My submersible well pump uses too much electricity, what do I do?
There are several reasons that your submersible well pump uses “too much” power. In this blog, we’ll explore these reasons and point you in the right direction to help reduce. the power consumption for your submersible. well pump.
Reduce your water consumption/waste.
Water pumps only run to meet a demand for water. For example to fill a storage tank, or provide water to your sprinkler system when it provides water to your lawn, garden, orchard, etc… Perhaps you can work with your landscaper to select plants that require less water for landscaping or convert from sprinkler to subsurface irrigation to reduce water loss due to evaporation. Installation of a smart irrigation controller that has the ability to access weather conditions online and make adjustments for days that are cloudy/rainy can help save both water and power. In addition, these types of controllers can use a “cycle & soak” feature to minimize water waste through runoff. If you use a landscaper to take care of your property, ensure that they are properly programming your watering cycles. Many landscapers just punch in an hour for each zone and try to keep things green without actually knowing how much water is actually needed. If you have zones that only need 30 minutes and they are programmed for 60 minutes of watering, this is a lot of wasted water and power. This approach is wasting water, adding wear and tear to your pump equipment and increasing your energy bill.
Your pump is inefficient.
Pumps are mechanical devices and as they age, things change. The water quality can cause deposits in the piping which effectively decrease the flow/pressure of the water. Bearing in motor wear, tolerances between impellers and diffusers open up with wear. What this boils down to is that old/worn pumping equipment uses more power to pump the same water than a new pump does. In some cases we’ve seen pumps that have become so worn or plugged that they con no longer make enough pressure to turn off. This means that the pump will run constantly! This causes the power bill to jumps $1000 in a single month! If you suspect your pump is worn/old, you’ll need to have your pump equipment tested for flow/pressure and power usage and then this can be compared to known values for power usage and water production to see if the pump should be replaced. This process should take about an hour or two for a qualified technician with the appropriate flow meter, water depth probe and electrical meter to measure pump power usage.
The wrong equipment is installed.
In many cases we’ve seen the wrong pump equipment installed. Sometimes this is because this equipment is what was readily available or cheap.. Sometimes it is because the well pump contractor or a homeowner think “bigger is better.” It’s ok to have a bit of a buffer, but this can only be taken so far. Installing a 50 GPM 5 HP pump in a well that only produces 30 GPM means that a valve or special controls need to be installed to choke back the flow so the well won’t be pumped dry. This types of installation is using 5HP worth of power but only 3 HP worth of water!
Sometimes the pump installed is simply because people are unaware and think one pump is like another pump. Pumps are not all the same! One pump may be very efficient at pumping 50 GPM at 300 PSI but incredibly inefficient at pumping 300 GPM at 50 PSI. You need to have the right pump for your application! You wouldn’t take the family sedan to race at the indy 500 and you wouldn’t use a Ferrari to go off roading. Check out our blog about how to choose the correct submersible well pump for your application. The correct pump will deliver the correct amount of water & pressure using as little electricity as possible and last for many years! You may have the choice between an “expensive” pump that is very efficient and a “cheap” pump that is rather inefficient. Choose the “expensive” efficient pump. It will easily pay for itself in power savings over the next few years.
Installation of pipe or wire that it too small can also cause your pump equipment to burn off extra power! If you’re trying to run 50 GPM through a 1” pipe, you are burning off power in the pipelines because of the friction in the pipelines at that flow rate. You should likely be using a 2” pipe or even larger, depending on the distance the water needs to travel. The same goes for the wire to your pump. If the wire is too small and the distance to the pump is great, then excess power is lost to wire resistance instead of being used to pump water.
Having a technician come and verify wire, pump and pipe sizing is a great way to ensure you have the most efficient installation possible.
You have water leaks!
While this is third on the list, it is probably one of the easiest things to check for! Don’t use any water, turn off the power to the well pump equipment, note the pressure on the pressure gauge and wait for an hour. Is the pressure the same? Great, no leaks. Is the pressure lower or gone? Time to find out where the water is going. Running toilets, corroded underground/under house piping, or even a bad check valve or pipe in the well can be the source of the leak which is driving your power bill through the roof. You may want to invest in a flow meter so you can keep an eye on water usage even get automated leak alerts before you have water damage or your power bill goes through the roof. Flume seems to make a great product that can help many homeowners get a handle on water usage and water leaks.
You are pumping during the wrong hours.
In many parts of the US electricity costs more at different times of the day, typically “Peak” hours. Call you local utility and ask if this is the case for your area, if so, try to schedule your large water demands (irrigation) and big power using activities like doing laundry, cooking, etc… for times that are “off peak.”
You are pumping your water too many times!
Some water systems have evolved or been relegated to a series of “quick fixes” that haven’t stepped back to take a hard look at the big picture. Many of these have water being pump from a well, to a tank to another tank then to a house. You get the idea. Pumped here, pumped there over and over and over again. Every time you pump water, energy is used. Minimize the amount that water is pumped and you’ll minimize the energy and the equipment needed to pump it. If you need 50 GPM for your vineyard and you have a well that can produce 60 GPM, install the right pump in the well and water the vineyard directly instead of installing a pump in the well that pumps to a tank that then needs to be pumped to the vineyard. If you have a hill, put your tank on a hill so you just pump it once from the well up the hill to the tank and then it can flow down with gravity!
Perhaps you have irrigation needs or household needs that require more volume than your well/submersible pump can produce? If this is the case then a storage tank may be necessary. An alternative to explore would be to have more irrigation zones that use less flow for each zone so that the available flow from the well/submersible pump is sufficient.
Remove devices from your pump system that WASTE electricity!
Many, but not all, well pump systems include specialty valves to keep the well pump from cycling frequently. These valves are intended to restrict the flow of water so that the well pump doesn’t turn off and on rapidly. These valves are essentially burning off many KWHR of your electricity/$ and there is a much more elegant solution. Now I’m not suggesting that you just remove these valves, they need to be replaced with something that serves the same function, just more efficiently. Turning well pumps off/on frequently/rapidly is a bad idea and causes excess heat to build up in the motor and excess wear on the internal motor components. When you remove these valves, you need to install a constant pressure controller sometimes called variable frequency drive (VFD). This type of pump controller changes the pump operation from on/off operation that you had with a pressure switch to a pump system that changes its speed & output to match your water demand. When there is no demand the controller turns the pump off. When there is small demand the pump runs slowly and for a large demand the pump senses and ramps up automatically. The Franklin Electric Subdrive series of pump controllers, the Pentek Intellidrive and Goulds Aquavar controllers are all excellent options that have intuitive setup and a great track record for longevity. The Franklin and Pentair controllers allow the operation of both single and three phase motor options which allow homeowners to simply change a controller without having to replace the motor on their submersible pump. It is imperative that you select the correct controller for your motor and motor type and install it correct. The inset from Pentair Pentek Intellidrive manual shows what size & types of motors and pumps each of the various models of their controllers will work with. The PID50 will take care of the widest range of pump sizes and motor types in the Pentair linup, but comes with a bigger price tag than a PID20 or PID10, so identifying the size and type of motor can help save some money when it comes to installing the correct VFD controller! Check out our blog on VFD controllers for more information on whether or not this might be the right move for you.
We hope this blog has been informative and helps you tune up your submersible pump system to be as energy efficient and cost effective as possible! As you can tell, there are somethings you can do and a few things you’ll need the help of your local pump service provider to help with. Don’t be afraid to reach out for help to properly size wire, pump and pipe to get the most bang for your electrical utility dollar!
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