QuestionI have a new 2HP Gould pump pulling from a lake in central Florida. The lake went down 2 feet and it was a good time to re-route the 2" suction line to deeper water and locate the pipe under the dock out of the way. Picture my engineering:
From pump, 50' to beach, right (90 degree elbo) 60' to dock, 90 elbo up under dock about 2', 90 elbo then 80'out under dock, then 90 elbo back down 3.5' to lake bottom, then elbo to lake strainer. The pump primes, the station starts but the pump can't seem to keep the station running. To re-cap there are 5 elbo's, 2 rises totalling 5.5', and 196 feet of 2" suction pipe. Are there too many elbo's and rises in the pipe and is it too long for the pump to handle? Thanks
Answer Jeff,
What you've done is freekin scary, but lets see what you gots here.I assume you did this with PVC pipe. The rise should not be a problem with a big boy 2HP pump and if the zones ran good before the pump lost prime. It think you aree losing prime. I know it will prime and run if you fill it with a hose, but how long does it run before it shut down. So it could be a leak in the suction line. It has to be tight. The only threaded connections that you should have are at the pump and at the footvalve. Those are 2 common leaking points. Obviously the one at the pump is the easiest to check. I hope you gots a union or flange fitting that you can unscrew to pull the suction line. If not put one on there. They are cheap if plastic. It would be nice if you could put a fitting to screw a pressure gauge into on the suction line. Then you could prime it get the gauge to read a pressure and watch it to see if it drops. If it don't drop, it ain't leaking.You would need a shut off valve somewhere by the pump also. On either side.
2HP is is a nice big lake pump, but how much elevation is it to the heads it is pumping. What you did I think is added a whole bunch of friction loss to the thing by the lenght of the pipe you added. The elbows should not have anything to do with it as long as they are not leaking. OK, it depends on how many gallons per minute you are trying to run and that tells you the friction loss through that 196 feet of damn pipe you hooked up. If you are pumping 18 GPM which would be about 6 regular nozzle sized rotory head then the friction loss through the long pipe means the pump lost .89 time 2 which is only 2 feet of head and that should not make a diference. Unless it is trying to run a lot of heads. 2 other things: The foot valve may have clogged up. If it is laying on the bottom of the lake it sucked in sand or something. If that's it jeres how I do footvalve. Get a milk crate, cut a hole in the side., put the foot valve through the hole and drop it in the lake. The milk crate keeps the foot valve from laYING ON THE BOTTOM. 2: Support the pipe comimg out of the pump so it doesn't jack the pump housing around and bind it up.
That's all I can do for you right now. Let me know if it helpy Jim
