Is it better to have a higher HP well pump?

If you’re looking at your current pump setup and you’re just not satisfied with it, it seems pretty obvious that increasing your pump HP could be one way to fix your issue. But is that the only way? Is it the best way? It all depends; sadly nothing is ever that simple.

Let’s say you have a pump that is giving you 5 Gallons per Minute (GPM) at 35 PSI of Pressure. What are you unsatisfied with? Is it the GPM or the PSI or both? One way to determine this is are you happy with your shower head pressure? Do you notice your pressure reducing after a couple minutes of water running? Maybe your pressure is great at the beginning but decreases over time, if so that’s more of an issue with your pump GPM and not the max pressure it can produce. Or maybe you never run out of water but it’s never at the pressure you want, that would be an issue with your PSI.

As we often notate (see "How many gallons per minute does a house need?), increasing HP can increase PSI or GPM or both, it depends on the type of pump. Drawbacks to increasing HP obviously are increasing prices, as well as the potential for not really changing anything if you go about things the wrong way. What I mean by this is, do you know your well production GPM? Have you tried increasing your pressure tank size or adjusting your pressure switch settings? Let’s talk through some alternative issues you may be having before you decide to increase your pump HP.

(Insert media of different sized well pumps)

Every project is different; two well’s could hit water at different heights even if they end up being only a couple hundred feet apart. In the same way, two wells may have different production levels. The amount of water you could pump out of them before overpumping would be different depending on how the overall capacity of the aquifer you’re drilling in. I’ve had customers drill 50’ into the ground and get high flowing wells with hundreds of GPM in potential production. In the same vein some folks drill 1000’ and don’t hit water at all, or maybe get just 1-2 GPM. And if you have a 1-2 GPM well, increasing HP isn’t going to do anything for you. Some folks opt to ‘crack’ their wells with a ‘pounder’ or ‘hammer’ drill (though this is becoming increasingly uncommon as it is more labor-intensive), or drill deeper to increase the infiltration rate of water. The preferred way to increase GPM would depend on the well driller or technician and their knowledge of the local aquifer.

If your well production is high and you’re happy with the GPM you have, maybe the PSI level is the issue. For this you’d want to double check your pump curves: If say you’re pumping 10 GPM at 100’ of lift, does your pump have the capacity to push water at your desired PSI? Maybe you want 60 PSI (equivalent to an additional 140’ of lift) of pressure, then our 10RPS10 would be perfect for you. If you have a smaller 0.5 HP or 0.75 HP pump, by all means switch it out for something bigger! But if you have this or an equivalent 1 HP pump and you’re still not getting the PSI you want, you may need to double check that your pressure switch is set to the appropriate cut-in cut-out switch. Oftentimes pressure switches are pre-set to 20/40 or 30/50 in terms of PSI cutoff (ours is 40/60), and you have to manually adjust the switch to have higher pressure.

One more thing to mention that many folks fail to think about: if you have hilly land and you’re not worried about freezing, a gravity fed system may be helpful for you. Gravity fed systems have two major pros: They can store water from low-producing wells to increase storage capacity, and they hold that water at a pressure differential. When water is called for, it flows downhill building pressure over time, with the calculation that 1PSI is equivalent to about 2.31’ of lift. Again, this solution is only available on a case by case basis, but it is the solution the majority of the developing world uses, and it works pretty well for them.

If you’ve thought through your options and come away with the resolution that increasing your pump HP is the best way to move forward, let’s keep on chatting! We offer a wide variety of DIY pump kits as well as a virtual library of parts and accessories. Our specialists think through these issues every day, and just like this blog post they aren’t pushing you to buy the biggest pump possible but rather to think collaboratively to get you the best course of action. You can call us at (855)-560-5670 or email us at help@ruralpowersystems.com. We’re friendly, rural-based people, and we’d love to get to know you better!