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pump quandry!!!

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PBPD219

Unregistered

1

Sunday, March 25th 2012, 12:50pm

pump quandry!!!

Ok so I bought a house about 6 moths ago in east central Florida, and have had sprinkler problems ever since. It started with replacing an index valve and repairing broken lines. Well now I have reached the end of my rope :cursing: . The realtors "handyman" installed the sprinkler pump before I bought the house, and im not quite sure where else the problem may be. I had a professional well person come out and he told me im not getting the volume of water needed to keep the system working. He suggested I replace old sprinkler heads with lower GPM heads to help and if that doesnt work I would need a new well. How ever the well to me seems to provide plenty of water as its a deep well (minimum of 100+ feet deep, with water table only 10 feet below ground level.) The pump is about 30 horizontal feet away from the well head, and the well has a 30 foot drop pipe inside the casing. I am thinking that the pump may be right on the edge of its capabilities. I am currently running a Flotec 1HP sprinkler pump. Im not sure what else it can be. Any thoughts or ideas would be wonderful. Thank you in advance for any and all help.

Wet_Boots

Supreme Member

Posts: 4,102

Location: Metro NYC

2

Sunday, March 25th 2012, 2:12pm

Flotec is something sold at a bargain price - it is not a name pros choose when they want the best - I can see a webpage for Flotec that shows it being a subsidiary of Pentair - that means you could have most anything from Home Depot stuff to a better-quality pump with a 'flotec' paint job and model number

What are the exact model numbers for your pump and index valve?

Photos wouldn't hurt. I'm curious to see what size of pipe is on the suction side if the pump.

219

Unregistered

3

Sunday, March 25th 2012, 6:23pm

The pump is model number FP5162-8. The index valve is a fimco 1000 series 9256. 6 zone valve. All the outputs and inlet of the balve are 1 inch The suction side is 1.25. Not sure how to post pictures with the post sorry.

Wet_Boots

Supreme Member

Posts: 4,102

Location: Metro NYC

4

Sunday, March 25th 2012, 9:28pm

I was kind of afraid that was the pump. As far as I can tell, it's a plain centrifugal pump, not capable of developing high pressure. From the performance table, that pump will never give the sprinklers as much as 40 psi



These pumps were okay for sprinklers that can work at lower pressures, but that is not the kind of sprinklers that get installed today.

Assuming the existing pump plumbing is sound, all that's left would be a pump upgrade. A jet pump would be an obvious choice, as they can give as much as half again the pressure you get now from that Flotec.

One concern, though, is how much water the existing well can supply. Just because the water in the well is within ten feet of the surface when you checked it with the pump off, doesn't mean the level doesn't drop when the pump is on. If that level drops another ten feet, you have problems for any standard pump.

Mitchgo

Supreme Member

Posts: 502

Location: Seattle

5

Monday, March 26th 2012, 10:08pm

Boots. Just have to say that was a very well put and helpful post :)

There have been many time where you would just say- Your pump sucks, get a new pump .

Wet_Boots

Supreme Member

Posts: 4,102

Location: Metro NYC

6

Tuesday, March 27th 2012, 9:53am

Thing is, the short answer fits, too, as we could all surmise from picturing what a realtor's handyman might do. I didn't even get into what would be done if there is a problem with the water level. If there's a 4+ inch well shaft, this could be a rare instance where a convertible jet pump will do the job. The wiring stays as is, and the pipe changes are mostly on the suction side, and operation is assured even with a lower water level in the well, with the two suction-side pipes leading to the ejector assembly in the well.

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