SUBMERSIBLE PUMP 110 or 220

I have a well w/ 110 electric near. Are the submersible 110 pumps any good? And if so what brands? Thanks In adavance Oh yeah 18 foot down to water and 40 foot to the bottom of well . 22 feet of water 12'' hole 6'' casing.

220 is best for energy savings. It will use half of what a 120v pump uses.

The voltage has nothing to do with how well a pump delivers water.

Gary Slusser said:

220 is best for energy savings. It will use half of what a 120v pump uses.

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Huh??? Where did you come up with that??? Double the voltage at half the amps equals the same watts!

If the distance from your panel to the pump is under 100 feet you should be fine on 120V as long as your pump is 12A or under. That said 240 is still best for larger motors. Is that outlet on a dedicated circuit? If yes you can easily change it to 240V at the electric panel.

-rick

drick said:

Double the voltage at half the amps equals the same watts!

Is that outlet on a dedicated circuit? If yes you can easily change it to 240V at the electric panel.

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Same watts but half the amperage, so you can use smaller wire.

Drick is right that most 120 volt comes off of 240 volt supply. Probably just have to move one wire in the breaker panel to get 240 volt.

drick said:

Huh??? Where did you come up with that??? Double the voltage at half the amps equals the same watts!

If the distance from your panel to the pump is under 100 feet you should be fine on 120V as long as your pump is 12A or under. That said 240 is still best for larger motors. Is that outlet on a dedicated circuit? If yes you can easily change it to 240V at the electric panel.

-rick

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Thank you Rick!
This is the most misunderstood concept and I'm glad you picked up on it. Even my master electrician says a 220V saves power

Yes, 120 draws twice the amps.

120V x 12A = 1440 VA
240V x 6A = 1440 VA

Of course 240 volts uses less energy, for very long runs anyway.

Less current means less heat being wasted through the wiring.

Ever since I moved to the US, I am always amazed at how you guys are just cooking using 120 volts.

Which is why high voltage cables are just that.

What makes me really laugh is when I see shops here and all the 120s going in to feed them. It looks like spaghetti.

So long live 240!

I don't understand the reasoning behind the thoughts that 240V uses less energy than 120V. Granted resistive losses will be lower in the 240V circuit than 120V, so for longer runs you certainly would want to use the 240V. But for typical residential use 120V seems to be just as efficient as 240V (within less than 1% anyway).
Ignoring power factor, a 120V pump is going to use the same amount of energy (VA 'Volt-Amps') to do the same work as a pump running 240V; the 120V will use more amps than the 240V but the (VA or Watts 'ignoring power factor') will be the same.

The 120V pump:
Volts x Amps = VA (or Watts ignoring power factor)
120 volts x 12 amps = 1440 VA

The 240V pump:
(only needs 6amps to do the same amount of work, BUT the same amount of energy is used)
240 volts x 6 amps = 1440 VA

The 120V pump uses twice the amps, BUT the same amount of watts are used as the 240V pump because the voltage is half of the 240V.

That's my understanding. I'm I wrong on this?

There is one more fact with submersible pumps. The 1/2hp motor is the only one that runs on 115 or 230 volts. Everything else from 3/4hp up to 5hp single phase is 230 volt only.

If you were to install a 1/2hp pump on 115 volts, the max run allowed with #14 wire is 100 feet. Install the same pump using a 230 volt motor and you can go 400' with #14 wire. So which would you use?

bob...

Ian is very correct, Europe lives on 240 volts and can use 18 or 16 gauge wire for common circuits. What you save on high voltage is COPPER not money from efficiency, unless we assume one undersizes all 120 v circuits. Kids in Europe dont get barbequed any more than the americans, especially because they design plugs that go in and out without you being able to touch the hot prongs. We are pretty primitive here, exept in industry that would laugh at anything under 400 or 600 volts feed. And then you can run a 5 HP motor on 16 gauge wire: THAT is cost efficiency.

You have no business even answering the simplest thread if you believe this. Stick with water treatment, your electric knowledge is poor.

Gary Slusser said:

220 is best for energy savings. It will use half of what a 120v pump uses.

The voltage has nothing to do with how well a pump delivers water.

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I agree............. except that 220v which is really 240+ volts is best for COPPER savings, which equates to energy savings, in its own way. And it does use half of the 120v system, except that it does it twice so its just the same. I have to disagree that he should even comment on water treatment if such ideas are put forth without better explanation.. and indeed, voltage has nothing to do with how a well pump delivers water : A 2 volt pump with wire the size of your thigh can do the same thing as a 600V pump with wire the size of your nose hairs. But its not good judgement to throw this "information" out into the public domain unless you have the ability to better explain your abbreviated and perhaps confused thoughts.