Best submersible 230v well pumps?

Stargazer

Stargazer

Surin Legend
Anyone have an opinion about the best locally available ½-1 hp submersible 4" pump? (price/value, durability, warranty)

I have a Franklin ½ hp triple seal unit, but will be buying another. The only issue is that we have only one dealer in our area, and the prices are rather high. Based on other experience, I doubt we'd get warranty service from them anyway.

Our wells are 40-45 meters deep.
 
Mel Malinowski said:
Anyone have an opinion about the best locally available ½-1 hp submersible 4" pump? (price/value, durability, warranty)

I have a Franklin ½ hp triple seal unit, but will be buying another. The only issue is that we have only one dealer in our area, and the prices are rather high. Based on other experience, I doubt we'd get warranty service from them anyway.

Our wells are 40-45 meters deep.
Click to expand...
Franklin are the best but make sure it's not a copy !
 
Well, :smirk:, our very first Franklin triseal 1 hp pump failed after just over 2 years in service at our house. It cost 14,500 ฿. It was 40 meters down, with a 34 meter effective water depth. I pulled it, and took it to our Franklin dealer in Rattanaburi. They sent it off to the distributor (I presume), who after about a week sent it back saying it would cost more to repair it than buy a new one. So I did an autopsy, a complete tear-down to see what happened. The pump section (which has 7 stages) was OK. It had a little fine silt inside, but worked ok. The motor was full of water, which means the 'triseal' had failed. We have three wells in service here with Franklin pumps of various sizes, one at home and two at the farm, and this is the only one that has failed (so far). It turns out that we have a 110mm PWA water line running in the street near our house, so while the pump was down, I connected to that as backup. I calculated that pumping our own water costs about 1/10th what PWA charges, so we prefer to irrigate our landscaping with well water. The charges are progressive (go up per cubic meter as your volume increases) so using a lot gets expensive. My naive conclusion is that this is a bit of a difficult pump situation, with some fine silt in the water, and we may wind up having short pump lives. So I'm weighing the total cost/benefits, and this time will give a cheap Nash ¾ hp pump from Do Home a try (3,150฿). If I have to replace every 2-3 years, that pencils out better than Franklin. Do Home was stand up about warranty service on a Longwell 14" steel chop saw that failed at 9 months, so we'll see. Our replacement Nash pump has a 2 year warranty. Interestingly, it notes a maximum actual water depth of 30 meters, presumably to limit the static water pressure on the motor seals (at 30m, the pressure is 2.93 bar or about 43psi). I complied with that by moving my pump up a bit in the well. I presume Nash is Chinese-made, although Franklin may be too :tearsofjoy:. I've tried talking to Franklin in USA with no success--they don't really want to talk to customers directly. I did notice that USA Franklin dealers can register and get 5 year warranties on the Triseal pumps, but no such thing in Thailand. Splitting my year between a USA farm and Isaan, I am finding that warranties mean less here. I don't much like the design of the Franklin controller unit. It has a 'clever' interlock system to prevent the unit from being open and working, and that makes troubleshooting it difficult. The Nash unit is simpler, with easy access lid.The Franklin uses a relay to disconnect the 'start' capacitor once up to speed, while the Nash does not.
 
@Mel Malinowski , reads as though mechanically you really know what you're writing about. ;-)

Did you ever physically work on any Mercury diesel inboard engines ?
I've a friend in Costa Rica that could certainly use a hand.
 
Trying to get rid of me? Sorry, no diesel experience other than as a user. As a farm kid, I did successfully overhaul a Ford V8 engine, but that’s about it other than a lot of routine heavy equipment greasing and maintenance. Remember the good old days when we checked fluid levels before starting a vehicle, and then used a manual choke? I once owned a Morris Minor that started with a hand crank. You needed Whitley wrenches to work on it.
 
Mel Malinowski said:
Remember the good old days when we checked fluid levels before starting a vehicle, and then used a manual choke?
Click to expand...

When I was first employed and resposible for a company vehicle I was required to complete a check list every morning after inspecting oil levels, battery acid level, tyre pressures, lights etc. Now I can't remember the last time I did a check of my own vehicle.
 
Me, too. We've turned over responsibility to the robots. With the changes in cost/benefit due to mass production, it's often cheaper to replace than repair. I tell the kids that if a modern quality high tech front loading washing machine were custom made, it would cost $20,000 USD instead of a bargain Samsung $1400. I have a couple, they're well worth the money. I have vivid memories of my mom doing laundry the semi-hard way in the late '50s, with a tub agitator helping eliminate the hand rubbing, and then a power wringer which could break your arm, and a power 'mangle' to press the clothes. Dry on the clothes line. Hard work. The good old days.
 
alanthebuilder said:
Franklin are the best but make sure it's not a copy !
Click to expand...
Not a copy. Here's what Franklin says about this model. I guess the five year warranty doesn't apply in Thailand (or the dealer hasn't registered). It pretty clearly claims that it is made to perform well in abrasive sand situations. It did appear that the pump itself did, just not the motor seals.
Screen Shot 2022-02-28 at 11.46.03.png
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top