Ever hooked an additional well pump to the same controller?

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TimWA

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Old well casing suspect, still works but customer had a whole new well drilled right next to it, of course with it's own well pump. Same model pump & controller. Wants to keep both wells going by plumbing both to the pressure tanks.

So now there's two wells side by side, two pumps, one pressure switch in the garage, one feeder running out there.

So can the original controller operate both pumps? Or can I install the second controller side by side electrically paralleled to bump up the current on the one feeder for the two pumps, and parallel the pumps? Supply conductors out to the original well are well within the combined pump load.

Trench between the two wells would be short, but back to the garage is major. I'll get a call in to Franklin Electric also of course.
 
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Joethemechanic

Senior Member
Location
Hazleton Pa
Occupation
Electro-Mechanical Technician. Industrial machinery
Old well casing suspect, still works but customer had a whole new well drilled right next to it, of course with it's own well pump. Same model pump & controller. Wants to keep both wells going by plumbing both to the pressure tanks.

So now there's two wells side by side, two pumps, one pressure switch in the garage, one feeder running out there.

So can the original controller operate both pumps? Or can I install the second controller side by side electrically paralleled to bump up the current on the one feeder for the two pumps, and parallel the pumps? Supply conductors out to the original well are well within the combined pump load.

Trench between the two wells would be short, but back to the garage is major. I'll get a call in to Franklin Electric also of course.

How are you going to have overload protection if both pumps are on one controller?

And that cracked well casing deal. Isn't he worried about groundwater infusion contaminating the water?
 
Location
NE (9.06 miles @5.9 Degrees from Winged Horses)
Occupation
EC - retired
Old well casing suspect, still works but customer had a whole new well drilled right next to it, of course with it's own well pump. Same model pump & controller. Wants to keep both wells going by plumbing both to the pressure tanks.

So now there's two wells side by side, two pumps, one pressure switch in the garage, one feeder running out there.

So can the original controller operate both pumps? Or can I install the second controller side by side electrically paralleled to bump up the current on the one feeder for the two pumps, and parallel the pumps? Supply conductors out to the original well are well within the combined pump load.

Trench between the two wells would be short, but back to the garage is major. I'll get a call in to Franklin Electric also of course.


1st?: Yes if you alternate them and they are the same size, etc.
2nd?: No.

Move the pressure switch and controllers out to the pumps. Have one pressure switch turn them on. Most have two sets of contacts & you only need one set for each pump controller. Most likely you are going to short cycle both pumps causing additional grief, but that isn't what you asked.

Make sure the well guy or plumber gets involved with backflow prevention.
 

augie47

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Tennessee
Occupation
State Electrical Inspector (Retired)
As Joe stated, you must assure you have proper overcurrent and ground-fault/short circuit protection for each pump. If they are identical there should be no problem switching them to work alternately, but if the goal is simultaneous operation the existing controller and SCGF protection, if designed correctly for the one pump, would not be proper for both.
One properly sized feeder to two properly sized branch circuits and controllers will likely be the answer.
 

hillbilly1

Senior Member
Location
North Georgia mountains
Occupation
Owner/electrical contractor
If the exsiting wire size is sufficient for a motor feeder to both pumps, move the controllers out to the well, use fusible disconnects or a small load center to provide short circuit and overload protection for the pump motors and controllers, install a sufficient size contactor At the tanks breaking the lines going out to the pumps. Control this contactor with the pressure switch at the bladder tanks.
 
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Location
NE (9.06 miles @5.9 Degrees from Winged Horses)
Occupation
EC - retired
If the exsiting wire size is sufficient for a motor feeder to both pumps, move the controllers out to the well, use fusible disconnects or a small load center to provide short circuit and overload protection for the pump motors and controllers, install a sufficient size contactor At the tanks breaking the lines going out to the pumps. Control this contactor with the pressure switch at the bladder tanks.
:thumbsup: even better.

Except your still gonna short cyle
 

hurk27

Senior Member
Well (no pun intended) I see two problems, besides the branch circuit rating for short circuit, over load is generally provided in the motor as well as thermo protection, but many Franklin pumps also have the start/run caps in the controller, this will be a big problem, second having both motors starting up at the same time will cause a much larger voltage drop from the LRA of the motor starting and can starve the motor at start up this can lead to motor failure because the motor will stay in start up longer, even if you delayed one pump from starting up the branch circuit might not be rated for the higher current of the second motor starting, I would set this up like a tandem ejector pump is done, having one motor as a primary and the other as a slave to kick in if it take too long to reach set pressure, a simple timer can be purchased at Granger to do this, also adding a alternator relay can allow both pumps to share run time allowing longer pump life, but most of all is you want to keep it simple (KISS) as the more you add the more things you have to fail.

Last as was mentioned is with only one buddy tank running both pumps will shorten the run time it take to reach the set pressure so short cycling will be a problem which can also shorten the life of the motors and controls, also check valves should be installed between each pump so one pump doesn't push against the other, I have worked on large potable water supplies for camp grounds and trailer parks that use tandem or multiple pumps but are design to work in unison with each other to increase volume not pressure, but to achieve this the controls must be designed properly to prevent cavitation from one pump over driving the other, most are design to bring up the pressure together then one pump shut down at a set pressure leaving the other to top off the pressure, generally only one pump runs for low water usage but a timer will bring both pumps on if it is taking too long to reach the set point in high water usage times, but if you only have lets say a 3/4" water line you are not going to increase the water flow no mater how many pumps you put on the system, once the capacity of the water line is reached all you doing is shortening the run time which can lead to short cycling, remember the most wear on a motor and controls is in start up, you don't want it to only take 30 seconds to fill a single buddy tank, of course you can increase the size of the buddy tank to give you more volume and increase the time per fill which will give you more available water between pump kick ons, but this all has to be looked at.
 

TimWA

Member
Excellent, great solution.

Excellent, great solution.

I see, move the controllers out to the well heads and use the single feeder line side on them from the pressure switch. OCPD with reset is right on the controllers for the individual pump protection and the enclosures are Nema 3R of course. In-sight disconnect required for each controller. Not sure what the contactor recommendation is about though hillbilly1??
 
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