“Be warned that a generator has to be pretty strong to drive a well. Might be worth the effort to make sure yours will pull the load before thirsty.
My dads well needed a 7500 watt generator to spin up. His 5000 watt Honda did not cut it.
Because well motors are so small diameter, their start current is very large. “
I was out of town all week with only an iPad which is not logged onto FR. I wanted to add to your discussion about well pumps:
We have a 285’ well with a 10 GPM pump @ 260’ — Over the decades I have planted over 300 trees and irrigating these trees has put massive stress on the pump.
My irrigation system is only 3 GPM so the pump would constantly switch ON and off which destroyed the first pump after 10 years.
The second pump had a ‘cycle stop’ valve which prevented the pump from cycling. Unfortunately the downside of a cycle stop valve is that the pump motor overheats and destroys the pump (no-one told me about this...)
Currently we have a Franklin Sub-Drive system and it’s fantastic!
The pump controller changes the 240 1 phase voltage into a three phase voltage and sends it to the three phase pump motor. this allows an 8 GPM pump to soft start and pump at a mere 1.5 GPM and it has infinite speeds up to 12 GPM.
IF you are looking for a way to power a pump with a generator/inverter this is could be a perfect system for you.
I believe that the the pump wire needs to have ‘3 wires + a ground’ (ours had this) to pass the three phase power to the pump motor.
https://franklinwater.com/products/drives-protection/residentiallight-commercial/subdrivemonodrive/
Hope this helps!
https://franklinwater.com/products/drives-protection/residentiallight-commercial/subdrivemonodrive/
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Outstanding! A three phase converter is a great idea. I was looking at changing out a well pump for the Grundfos DC pump, as its permanent magnets allow a very low current start, but a 3 phase sounds better.
I will keep that in mind for sure.
Much appreciated!