Possibly buying a new house on a well.

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You can do a lot with 20 GPM. Some people would kill for 5 GPM, which is really all a house needs. If you have a 20 GPM pump, then all your irrigation zones need to be 20 GPM to keep the pump from cycling itself to death. That is when a CSV is at its best as it will let you irrigate at any rate you want down to 1 GPM without letting the pump cycle on and off.
 
How Much?



How many GPM your pump can draw depends on the pump that you own. Pumps use different size pipes and have different horsepower ratings. Generally, the larger the diameter of the pipe and greater the horsepower rating on the pump itself, the more water it will be able draw.


Types



There are two types of well pumps: submersible and jet. A submersible pump is the most-common and works in deep wells. The pump is entirely submerged underwater in the well. The pump uses impellers that draw the water from the well and push it through the pipes to the house. Jet pumps have the pump motor and connections above ground and are good for wells that are no more than 100 feet deep, according to Lowe's. These pumps create a vacuum to draw the water from the well.


Well Capacity



When a well is drilled, its capacity is determined. This is determined using the well driller's log or a cleanout pump, according to Friesen Electric Company. The capacity is the rate at which water can be pumped from the well that allows the water level to recharge sufficiently.


Pump Capacity



According to Friesen Electric Company, the most-common types of pumps are: 5 GPM, 10 GPM, 20 to 27 GPM and 35 to 85 GPM. These are the gallons per minute that these pumps are rated to pump. In selecting a pump, don't choose one that will draw more than your well can handle. If you overpump your well, you can ruin your pump if it is trying to draw water that isn't there. Most homes will use the 10 GPM pump. Farms and Ranches will need something larger, probably a 20 to 27 GPM pump.


Home Volume



To determine what pump capacity you need, simply allow one GPM for every fixture in the house, according to the Water Systems Council. Count the spigots in the kitchen, bathrooms, those used by appliances and those that are outside. Also count things with special fixtures like pools and hot tubs.


do you have a 3 bath house? that would be 11 +3 hose bibs=14
I am not a pump guy, sounds like you have a 442 hemi in that hole :D
 
Chris, best thing to do if your looking at an irrigation system (don't know if you already have one) is disconnect the pipe from the well to the house and do a bucket test to see what the pump is delivering. Let it run for 15 minutes or so first in case the pump pulls the water level down which will make the gpm drop off.

Yes, 25 gpm is great.
 
I plan on adding a lot of landscaping. Pretty much trees and bushes on the entire four and a half acres. If it would be better to upgrade things for that I would like to do it sooner than later.

I don't want to push my well pump to the limits.
 
You can't hurt the pump by running it as long as it's moving water. The big trick to an irrigation system is to make all zones use the same amount of water or as close as you can get them. And to make sure that amount of water will keep the pump running all the time the zones are on.

If your looking to upgrade the pump, don't go any bigger than necessary. A pump that is too big is destined to cycle itself to death.
 
That is true except when using a CSV. The CSV lets you put in as large a pump as you think you need, and still use it down to 1 GPM without cycling the pump. Without a CSV every irrigation zone needs to precisely match the output of the pump. With a CSV the zones can be made to match the yard, not the pump.
 
I will always recommend the smallest pump necessary for the job. Whether selling a constant pressure valve or not. Why would you want a large pump running at just one gpm when a much smaller pump can do it much cheaper?
 
I will always recommend the smallest pump necessary for the job. Whether selling a constant pressure valve or not. Why would you want a large pump running at just one gpm when a much smaller pump can do it much cheaper?

I agree except that the pump needs to be large enough to run the house, irrigation, and "whatnot" all at the same time. The CSV will let you put in a large enough pump to do all that, and still let it work safely as low as 1 GPM when needed.

The larger pump won't make much difference in the electric bill for house water use. But to be more efficient you want to run as much as you can on the irrigation zones, without starving the house for pressure.
 
I don't know about other areas, but here we can only run sprinklers at night, so house usage of water wouldn't be a problem when the sprinklers are running for most people. I do agree though, you should size the pump large enough to do the job/s it has to do.

We have too many people that have 5 acre ranches and do a little farming. They want a pump that will run the house and the farm. So here they are with a 70 gpm 5hp pump in a 4" or 5" well with a small bladder tank and can't understand why they can't get more than 2 - 3 years out of a motor. Even with a CPV, they are cycling the pump far too much. Problem is, they won't spend money on the amount of tanks they need or drill another well just for the home. The motor companies love these folks.
 
I don't know about other areas, but here we can only run sprinklers at night, so house usage of water wouldn't be a problem when the sprinklers are running for most people. I do agree though, you should size the pump large enough to do the job/s it has to do.

We have too many people that have 5 acre ranches and do a little farming. They want a pump that will run the house and the farm. So here they are with a 70 gpm 5hp pump in a 4" or 5" well with a small bladder tank and can't understand why they can't get more than 2 - 3 years out of a motor. Even with a CPV, they are cycling the pump far too much. Problem is, they won't spend money on the amount of tanks they need or drill another well just for the home. The motor companies love these folks.

That is exactly what I am trying to avoid. I plan on having a lot of irrigation in the future, I mean a lot.
 
Even with a CPV, they are cycling the pump far too much.


If they are cycling the pump too much when using a CSV, they don't have it set up correctly. One 80 gallon size pressure tank is all that is needed.

I have lots of customers with 5HP, 50 to 70 GPM pumps for irrigation that also use the same well for the house. They last a long time.

I even have one golf course customer who uses a 600 GPM, 75HP with a CSV and an 86 gallon tank to irrigate the golf course, and the same pump is hooked up to the club house and the superintendents mobile home. It was all installed in 1996 and is still working fine.
 

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