepower pump is at 440 feet. This summer a wire came loose and shorted to ground. The pump had to come up to effect a repair. I replaced the pump and motor as well as the controller. I felt after twenty five years it was a good time. My neighbor's pump went in at the same time as mine. He started shedding blades from his impeller within a month of me replacing my pump. Yes, we both have Cycle Stops. In my experience I've not needed to replace a start capacitor. I have replaced the run capacitor a couple of times.

 

[RoyKing]

I've got 37 years on a sta-rite 20gpm pump, hit by lightening twice, pulled like 5 times to replace drop pipe rust through, 3 or 4 pressure switches, rebuilt control box.

 

[PILOON]

I'll add that using blue poly B pipe has paid off big time. No rust thru to contend with.
Also learned early in the game to use dual clamps on all fittings as they do rust away.*
And I always heat the fittings B4 clamping the Poly B as it really makes the barbed fittings hold well.
Oddly enough stainless barbed fittings are currently cheaper than brass so it is the way to go now.

*While the hose clamps are stainless I discovered the clamping screws are plain hard steel so they tend to corrode, hence dual clamps to better the odds.

 

[tomplum]

I've not pulled the cap to do a visual. Nor any electrical test yet. The thought popped in my head about how long they should last and the Googler said 15 years. It got me thinking. For most of it's life, it dealt with a family of 3 for ~ 10 years and a couple owned the home before us. It's just us two now for the most part.

I had to move my pressure tank when the pump house came down. Lots of rust in the galvanized pipes from the adapter to the tank. All outside will be PVC. Good to hear that pumps can last a long time. My only other experience with a well was a non submersible pump.

My well output is apparently on the low side. Not that we've ever noticed. I can fill a bucket faster than I want to fill it. I don't really know what affects that. We had a well test / water test done 5 years ago before buying. It's lowest is 5 gallons per minute on an extended test. That is the same as what it was when it was put in back in the 90's. Though since we bought, I had replaced the supply line with 1" PVC to the house and 3/4" to the shop. It had that lovely blue pipe that failed. I don't recall what that was called. We had one of those break on my other house about 3 months after their special policy ended.

 

[fried1765]

I've got 37 years on a sta-rite 20gpm pump, hit by lightening twice, pulled like 5 times to replace drop pipe rust through, 3 or 4 pressure switches, rebuilt control box.

Why use galvanized steel pipe?
Poly pipe will NEVER "rust through"

 

[lman]

25 years here. Never been pulled. Using original bladder tank. Water heater same age. All original when house was built 25 years ago.

 

[fruitcakesa]

We got 20+ years out of our 115v 1/2 hp Goulds sub pump at 205 feet. Finally seized up a couple Februarys ago.
Pump guys came quickly and replaced it in 2 hours with a Franklin 220v unit. They had a pipe winder on the truck, we used poly pipe so it came up easily

 

[fried1765]

25 years here. Never been pulled. Using original bladder tank. Water heater same age. All original when house was built 25 years ago.

That 25 year old water heater is now anxiously awaiting the day to surprise you!
The surprise will most likely occur on the Friday night of a Monday holiday weekend.

 

[Valveman]

My five horsepower pump is at 440 feet. This summer a wire came loose and shorted to ground. The pump had to come up to effect a repair. I replaced the pump and motor as well as the controller. I felt after twenty five years it was a good time. My neighbor's pump went in at the same time as mine. He started shedding blades from his impeller within a month of me replacing my pump. Yes, we both have Cycle Stops. In my experience I've not needed to replace a start capacitor. I have replaced the run capacitor a couple of times.

You should not need to replace the starting capacitor as you have a Cycle Stop Valve. Having to replace the run capacitor is very unusual. Shedding blades from the impeller so soon could have just been a bad pump. But most times the pump is not selected correctly, has a hard time building to shut off pressure, which causes it to get hot and melt impellers. Hope the pump company made everything right for you?

 

[Cat_Driver]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it impossible to check the health of a pump without bringing it up?
For example, the impeller may be worn down of they are plastic impellers and the well brings up a lot of sand.
There could be wear holes in the pipe coming up from the pump to the top.

The reason I'm saying this is my well just started putting out low presure. It won't go past 40PSI.
I put a new chrged tank and that did nothing.

It's drawing perfect amps per the manufacturer yet the pressure is low.

I have a shut-off valve at the top of the well and in teh past I could shut that off and start the pump and the guage would shoot up to 100.

Not any more with teh valve shut I only get 40psi. Even when I open the valve the pressure coming out of the hose at the well id dismal at best,
where in the past water would shoot out 20 freet from the hose end. Now I'm lucky if it shoots a few feet.

Pump and motor are under 10 years old.

One good thing I saved the old pump and motor and sendt them to a rebuilder. Replacement foro my 5ho was around 3K and teh motor around 1.5K

Any advice would be appreciated

 

[Valveman]

Wow - 25 years on the same pump - that's really good life - get another one like it! As far as pump health you can check the amperage - you need to know the pump HP its probably a 1/2 or 3/4 HP, and an Ampmeter and if it has a two wire (no control box) or three wire (will have a control box) pump motor.

See the attached gould pump manual -the two wire 1/2 HP 230V runs 5-6 amps, and 3/4 HP 6-8 Amps. You can also check the windings with an ohm meter to see the health of the motor.

The biggest thing impacting pump life is # of starts and run time, so either have a large storage tank like Wellextrol, 20 gal drawdown, and or install a cycle stop keeps the pump running during water use.

It is not uncommon for standard pump systems to last 20-30 years. However, there are also many that don't last 20-30 days. The average life of all submersible pumps is about 7 years. Ohm-ing out the windings can tell you if there is a short or not. But I have had pumps with a short last 10-20 more years. Normally you just run the pump until it quits, as there is nothing to repair and you just need to get as much good out of it as you can. Cycling on and off is the biggest killer of pumps. Having a Cycle Stop Valve can add years to an already long lasting diaphragm tank type system.

Some of the "newer technology" like variable speed type pumps are actually designed to increase cost and shorten the life of pump systems. Pump companies don't like that many pumps last 20-30 years and are building in planned obsolescence like VFD controls to actually shorten the pumps life and get more of your money.

 

[lman]

That 25 year old water heater is now anxiously awaiting the day to surprise you!
The surprise will most likely occur on the Friday night of a Monday holiday weekend.

Bring it on. I'm semi retired now and have a little more time to work on it.

 

[Valveman]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it impossible to check the health of a pump without bringing it up?
For example, the impeller may be worn down of they are plastic impellers and the well brings up a lot of sand.
There could be wear holes in the pipe coming up from the pump to the top.

The reason I'm saying this is my well just started putting out low presure. It won't go past 40PSI.
I put a new chrged tank and that did nothing.

It's drawing perfect amps per the manufacturer yet the pressure is low.

I have a shut-off valve at the top of the well and in teh past I could shut that off and start the pump and the guage would shoot up to 100.

Not any more with teh valve shut I only get 40psi. Even when I open the valve the pressure coming out of the hose at the well id dismal at best,
where in the past water would shoot out 20 freet from the hose end. Now I'm lucky if it shoots a few feet.

Pump and motor are under 10 years old.

One good thing I saved the old pump and motor and sendt them to a rebuilder. Replacement foro my 5ho was around 3K and teh motor around 1.5K

Any advice would be appreciated

If the motor is drawing full load amps, the pump is pumping max flow, and you have a hole in the pipe. Low amps would mean a worn pump, clogged screen, or dry well. Don't know of anyone who can "rebuild" a submersible pump anymore? Make sure they don't just clean it up and re-sale it to you. Most likely there is a hole in the pipe right above the pump. Galvanized pipe or fitting screwed into a SS or brass check valve causes electrolysis and eats through the galvanized fitting causing the hole. Ten cents worth of electric tape over the galv fittings would have prevented this.

 

[dodge man]

There is a thread on here where I asked if I should fix my well, we now have rural water. I decided not to fix it but I would say our well pump was going on 30 years old when it quit. It was going to be a little over 2k to fix it, the logic being might as well replace it if you go through the trouble to pull it.

 

[grsthegreat]

It is not uncommon for standard pump systems to last 20-30 years. However, there are also many that don't last 20-30 days. The average life of all submersible pumps is about 7 years. Ohm-ing out the windings can tell you if there is a short or not. But I have had pumps with a short last 10-20 more years. Normally you just run the pump until it quits, as there is nothing to repair and you just need to get as much good out of it as you can. Cycling on and off is the biggest killer of pumps. Having a Cycle Stop Valve can add years to an already long lasting diaphragm tank type system.

Some of the "newer technology" like variable speed type pumps are actually designed to increase cost and shorten the life of pump systems. Pump companies don't like that many pumps last 20-30 years and are building in planned obsolescence like VFD controls to actually shorten the pumps life and get more of your money.

you sell cyclestopvalves. So your opinions might be a bit jaded. VFD units exist because they work. I dont sell them, but install them and i have not seen shortened life spans. Ive seen increased life spans on motors.