Connecting Two Wells Together

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bbragg

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I recently had a new home built with irrigation in mind. Some of my neighbors were lucky and have wells producing 25GPM, not me!. The well the builder paid for has a capacity of 10GPM, that is all that could be blown out of the well by the driller. I paid for a second well hoping to obtain more water for a irrigation system, and the second well produced only 7GPM even with extra drilling. Both Wells are running 7 stage 1/2HP Franklin pumps rated at 12GPM set around 145ft. Cycle stop valves on both wells set between 60-65 PSI and each has a bladder tank set for 50 PSI on 70 PSI off. Bladders are located in a crawl space and one or the other can feed the house via ball valves, no filters, no check valves I am aware of, good clean water.
The person working on the irrigation design would really like to see the two wells combined to reduce the number of zones it will take to water my area.
I would prefer not to have both pumps starting each time I need to draw water and would prefer to have the second well / pump kick in on demand sensed by reduced pressure or better yet by flow. (My driller had suggested a larger tank with both pumps powered at the same time).
What are the recommend ways of connecting two wells in this situation? Or should I just hope it rains every summer?
 
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Rancher

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This would be a perfect application for an Alternating & Duplexing Relay. An Alternating relay would switch from one pump/well to the other every other required pump time. A Duplexing Relay works like an alternating relay but with the additional ability to bring on the second pump when necessary during high usage applications.

Here's the spec sheet.
http://www.ssac.com/catalog/ARP01A01.pdf

Price on-line is about $75-80 dollars, but I bought a box of 100 new relays from a going out of business sale, I can provide you as many as you might need for $10 each + USPS.

Rancher
 

Valveman

Cary Austin
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All you have to do is tee the pipelines together somewhere. The pumps will work together as they are. I would let the better well come on first by turning up the pressure switch on this well to maybe 55/75. Then the other well will only come on at 50 and supply extra water when the first well can't keep up. I would also suggest a Cycle Sensor or some other Dry Well protection device to protect the pumps.
 
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Rancher

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I have 100 relays, I have a limited number of 8 pin sockets, these are the 8 pin relay version, currently wired as Alternating, but I will provide instructions on how to wire for Duplexing.

Relay - $10
Socket - $2
Duplex instructions - $0
Re-wire for Duplex - $5

Bob, do you have an application in mind?

Rancher
 

Speedbump

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I don't have anything in mind at the moment. I'm sure I can use one in the future though.

What do mean by rewire for duplex. I thought you just turned a switch.

bob...
 
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Rancher

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The switch that is on the relay is for manual operation, i.e. if you had a bad pump #2 you would want to lock the relay into pump #1 postion.

I have 100 of the ARP41S relays, which is the Alternating model, the are exactly the same inside except the 41S only use one side of the DPDT relay inside, I have a few the ARP43S which is wired slightly differently inside and utilizes both set of contacts inside the relay. I've reverse engineered the 43S to determine that it is nothing more than a 41S with different wiring inside.

This is typical of the SSAC relays and Liquid Level Controls, which can be converted from single probe to dual probe with some interanal wiring changes.

Rancher
 
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Rancher

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I changed the part #'s in previous post.

http://www.ssac.com/catalog/ARP01A01.pdf

There is only one relay in either switch, the 41 only has half the relay contacts wired, you could wire the other half and directly control a 240 volt pump, but normally the following is how you would do it.

For an Alternating Relay configuration, using the ARP41S:
If you refer to figure 1 on the data sheet, the S1 would be the pressure switch on the tank, pin 5 would be tied to pin 1 to provide voltage out either pin 8 or 2, and that voltage would operate a contactor for either pump A or pump B. If the first time S1 closed, voltage went to pin 8, then if pump A was attached to pin 8 it would run, pressure switch opens, removing power from pin 1, however the relay does not operate until S1 closes again, providing power to pin 2.

For you digital guys, this is a flip flop.

For you Florida guys, flip flops are worn on the feet.

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Speedbump

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I can't figure out how to operate the flip flops in alternating mode while I'm walking. Any suggestions?
 
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Rancher

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Alternating mode flip flops only work when you are walking backwards.

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bbragg

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Thanks everyone for all the input! I can run a pipe between the two wells and do the pressure method. Should this be done after the cycle stop valves? And I assume I need check valves at this point as well, any recommendations on what type of valves?
 

Valveman

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As long as each pump has it's own check valve, you do not need any other check valves. Yes make sure the connection between the two systems is after the Cycle Stop Valves.
 

bbragg

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OK, I am not sure if the franklin pumps have their own built in check valves, if they do I can removed the check valves from the attached diagram. Does this diagram make sense?
 

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Speedbump

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You need to get rid of the two shutoff valves and the check valves that are together in the feed lines.

Franklin just started making their own pump (Jacuzzi reworked) so are you sure that's what you have. Or is it just a Franklin motor?

bob...
 

bbragg

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The part number of the franklin pumps are on the diagram. I will most likly keep the shutoffs for troubleshooting reasons on the interconnecting pipe.

Bill
 
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What are you using for the "Computer Monitoring Feed".

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bbragg

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Glad you asked about the monitoring system. I am designing my own, currently working on an article now that should be online in this fall. I am designing the system to monitor power (lights, pumps, AC, open doors) and leaks and providing reporting as well as alerts. Future plans are to run the irrigation system in a smart mode based on rain fall and temps.

It's designed around an Elexol I/O24 (http://www.elexol.com/Downloads/EtherIO24DS1.pdf ) low cost network interface. The current sensors are also low cost around $8 (see http://www.phenixcontrols.com/Products/?path=0-242-246-304 ) and are adjustable to trip at different current levels and small enough to fit under the well pressure switch cover. All of on / off data populates a SQL database (could be MS Access or something else) where I generate reports on run time cycles and manage alerts. I will be publishing all the code and electronics in my article.

If anyone has any interest I can post the link here this fall.

Later,
Bill
 
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