New Well Pump

[Richard795]

Just installed a new sprinkler system in my 1 acre yard and I'm looking to upgrade my pump. I currently have a 3/4hp pump that puts out about 11 GPM and that was fine for the house, problem with that pump is my sprinkler nozzles would have to be around 1.5gpm to make some zones work and at that rate I'm only getting .19 inches/hour of precipitation, I don't want to run my zones for hours on end.

I want to put larger nozzels which would take one zone close to 20 GPM so I was thinking of getting a 1.5HP pump that will put out about 25 GPM +/-. My question is will this be too much pump for the house, I was also going to install a cycle stop valve on my system and keep the PSI at 55 I also have a 32 gallon pressure tank.

 

[WorthFlorida]

A larger pump will maintain higher pressure for a longer time but it can then start to short cycle. It's where a CSV comes into play. The more serious problem is the well itself. Can it supply the amount of water for irrigation that you'll be demanding for several hours at a time?

When it comes to irrigation, do not add sprinklers that will match the max output of the pump. During irrigation water will be needed for the home. Most sprinklers have a chart for the amount of delivery per PSI. With too many sprinklers your pressure drop, it will not be a constant. With a pressure tank a lot of energy is used up trying to maintain pressure for the tank itself. During irrigation most of the pressure supplied is from the pump itself, not the pressure tank. What size pipes were used for each irrigation zones?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Richard795]

Thanks for your reply, when my well was drilled it flowed 60gpm for a 30 minute test, I have 9 zones they are all around 10-12 except for one which is 20, I will only water between 5-7am when no water is being used in the house matter of fact i will make sure my largest zone starts early and is done by the time anyone wakes up. I used Rainbird and Hunters charts to find psi and gpm for each zone. I have a 1 1/4 from the well to the house then its 1" to every head, all sprinkler piping is 1".

 

[Valveman]

With a 1.5HP jet pump and a CSV1A you can use 20 gallon irrigation zones or as little as 1 GPM and the CSV will deliver constant pressure and keep the pump from cycling no matter what you do.

 

[WorthFlorida]

I highly suggest a CSV as per Valveman. Each zone no matter how hard you try will use different amount of water thus the pressure will vary. The CSV will place less stress on your household plumbing.