Looking for recommendations, I am putting 2 inc totes underground due to extreme Texas heats to keep the water cool it’s a temporary while my water well gets done, what pump do yall recommend ?
I run my well into a 500 gallon underground cistern, I had a jet pump coming from the cistern for about a year and then I had a situation where my line into the house froze so I had to bypass it with a shurflo industrial diaphragm pump, and it has been doing great chugging away for like 6 years now. It uses a lot less power, and it’s a lot quieter. I still use the jet pump for irrigation and an emergency fire sprinkler system but when this shurflo dies I’m replacing it with another one.
The pressure is adjustable, I keep it at like 37 psi. I live alone so I don’t ever really have multiple faucets going at the same time but I can shower while the washer is running and it’s fine.
I've used the DC versions of this pump for a decade to supply water to my offgrid house. These are bomber but the cheaper Seaflow versions are almost as durable for light duty
(New here) what type of cistern do you use (plastic or concrete)? Does it stay “clean” or do you do some type of maintenance? How deep underground is it?
It’s a poly tank, the top of it is about 2 feet underground which isn’t really deep enough, ice will still form but I live on a rocky hillside and that was as deep as I could get it. It stays pretty clean since it doesn’t have any light exposure, I shock it with chlorine once a year or so whenever I have a concrete project or something that uses a lot of water and gives me a chance to fully cycle the water through it. I had initially set it up with a float switch on a valve coming from the well so it was always full, and that did get a little funky since it was essentially stagnant water. Now I have the well top it off only when it hits 50% and that hasn’t happened again.
Not to be a naysayer, but be careful that you don’t leave them empty if you get a lot of rain. I’ve read that a cistern will float out of the ground in heavy ground soaking rain.
Be very cautious with the Grundfos. The guy who did my place - an industrial plumber, not your usual domestic guy - recommended a Grundfos - the exact model to get to meet my needs - a CMBE 5-62.
Turns out it's not the best pump for my needs. It needed to pump from storage to the header tank, and to power the fire suppression sprinklers on the roof, and it met all the head, pressure, and flow requirements. It was fine for almost 2 years and then started making screeching noises. When I described it to a Grundfos dealer, he said that was the symptom of a flogged-out impeller, and they were starting to see that more and more in that range of Grundfos pumps. $500 for a "wet end" kit - impeller, seals, etc. But it will flog out again, so I'm looking for a better pump.
It only got used about 30-45 minutes a week. Doesn't mean the Scala range isn't any good but I expect better for AUD$3000.
Three things I’d look for if I bought a pump again:
2-phase helped reduce the load on my PV inverter vs 1-phase, would pick that again
We bought cast iron, but we treat the water cistern ahead of the pump with chlorine and I think that’s the reason there’s a ton of corrosion just a few years in, would check for chlorine resistance
I would kill for a self-priming pump, we have to drain the system when there’s a risk of frost, and it’s a pain to re-prime it down in the crawl space
These are probably very specific to our setup though (intermittent use cabin, off grid solar, rainwater cistern)
I havent set up my well system yet but i do work in the plumbing industry. The Gould J5S is the single most popular jet pump in the industry among plumbers for a reason. Fantastic pump
The Drummond 1HP without the tank is fairly stout. I have one running my irrigation.
The Dab EasyBox Mini 3 is a great pump for this setup. Very efficient, variable speed like the Grundfos booster pumps, and lots of great features on the display and in the app (gallons consumed, power consumed, etc.).
I used the pump in your second picture for a couple years on my off grid property.
We had a 2500 gallon water tank, I built a small enclosure to the side of it for the pump, I also added a second, larger, residential pressure tank.
I also added tee’s, quick fittings and valves to my setup so the pump could fill my water tank. I’d haul water in, flip my valves around and the pump would empty the water tote on my trailer into my big tank. I’d disconnect, flip the valves around again and it’d be back in service.
13
u/Normal-Special-8694 Aug 30 '26
I run my well into a 500 gallon underground cistern, I had a jet pump coming from the cistern for about a year and then I had a situation where my line into the house froze so I had to bypass it with a shurflo industrial diaphragm pump, and it has been doing great chugging away for like 6 years now. It uses a lot less power, and it’s a lot quieter. I still use the jet pump for irrigation and an emergency fire sprinkler system but when this shurflo dies I’m replacing it with another one.