Old 4" submersible died, need advice on new pump

Hi All,
The old 4" is history and we are looking for a replacement. Well is 270' deep and submersible is at 100 feet. Need 5 or more gallons per minute. The well head has 220V available (PV, pure-sine wave) so we need a pump that's frugal on power and hopefully low starting current. Must be reliable. Would really like to use a standard well pump control and pressure tank (without a bunch of specialized control modules).
I thought I had found perfection with the Grundfos SQF pump but it appears to require separate controllers and such. What would you be using if you were in this situation? Sure would appreciate your input!
The old 4" is history and we are looking for a replacement. Well is 270' deep and submersible is at 100 feet. Need 5 or more gallons per minute. The well head has 220V available (PV, pure-sine wave) so we need a pump that's frugal on power and hopefully low starting current. Must be reliable. Would really like to use a standard well pump control and pressure tank (without a bunch of specialized control modules).
I thought I had found perfection with the Grundfos SQF pump but it appears to require separate controllers and such. What would you be using if you were in this situation? Sure would appreciate your input!
Comments
my setup is in my .sig.
But my pump may not work for you, you need to go to a pump store with big fat paper catalogs and look at the pump curves, that's how you find a pump for your lift/psi and volume requirements.
3 wire control pumps have a easier starting surge than 2 wire pumps
|| Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
|| VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A
solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister ,
|| Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
|| VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A
solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister ,
-Bill
http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/
E-mail [email protected]
in Georgia
System 1: PV- 410w Evergreen, Mppt- Blue Sky Solar Boost, Batt - 225ah Deka AGM, 12v led house lighting,
System 2: PV- 215w Kyocera, PWM - Morningstar PS30, Batt- 225ah Deka GC's, 12v led house lighting, Dankoff 12v water pump,
System 3: PV- 1.5kw Kyocera, Grundfos 11 SQF well pump, 3000 gal above ground water storage, dom water & irrigation,
System 4: PV- 6.1kw Kyocera, Mppt- Outback FM80-2ea, Inverter- Outback FX3648-2ea, Batt- 804ah GB traction, Grundfos BMQE booster pump 240v, Mitsibushi mini-splits 240v, 18k and 15k
I wish I had seen this post earlier. I would have steered the order to you (forum supporter). An SQ series and accessories was ordered from the internet several days back ....
The current setup is a 4kw Magnum inverter that powers a Sta-rite 1 hp 2 stage pump. The analog AC wattmeters are pegging at pump startup and the Four Star Solar Magnum MS4024PAE panel is throwing fault conditions at startup.
We are hopeful that the Grundfos SQ, soft-start submersible is the answer to knock down this very-high load.
http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/
E-mail [email protected]
True they are top quality.
But when you are looking for top efficiency, they mostly work off peak efficiency.
You end up using double (or more) the power to pump your water.
I'm with Mike.
I like it to pump up with the pump operating at max efficiency then shut off.
There is one more thing you can do for limited solar.
You can run it with a VFD, have no starting surge and get even higher efficiency.
The pump motor must be three phase and used three phase motors are getting hard to find.
But even with buying a new motor the parts are 1/3 the $.
As soon as the sun comes up I am going over to the kids place and change out his pump motor.
They are off grid with a nice little diesel generator which charges the batts using the inverter charger.
The problem is when they are charging at a decent rate the well will come on and the starting surge knocks the genset off line.
The genset has to then be manually reset.
The local well driller had a NOS 3 phase motor in stock he didn't know what to do with and gave us a great price.
He still thinks we don't know what we are doing and it will not work!
I am available for custom hardware/firmware development
|| Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
|| VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A
solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister ,
Franklin has three series of VFD type drives that use electronic drives for standard polyphase motors.
SubDrive = two phase series for regular three wire motors.
MonoDrive = series for standard three phase motors to be used in line connected installations.
PHOTON = series for solar installations using standard three phase motors.
Note they all use standard motors that have been around for 60 years.
As for how much current they draw on start up:
Practically nothing, the motor will start to turn with a clamp type ammeter not showing any current.
Current then ramps up in direct proportion to rpm, reaching full current when the motor reaches full rpm.
Conventional VFDs will let you set the start up and decelerate ramp time.
http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/
E-mail [email protected]
VFDs for single phase motors are about $1000 just for the VFD (you still need the motor/pump).
Solar pumps, perhaps $2000 (http://www.solar-electric.com/).
I am available for custom hardware/firmware development
But even a 1/2 Hp single phase pump will draw enough start up current to kick out the genset
when it is al-ready charging the battery at near max amps.
Our two main gensets are propane fueled.
This is because of the convenience of propane.
But propane is not very efficient at low load.
You do not want to have your propane fueled genset running at low output.
So we crank up the charging current.
This makes them susceptible to surges.
Do you charge your battery direct or through the inverter?
I have the components for a 175 amp charger setting in my shop.
But that is another project.
|| Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
|| VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A
solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister ,
The pump was installed at 160 foot and the flow of water is unmeasured so far but its a very strong stream. The 15 year-old pump that came out of the well was a Grundfos also. Amazing.
I keep waiting for them to price a similar surface pump 1/2 HP with soft start. Because of the cooling they really get expensive when they are not sitting in water.
http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/
E-mail [email protected]
I'll be the first one in line to buy one
I have a Goulds Irrigator 1HP pump that I use as a Fire pump to hose down the area if we get a wildfire. I would not run my computer/HE washing machine when the pressure switch turns that pump on. Yeow!
It will shoot a 1.5" stream of water 50 feet in the air though.
http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/
E-mail [email protected]