New Water System

We finally finished repairing / replacing our water well system. We chose to go with a new larger pump with a variable speed controller.  The old pump was actually ok, but had reached over half of its lifetime. It stopped because the cables down the well had rubbed through completely.  The original installers neglected to put a torque control device on the well, so everytime it started up the torque of the motor would swing hte pump around in the well rubbing hte wires. There were three spots rubbed almost through, and one area whetre the hot wire was compeltely broken and coroded off.

The new pump is 20 gal/min instead of 10, and the variable speed controller is very nice! This thing maintians water pressure to within 5PSI regarless of water flow. Its like having constant pressure of city water! The old pump was a reagular 40/60 system where it the motor would come on at 40psi, run till it reached 60psi and cut off. The constant cycling on and off while watering is what killed it. This new system run the pump only as fast as necesasry to maintain the water flow, saving energy, wear and tear on the pump, and sprinklers maintain a constant pattern.

With the increased size it will be possible to water the garden AND not worry about house water usage destroying the pattern.  We might even keep a little grass growing in the summer for the grass eeating animals :)

One extra great side effect is that we were able to remove the large galvanized storage tank in the pump house, sinc ehte new system doesnt rely on large amounts of water to buffer the shock of cycling. This tank will make a perfect waterer for the soon to be expanded pig pasture.