Generator on my Well Pump

[JD435Bill]

Carl, appreciate the reply. We already have a 5000 that I plan to use for the house (for the Fridge, lights, etc). But kind of like Murphy's Law, I've had it for 5 years now and haven't really needed it yet, lol. We hardly ever lose our power anymore, but this last storm has me thinking. We got lucky as we only lost our power for 5 hours, but there are others not that far away from me that are on Day 6 and still don't have power. Seeing that the pump house is a ways from the house, I feel like a separate one would be best and it will also be an automatic place to store it at. Plus we may be building a new house in the near future (on the same land) and I may do something fancier at that time.

By using your formula, if I did it right, it seems like the Generator that I linked to above should have at least 14 Amps, which should be fine.

Bill

 

[JD435Bill]

I have a 5k continuous 8250 start up
Storm Responder 5500 Watt Generator Non CA- Briggs & Stratton-Lawn & Garden-Generators-Portable Generators
It will run my pump (220 submersible) with no problem at all. I have a heavy duty main service disconnect and plug it into the welder plug in the garage (keeping the genny outside). I pick and choose what I want to run via the breaker panel. It can handle the pump, boiler and a few lights at the same time so I can take a hot shower if I want

Sounds like something I may want to move up to someday. Looks like a nice machine.

Bill

 

[Carl_NH]

Carl, appreciate the reply. We already have a 5000 that I plan to use for the house (for the Fridge, lights, etc). But kind of like Murphy's Law, I've had it for 5 years now and haven't really needed it yet, lol.

By using your formula, if I did it right, it seems like the Generator that I linked to above should have at least 14 Amps, which should be fine.

Bill

Bill,

The generator you linked to is 3000 W running or 12.5 AMP @ 240 V which would run your well pump just fine.

BUT, if you already have a 5000W "running" generator meaning watts - it should have a surge wattage of like 6250W. The 5000W running is 21 AMPS 240 V - enough to run your pump, lights, and furnace.

Here is what I would do, dont buy a new generator just for the well, get an electrician to wire your unit into your electrical box and select the circuits you want to use and balance the load - meaning run the lights on one circuit, and say fridge and furnace on the opposite leg (of the 240) then the pump across both.

To balance all you do is hook up the essential circuits and use an amprobe to measure the current draw and split them up.

We have a 6250W generator (26 Amps 240V) running our pump, furnace, fridge and lights. But with a 1.5HP well pump draws 20 Amps starting current - we have 2 bladder tanks and a 30+ gallon drawdown before the pump turns on. In this way I run the pump to build up the supply then turn the pump off. We run the well pump 4 times a day when the power is out with this setup. I want to get an 8K running generator.. to replace mine bujt it works when needed.

Carl

 

[JD435Bill]

I'll talk to an electrician and will check into it some more. Thanks.

BTW, I got faked out. I thought the one I linked to was a Coleman. I was wondering why it was that cheap of a price. After some quick researching, I'm not even sure they still make Coleman's.

If I decide to buy a new one what is a good American brand to consider?

The one from Sears posted above does look good though.

Bill

 

[genusCastor]

I'm planning to do what chucko said; wire an outlet for the generator in the pumphouse and connect it to the existing 220V pump circuit. Then when the power goes out, shut down the main breaker at the breaker box in the house, fire up the generator in the pumphouse, then back-feed the house through the pump circuit. Keeps the generator inside at all times and the noise away from the house.

- djb

 

[SPYDERLK]

I'm planning to do what chucko said; wire an outlet for the generator in the pumphouse and connect it to the existing 220V pump circuit. Then when the power goes out, shut down the main breaker at the breaker box in the house, fire up the generator in the pumphouse, then back-feed the house through the pump circuit. Keeps the generator inside at all times and the noise away from the house.

- djb

Wire feed to the pumphouse may be small to backfeed the house. How much power, how far, what wire ga?

 

[genusCastor]

Wire feed to the pumphouse may be small to backfeed the house. How much power, how far, what wire ga?

It's a 30 AMP breaker in the house (and a 30 AMP generator), around 150' run, forget what gauge wire I ran. I'm not looking for a complete whole house power backup. Plan to run things as we need them; like cook supper & take a shower, but not at the same time. If it doesn't work out I'm only out the little bit of wiring to hook the generator to the pump. Our neighbor has the same setup, but I can move the generator closer to the house box later if necessary. I'm mainly concerned about the well, if we lost power right now we wouldn't have water...

- djb

 

[cisco]

The pump house (OK, not a house but a metal roofed and insulated wooden box over the pump) for my garage/apt is about 75 feet from the dwelling. I installed a subpanel adjacent to the main electrical panel that feeds one light and wall plug in each room, plus the frig, garage doors, dishwasher, washer/dryer, water heater control panel (heater is propane, as is the dryer) and the TV/satellite dish. I've a 7000W Honda, really a 6500W (27 amp) that they renamed when adding current smoothing and variable speed per demand controls. The well is fed by an 8 gauge buried line to the 220V 1.5 hp pump. If my frig and washer are running and the pump comes on the generator kicks into maximum rpm but its' circuit breaker doesn't trip. If I've another load on the system, e.g., the garage door (10' by 12') openers, the generator circuit breaker can flip. So, I'm OK but right at the limits of what the generator will do. If I hadn't put in the subpanel I'd be in trouble, cause the AC demands alone are more than the generator could handle. Now, on my new house, I've a 30000W Onan hooked to a 1000 gallon buried propane tank. Even then I need a generator subpanel - the AC, 3 hp well pump (yup, I've 2 wells, the larger 100' from the house fed by 4 gauge wire), appliances and such can overload even the current beast of a generator.

 

[genusCastor]

Wire feed to the pumphouse may be small to backfeed the house. How much power, how far, what wire ga?

It's a 30 AMP breaker in the house (and a 30 AMP generator), around 150' run, forget what gauge wire I ran. I'm not looking for a complete whole house power backup. Plan to run things as we need them; like cook supper & take a shower, but not at the same time. If it doesn't work out I'm only out the little bit of wiring to hook the generator to the pump. Our neighbor has the same setup, but I can move the generator closer to the house box later if necessary. I'm mainly concerned about the well, if we lost power right now we wouldn't have water...

I checked, the wire is 10 ga from the house to the well (inside pumphouse). If the 10 ga wire is OK to service the 30 AMP pump, wouldn't that wire also be OK to service the house with 30 AMP generator? I'm wondering about safety more than efficiency. 150' is longer than I would prefer to service the house from the generator, but it would be a temporary setup...and the 30 AMP breaker in the house box should protect the line...right?

- djb

 

[daybreak1998]

I checked, the wire is 10 ga from the house to the well (inside pumphouse). If the 10 ga wire is OK to service the 30 AMP pump, wouldn't that wire also be OK to service the house with 30 AMP generator? I'm wondering about safety more than efficiency. 150' is longer than I would prefer to service the house from the generator, but it would be a temporary setup...and the 30 AMP breaker in the house box should protect the line...right?

- djb

Howdy,
The whole point of shutting off the main breaker is to protect yourself, and electrical Linemen. What happens when someone else doesn't know your system and turns the main back on? Your feeding the grid, and/or your generator gets zapped because the utility power is back on. Interlock kit on your panel, or transfer switch, or generator sub-panel.

 

[DennisArrow]

Howdy,
The whole point of shutting off the main breaker is to protect yourself, and electrical Linemen. What happens when someone else doesn't know your system and turns the main back on? Your feeding the grid, and/or your generator gets zapped because the utility power is back on. Interlock kit on your panel, or transfer switch, or generator sub-panel.

Yes, for sure you want to protect any linemen and of course your gen set when the power comes back on; but for me, if you forget to turn off the main you are trying to feed the other folks between you and the break or outage. Your genset will immediately go into overload and blow it's breaker switch. Makes one feel kinda foolish trying to figure out what is wrong until you remember that you forgot to shut off the main............Good luck...God bless.........Dennis