Water Pump Recommendations

[Egon]

Check out costs for a separate tank & pump vs. a pump tank combination and then make a decision as to what you would like. Also check the water softener and see if the rinse water is going through the septic system. This could lead to field damage.

On the water tank wait till you have spare time and it's the start of the week; then scrape off rust and maybe do some wire brushing. That should give you an indication of material left/gone. Use a rust preventative paint on it if all looks good.

 

[Deere Dude]

That is one sorry looking tank. I would change that and the pump. I don't think your tank will get any better.

350# of salt a month? Are you running a factory? That is nuts and there has to be a problem somewhere. Maybe the softener is recharging all the time for some reason. I thought I used a lot when I used 50# every 3 months, and I had pretty hard water.

 

[HiQ]

Yeah maybe that's a little exaggerated. I just took a look and we load like 8+ bags in, but that's for more than a month. We still use a good 4-5 20kg bags a month though. We have a Kinetico system with the #6 disc (they only got up to 8). Haha.. I really need to take in a water sample and see what we're working with and get everything adjusted. I'm pretty sure the guy we bought this from used to be a Kinetico dealer so you'd think he'd have it all setup right. Who knows. Still a LOT of salt being used. Lots to fix come spring.

 

[Looking4new]

In my 3 year old Culligan system I use 300 lbs a year of salt. I think your salt consumption is a tad high.

Trouble is that with taking a water sample, IF you get it tested through a goobermint agency AND they find bad stuff in it, the goobermint agency can condemn not only the well, but the house too. That would put you between a rock and a hard place in the middle of the winter. NOT a good thing.

You could get a water guy (Culligan or someone like that) to come out and test for you, but they can only test for hardness (I think). I don't think they can test for coliforms and nasties.

In the spring AFTER the runoff is done is when you will want to shock it, depending on how much water is in the well dictates how much Javex to dump in. Too much and your whites will be uber white, but your colours will fade faster and you will smell it. It will also make the coffee taste funny.

 

[HiQ]

Yeah I kinda figured we were going through salt like crazy. I'd go to the store and buy like 12 bags to have some extras laying around and people would look at me like I was insane. Maybe I'll follow you advice and wait to test it come spring. Should I test it before runoff or wait for the runoff/shock first?

 

[bigdeano]

I'd just change the pump bearings like someone suggested. Use bearings made in USA or Japan, not china.

Can you turn off and/or bypass the softener and see if everything is OK? Maybe you don't need it.

Putting some rubber under the pump may reduce noise transmission and quiet it down.

 

[Looking4new]

Yeah I kinda figured we were going through salt like crazy. I'd go to the store and buy like 12 bags to have some extras laying around and people would look at me like I was insane. Maybe I'll follow you advice and wait to test it come spring. Should I test it before runoff or wait for the runoff/shock first?

I test mine after the run off is done. Then shock. You gotta determine how deep the well is and how much water you have.
I would get that softener checked out, too.

 

[speedbump]

Bypassing the softener is a good idea. And you can get test strips that are accurate enough to give you an indication of how hard or not your water is. PH is also important. Check it too. Your want it to be between 7.0 and 7.6. I wouldn't put a lot of faith in what a softener salesman tells you about his water test. They make special test kits just for salesman to scare the **** out of your wife with the tests he does. You can find that kit in a Hach chemical book. Waiting for the runoff probably won't make much difference in your water since someone dug down to the first water vein to get that water and it's run through sand to get there which changes it's makeup. You don't want runoff getting into the opening of your dug well.

 

[Valveman]

First off, please forgive me. I am a city slicker that moved to the country a year ago and clearly has no clue about this stuff. I did not know that you needed to shock a well. We have not done that and we've been here just over a year now. Should we be getting our water tested?

I know it is very hard as our demand based Kinetico softener goes through a good 350 lbs of salt a month (only two of us living here). We have monthly records of how much salt going back a few years from the previous owners and it seems like this is the norm.

Eventually we want to look into hooking into town water, but $10-15M is out of the cards right now. We do have a Kinetico RO system that we use for all drinking/cooking so that makes me feel slightly better.

Getting back to our current situation... The saga continues:

I went down to the utility room to get a better look at everything and grab some timings during a shower situation. Nothing else was using water, just one shower. The shower would run for 2 mins 45 seconds before pressure would drop from 58 psi to 40 psi and kick on the pump. The pump would run for 50 seconds bringing the pressure back up to 58 psi (while the shower continued to run).

I then took a look at the pressure tank and whoa... I don't like the look of it. It is an AquaFlo 44G unit, but the bottom is covered in rust. I attached a picture below.

How much longer until this thing bursts? It may look worse that I think, but I can't imagine it should be absolutely covered in rust on the bottom like that. I assume it's just from condensation dripping and sitting on the bottom?

So now I'm sitting here thinking I need to replace both the jet pump and the pressure tank. The added pressure tank costs are probably a good $2-300. So now I'm wondering if I should:
1) Just buy another 44 Gallon pressure tank and swap it out or
2) Look at getting a smaller pressure tank/CSV setup for the new Goulds pump

I realize option 2 will have the pump running MUCH more often so I will really need to find a way to quiet it down (insulation, etc). What do you guys think?

Looks like you are storing that excess salt in the same room as the pressure tank? Storing salt or chlorine will rust out any metal in the same room or even close. Store the salt somewhere else.

Yes you can make a jet pump work similar to a CSV. The depth to water and the max pressure the pump can build will determine the pressure switch setting. When lifting from a certain depth if your pump has a max pressure of say 70 PSI, then you can set the pressure switch to work at 49/69, and the system will work similar to a CSV system. Since the max pressure of the pump is 70 PSI, it should only be pumping about 1 GPM at 69 PSI. That way the pump will not shut off as long as you are using at least 1 GPM. You could use a small pressure tank, and you would have good strong constant pressure, similar to the way a CSV would function.

However, there are problems with running the pressure switch setting so close to the max pressure the pump can produce. Since 2.31' is the same as 1 PSI, if the water level in the well drops 2.31', the pump will not be able to build enough pressure so the pressure switch can shut it off. It will just sit there at 58.5 PSI until the water gets hot and melts the pump. The same thing can happen if the pump wears by just 1%.

It is much safer to work the pressure switch further away from the max pressure the pump can build as with a CSV. The pressure switch can be set for 40/60 instead, while the CSV will hold a constant 50 PSI, which keeps the pump from cycling as long as you areu sing more than 1 GPM. Shutting the pump off at 60 gives plenty of room for a little drop in water level or wear iin the pump without causing damage, plus you can still use the smaller tank.

A cast iron pump with good motor bearings is as quite as you can get. A little back pressure from a CSV usually quitens it down a little over running flat out as it does without a CSV. Rubber feet for the motor mounts and a short piece of rubber hose on the discharge side of the pump really help keep the sound from transmitting to the pipes and walls. An insulated box over the pump will also block noise, but you have to have some ventilation and air flow to keep the motor cool.