Well pump question for budding plumbers?

solic200 · Post by **solic200** » Mon 18 May 2015 4:28 am

I have another strong submersible pump for my well which has a 1" outlet my question is could I connect with a fitting a 1 1/4" pipe to push the water up 18m or would this not work, would it put pressure on the pump or restrict the flow?
Thanks

Geoff1131 · Post by **Geoff1131** » Mon 18 May 2015 8:04 am

You need to look at the pump performance graph, which will indicate how much water the pump is designed to lift at what flow rate. Generally if you connect a larger outlet pipe to the pump than the designed size then the extra effort the pump needs to lift the water will decrease the pump 'curve'. If you are not getting enough water then it looks like you need a stronger pump.

solic200 · Post by **solic200** » Mon 18 May 2015 9:17 am

Thanks Geoff the chart says Max delivery 18 m3/h and Max head 113m. My well is 18m deep and needs to reach a further 60m from the top to my holding tank. This means nothing to me to be honest.
The outlet on the pump is 1 1/4" but I have a metal 1" reducer rusted insîde the stainless steal outlet which I daren't take a risk trying to undo. Sadly the pipe down the well is 1 1/4" which is why I was asking about the connector so maybe I will have to replace it with 1" pipe.

waddo · Post by **waddo** » Mon 18 May 2015 9:39 am

Not a plumber at all but have put in lots of water pipes in the house and garden (including stuff from the well to tanks) and have always treated water as if it is steel - by that I mean that water is non-compressible! So question then! When you talk about lift rates on a pump are you talking about the "weight" of water it will lift over a certain distance or the "volume" of water it will lift over a certain distance? For instance, if my pump has a 1" outlet and I connect a 1" hose to it then, if the pump is rated to lift 18m, it should lift that volume of water inside the 1" pipe an overall height of 18m. However, if I connect a .75" pipe to the 1" outlet will it lift it higher? Or If I connect a 1.5" pipe to the 1" outlet will it fail to lift it 18m?

As water is non-compressible it seemed to me that once the 18m of pipe (regardless of pipe diameter) was full of water then the pump would always lift it the same height - just wondering is all.

Geoff1131 · Post by **Geoff1131** » Mon 18 May 2015 11:27 am

solic200, your pump is rated to give 3 cubic meters of water an hour and pump the water up a maximum of 118 meters. You say that the well is 18 meters deep and the storage tank is a further 60 meters ( is this vertical or 60 meters horizontally away?) I would say even if the 60 meters were vertical which is unlikely but even if it were then increasing the pipe to 1/14" should not be a problem.