How much Generator for a well pump??

[thingy]

well,theres a man who knows some electical stuff,kinda makes sense.
Anyways looked at my gen/welder book,and the specs do say kva,,,but, it really says,,,kva/kw,which to most appears to mean the same,I don't know myself,,,just know that them water pumps take a lot.
Got my watts on mine wrong too,,my book says,,6,000 kva/kw peak and 5,500 kva/kw continous,,,but still you would think it would run water pump plus maybe another 1,000 watts with out the lights diming a 1/2 second,,,[it does run all that and furnace at once,but like I say lights dim just for that split second the pump kicks on],,you wouldn't think that would damage pump??
Kinda makes you think the water pump draws well over 3,000 watts when starting?
And leads me to say,,if you got a well,with a pump in it,and want to power it and maybe 1-2,000 more watts,don't get anything less than about a 6,000 watt gen.,,and if you plan on using gen alot,,better think about 10,000 watts or more,you can always not use one while you are using other,but it makes it a whole lot more livable,if you can keep power on to the things you need all the time.
If I lived around hurricane areas or up north where the cold can kill at times,would want a bigger one for sure,,but we gotta get by with what we got I guess,,,thingy

 

[Highbeam]

Midlf: Thanks so much, I had never had that explained and it takes a lot of the mystery out of where the watts went.

With the big honking oversized generator you have to suffer a fuel consumption penalty. On a gas generator it can be a hugely inconvenient amount of fuel to keep on hand. If you live in a cold-that-kills climate then you would be better off finding a backup source of heat like a wood stove or even a furnace that can be run on minimal electrical input from a secured fuel source. If you live in a heat-that-kills climate then you need to have a generator to power cooling equipment and one could consider keeping a couple of the window mount AC units instead of the huge central AC which is a power hog.

I have been the "victim" of using a huge generator for a small electrical load. My 5500 watt genny burned lots of gas through the 11HP tecumseh to run the 800 watt refridgerator and another couple hundred watts of lights/TV. Luckily our outages are short since I would have needed fuel after a couple days.

 

[midlf]

,,,but still you would think it would run water pump plus maybe another 1,000 watts with out the lights diming a 1/2 second

I doubt that a 1/2 second dip will cause problems for the generator or the pump as long as the useage is occasional, like durining power outages.

 

[BobRip]

I doubt that a 1/2 second dip will cause problems for the generator or the pump as long as the useage is occasional, like durining power outages.

I agree, a short dip in voltage will not hurt most items. Unless you get a really big generator, you have to expect this. I have seem dips like this on old line fed houses when the air conditioner cut on.

 

[thingy]

Thanks,feel better now,,yeah,thats all I'll be doing,just [hopefully] every now and than.So,it looks like thats about min watts though,5500-6000,those well pumps evidently use a **** of alot when they kick on,,,and my wells just 100 feet deep. Its enough to run several light bulbs,,tv,,satallite box,oil furnace and that water pump,,and that will get you through a couple days anyways if you got gas,,,been a while since I stole,,I mean ciphered any gas out of a car or truck,,,guess you can still do that with out any special tools? I know by the time I was 18 had done swallowed several spoonfulls doing it,[thats got to be good for you right,never did have worms],,thingy

 

[Egon]

You would have trouble getting a syphon hose into the tank on my truck. There is a ball in the inlet filler to stop foaming. It will not allow a hose to pass.

The way to syphon is not to suck but to:
Get hose into the tank as far as possible, place thumb over hose end and pull up quickly, release thumb and push hose back in tank and repeat above till you have some flow.

 

[HomeBrew2]

My old 1992 Generac 5000W genny runs my 1 hp 20gpm 220v Grunfos pump set at 100' with some other stuff running, lights, beer frig. Everything "dims" momentarily. Hasen't been a prob for my stuff.
If you don't have an Amprobe, they're getting pretty cheap now. They make it easy to measure the actual amperage.

 

[thingy]

EGON,no,if you syphon you are supposed to get gas in your mouth,,been awhile since I done it,but I remember that part well,alot of times it will splash all over your nose and chin,,you must nota been much of a gas sypherer when you were younger,,that used to be what they called a w.va. credit card,,hose and a gas can...
Yeah,heard the fill necks had something in them,,,don't think my toyota does,,just got a flap,,ain't sure about ford,,,,just have to get me a hose and find out,,,thingy

 

[dmccarty]

We should have our electrician out at the house soon to fix some things on the house. So we are going to have to make a decision about the generator hook up.

I checked the circuit breaker last night and the well is on a 20 amp circuit and I guess its just 110. The breaker does not have a big "fat" breaker like the stove.

Does that mean it is a 20amp/110 circuit?

The generator we are looking at getting has 6000 surge watts with 5500 watts running. It has four 110 volt 20 amp circuits and one 25 amp 220 volt circuit. That looks to me like we might be 600 watts short on the pump startup surge.

Does my math look right?

I am assuming the circuit break is correct for the pump. Too much or too little would be a bad thing?

Later,
Dan

 

[Highbeam]

25 amps of 220 volt power is 2 seperate phases of 110 at 25 amps each. And since you will be patching the 220/25 amp plug into the house you will have 25 amps of 110 power available to any one circuit and 50 amps of 110 available total. Also, you will have 25 amps of 220 power available for any combination of 220 volt appliances.

You'll need to manage the power. Most noteworthy is that when you look at your breaker panel, the two columns of breakers represent the two phases of 110 input power. If all of your essential circuits are on one side of the panel then you will use up the 25 amps available to that phase in a hurry while the other phase sets unused. Effectively turning your 5000 watt generator into a 2500 watter. You want the essential circuits to be balanced between the phases so that you can put similar loads on each phase.

It would be handy to have your 20 amp well breaker on one phase and 20 amps of other essential circuits on the other phase so that the genny is always ready to give your well the power it wants.