For a related post on setting well pump pressure switches, check here. Still raining here, so not much can be done today. I thought I would go through all of my well pump supplies and make sure that I have everything needed to install the new pump. I laid out the parts of the new system on the work bench, less the pipe, wire and rope. I have already installed the new pressure tank and valves. Fortunately, the new tank will be going in a different spot than the old well tank, I was able get it ready ahead of time.
New pressure tank, waiting for water.On the new pressure tank I used 1 inch type L copper for all of the water supply lines. I included a stub off to the side with ball valves to install some sort of iron filter, since everyone around here has iron in their water. This time I think I will get a green sand filter instead of using the chlorine injection system we currently have.I will keep the old well pump and pressure tank in place and use it for outside watering and car washing.Here is the parts inventory:
300 Feet 1 inch PEX pipe
1000 feet 12/2 pump wire
150 feet 10/3 UF direct burial wire
220 feet Endopure 3/8 inch polypropylene rope
1 HP Goulds 4″ 2 wire submersible pump #10GS10422
1 Campbell B-10X pitless adaptor
1 Campbell sanitary well cap, 6 inch casing
4 1 inch brass barbs
1 Campbell TS-40 torque boot
10 1 1/2 inch stainless hose clamps
1 Danfoss check valve
1 Amtrol 40 gallon captive air tank
1 Square D pumptrol pressure switch
1 Campbell pressure gauge
1 Lee brass pressure tank T adaptor
4 1 inch ball valves
4 1 inch unions
1 boiler drain
1 pressure relief valve
20 feet 1 inch type L copper pipe
Submersible well pumps come in two flavors, 2 wire and 3 wire. The difference is in where the pump control circuits are mounted. On a three wire pump, the pump controller is mounted at the water tank. A 2 wire pump has its control circuits on the pump motor down in the bottom of the well. The control circuits are needed engage a starter winding on the motor to get it spinning. Without the added torque or umph, the pump motor would not be able to push the weight of the water up the well pipe and into the house.
Advantages of 2 wire verses 3 wire pumps are, less wire required, simpler to install. Disadvantages, if the pump controller goes out (buy a good pump) then the pump has to be pulled from the well.
The well is 223 feet deep, I plan to set the pump at 200 feet. The distance between the well and the pressure tank is about 80 feet. I have a 300 foot roll of 1 inch PEX pipe so I should have a few feet left over. I will use about 210 feet of the 1000 foot spool of 12/2 well pump wire. The left over will go to my brother in law, Joe, who has a plumbing business. For the electrical run from the panel to the tank and from the tank to the well head I have 10/3 UF, which is direct burial wire.
I will enclose the PEX and the UF wire in 4 inch PVC waste drain pipe for the run between the house and the well head because the soil is very rocky and I don’t want anything poking holes in my well water supply pipe. This must be buried at least four feet deep to stay below the frost line. That is why I need an excavator.
Pump, sanitary cap, pitless adaptor, torque boot, installation adaptor laid out on my work bench
The pitless adaptor is a two part brass fitting that allows the well pump to be easilly removed from the well for service. The first part attaches to the well casing below the frost line, the second part to the well pump pipe. To install the pump, the second part slides into the first part and is sealed with an O ring. The top of the pitless adaptor is threaded also. This is so a adaptor pipe can be screwed in to facilitate installation and removal of the pump.
Update:It appears that there are two types of pitless adaptors, the slide type and the cable type. I have a slide type, which looks like this:
Both types have a treaded section on the top that the pump installer will use to pull the pitless adaptor apart and remove the pump (or install the pump) from the well. I made my own out of a 4 foot long piece of 1 inch black steel pipe with an eye hook on the top.
Others have suggested a T adaptor, which is similar. In either case, take into account the weight of the assembly and the water in the pipe when removing the pump. See below on how to calculate water weight in well pipe.
PEX pipe, 12/2 pump wire, 10/3 UF and safety rope.
To install the pump I will measure out 200 feet of PEX pipe, attach the pump and the torque boot. Then the electric wire and the safety rope will be attached, securing them to the pipe every 20 feet or so with electrical tape. The safety rope is required when pulling the pump out for service. As you can see below, once the well pipe fills up with water it will be very heavy. Relying on the well pipe to hold all of that weight could lead to problems, including a broken pipe and well pump sitting in the bottom of the well. A check valve is required at the top of the well before the pitless adaptor so when the well pump is not running, water from pipe will not spin the motor backwards which is bad for the motor bearings. The safety rope is threaded through an eye hole on the brass barbs on the pump and the pitless adaptor.To give you some idea of the weight of the pump, 200 feet of 1 inch pipe, and wire I worked out the following:The pump weighs 31 pounds.The 1000 foot wire spool weights 97.5 pounds. To find out how much the wire weighs per foot divide 97.5 pounds by 1000 feet which results in 0.0975 pounds per foot of wire. I will be using about 210 feet of wire, therefore the wire’s weight is 20.5 pounds.Two hundred feet of PEX pipe weighs about 10 pounds. The pipe has a 1 inch inside diameter. To find the area of the pipe, we times the radius squared by Pi or 3.1416. The area of the pipe is 0.7854 inches A one inch section of pipe has a volume of 0.7854 cubic inches. Times that result by 12 and we get 9.4248 cubic inches of water per foot. A cubic inch is 0.004329004 gallons. Continue to the next step, a one foot section of 1 inch ID pipe contains 0.0408 gallons of water. Two hundred feet of 1 inch pipe contains 8.16 Gallons of water. A gallon of water weighs 8.33 pounds, therefore the water in 200 feet of pipe will have a weight of 68 pounds. Add together the pump (31 pounds), the wire (20.5 pounds) the pipe (10 pounds) and water (68 pounds) and the result is 119.5 pounds. The 3/8 inch polypropylene safety rope has a working load of about 700 pounds, so it is within a safety factor of 2.Can you tell I was a little bored today?
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what do you hold the pump at the 200 ft level with?
The safety rope or is the pex line enough?
The safety rope. I wouldn’t trust the PEX to hold up all that weight, not to mention the hose clamps, brass barbs, etc.
Am just in process of installing pump. I am doing almost the exact installation except I am using a 3 wire , 3/4 horse motor and a generator for power.
Do all pumps need a torque boot. Also can you elaborate on how pitless adapter works. I can see how it connects but if it is 200 feet down the well how does that help you in your re and re ? Or does it just facilitate disconnect between the well head and pipe going to storage tank?
Are pump wire to power suppy wire connections difficult/tricky? I have some instructions-just wondering how critical dry connections are.
Also I’ve seen some installation instructions where they use a stainless wire instead of a rope. Any issues with rope rotting?
Good post though, very helpful
Rick
Rick,
To answer some of your questions, the pitless adaptor goes at the top of the well, it connects the pipe going down to the well pump to the pipe going into the house. It is attached to the side of the well casing below the local frost line
All well pumps should have a torque boot to prevent the pump from twisting when it starts up. This will cause undue wear on the pex pipe leading to possible failure.
There is a post about the actual installation here
Hopefully that helps
Link did not work but I did find the “actual installation” post anyway. Looks like the electrical connection is as per some previous info I had.
Thanks,
Sorry for the bad link, I fixed it. ed.
Any electricians out there? I am using a 7600 watt generator. If well is roughly 225 feet deep does generator have to be sited close by or could I run the generator at the cabin and run say 200 feet of wire to the well site control box. So overall 425 feet. Pump is 3/4 horse 3 wire model, 230 volts. Also, is larger diameter wire better?
Thanks
Rick,
Do you know the make and model number of the pump? Goulds and Grundfos will tell you in the owner’s manual what size generator is needed. The “run” power is not really the issue, its the motor starting load that will tax the generator.
Paul,
Is the PEX you used just the standard piping used for house plumbing or is there a special PEX for this application. Plumbing shop I talked to didn’t think PEX was ok for well use .
Rick
ps Thanks for the Gould’s site.
Rick,
The PEX I used is called Endopure and it is specially made for well use.
Thanks for your post. The pictures and documentation are first rate! I am preparing to replace my 60′ well Jet pump with a submersible and a pitless adaptor. I have a Grundfos 1/2HP pump with a constant pressure kit from a shop on Ebay. Very nice outfit.Here in Oregon we only need to go down 18″ (I think) as our winters are pretty mild. But by going with a pitless adaptor, I can eliminate the heat tape on the current pipes.
Ross, Thanks. I would check with your local building department on depth for the water supply pipe, they will know how deep it should be. Good Luck!
I did talk to the county, and the trench depth turned out to be 24″. Not a problem.At the moment, I need to call and ask them about running Polyethylene tubing under the foundation.Oregon follows the “UPC” Uniform Plumbing Code, which states that PE pipe is only allowed outside the foundation. I should have purchased PEX, as i believe that would have been OK going under the foundation and into the slab. As a result, I’m probably going to have to either run 6-10 feet of iron pipe under the foundation and slab into the shop, or braise copper tubing to bring the water into the pump area. I’m going to ask the inspector if I can just run the PE tubing into the shop without changing materials.The IRC (International Residential Code) code appears to allow PE pipe under foundations,but I haven’t verified this.–R
Can anyone tell me if I can service the foot valve in a pitless adapter for a 2″ deep well system? Any help would be appreciated.
Ray, not sure what you are trying to say. A foot valve is at the bottom of the well. I take it you have a deep well jet pump. That means your well will be less than 100 feet deep. If you have plastic pipe in your well (PVC or PEX) then you should be able to hook onto the pitless adaptor and pull the whole thing out. If the foot valve is is broken, then all the water should be out of the pipe and the whole thing will be pretty light.
If you have metal pipe, as sometimes older wells do, you will need a well pump company to pull the pipe.
I have learned a great deal more about pumps than I thought I would ever want to know; I just don’t want to pay someone an astronomical amount- so I looked at pumps, housings, piping, etc. and here is what I have:
I have a 5″ casing with a metal plate on top of the PVC sticking out of the ground (about 18″ to 24″. I have what looks like a 1″ nipple going up to an elbow (galvanized)- but for the life of me, I can’t figure out how to get the casing cap off. It has a slot cut directly into the top where the power line runs through, but I don’t know if it is screwed on, or just sitting there. I know you said that if the pump quit it would be fairly heavy, and mine is sitting at about 260′. Any ideas on how to get the casing plate off? Any help would be appreciated.
how do you remove the spool to replace a submersable well pump motor if the spool threads are bad/
Small correction:
The total weight (68+31+20.5+10) is 129.5 pounds, not 119.5 pounds.
The description and pictures are excellent.
why do the submersible pumps come with a 1 1/4 discharge but every body uses 1 inch pipe