Inverter use ~ 3 gallons over 8 hours

[notabot]

Powered the whole house. Ran the central AC and even did some laundry. Only used about 3 gallons of fuel. SAweeeeet!!!!!!!!!!

FWIW, the measurement is a SWAG based upon drive distance and usual MPG plus sitting in my driveway hooked up to the house.

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[m_bt54]

Powered the whole house. Ran the central AC and even did some laundry. Only used about 3 gallons of fuel. SAweeeeet!!!!!!!!!!

FWIW, the measurement is a SWAG based upon drive distance and usual MPG plus sitting in my driveway hooked up to the house.

Soft start on the central ac?

 

[Snakebitten]

And amazingly quiet too, right?

 

[Gulfstream]

Soft start on the central ac?

Just today, for the first time, I tested my soft starter for my 4.5 ton AC. Before the soft start device, I tested my AC with the 7.2 kw PPOB and it immediately failed/faulted when the AC kicked on. I have now installed the Micro-Air EasyStart 368 Soft Starter to great effect lowering my initial starting/surge amps from about 100 to about 32. Now I can power everything in my house with AC , EXCEPT, when my well pump kicks on. The pump is 480 feet deep and is 1.5 hp. Apparently the starting amps necessary to overcome the head pressure is quite substantial and, when it kicked on while the AC was running, caused an overload. So now I need to find out if there is a soft starter for a well pump. But, I'm not complaining. I can turn off my well pump while cooling the house or turn off my AC while running the well pump when necessary.

 

[m_bt54]

Great info. I’ve been looking at that same soft start but figured I would wait till the fall to install it so I don’t break the AC while we still need it! Luckily we don’t have a well where I live to worry about

 

[notabot]

Soft start on the central ac?

I actually have hard-start on the AC compressor. I only know this because it went out a week ago and I had to have the HVAC guy come and save the day.

 

[notabot]

And amazingly quiet too, right?

I actually took a couple of naps with the truck right outside my window and never heard it.

I think you mentioned you also run the AC in the truck whilst running in inverter mode. I began the day with the AC off and with the sun and black truck/black interior, it got VERY hot inside. When I opened the door to check the gauges I was hit in the face by a blast of very hot hot air. Very freaky! After that I set the climate control on 80F and will do so in the future.

 

[notabot]

Just today, for the first time, I tested my soft starter for my 4.5 ton AC.

Pretty sure mine is no more than 2 ton AC...

 

[Kanuck]

Just today, for the first time, I tested my soft starter for my 4.5 ton AC. Before the soft start device, I tested my AC with the 7.2 kw PPOB and it immediately failed/faulted when the AC kicked on. I have now installed the Micro-Air EasyStart 368 Soft Starter to great effect lowering my initial starting/surge amps from about 100 to about 32. Now I can power everything in my house with AC , EXCEPT, when my well pump kicks on. The pump is 480 feet deep and is 1.5 hp. Apparently the starting amps necessary to overcome the head pressure is quite substantial and, when it kicked on while the AC was running, caused an overload. So now I need to find out if there is a soft starter for a well pump. But, I'm not complaining. I can turn off my well pump while cooling the house or turn off my AC while running the well pump when necessary.

I don't think your pump will be down 480 feet. Your well , yes, but not the pump. The water in the well will be up closer to the surface and your pump will be down far enough to be in the water. My well, not as deep as yours, is 125 feet, but the water is only down 6 feet from the top. My pump is down about 30 feet.

I have a 1.5 hp Gundfos pump that is variable speed. As the pressure starts to drop, the pump starts spinning. It will only turn as fast as it needs to keep the water pressure at 70 PSI, that is what my system is set for. Because the pump is variable speed, there is no high current draw when starting. You could look into this kind of system if you didn't want to put on a soft start.

Just my thoughts. I can't see a 1.5 hp pump lifting water up 480 feet. That is about 80 gallons of water, weighing 800 lbs.

 

[Snakebitten]

Both my wells are beyond 400'.
But the pumps are secured at the end of about 5 or 6 20' lengths of threaded pipe. I don't remember exactly. Certainly not much more than 100'.
But yea, not anywhere near as deep as the well itself.
Both wells are within 250' of each other and dug by 2 competing well companies. Yet both used very similar equipment and procedures, as well as results.

 

[Gulfstream]

I don't think your pump will be down 480 feet. Your well , yes, but not the pump. The water in the well will be up closer to the surface and your pump will be down far enough to be in the water. My well, not as deep as yours, is 125 feet, but the water is only down 6 feet from the top. My pump is down about 30 feet.

I have a 1.5 hp Gundfos pump that is variable speed. As the pressure starts to drop, the pump starts spinning. It will only turn as fast as it needs to keep the water pressure at 70 PSI, that is what my system is set for. Because the pump is variable speed, there is no high current draw when starting. You could look into this kind of system if you didn't want to put on a soft start.

Just my thoughts. I can't see a 1.5 hp pump lifting water up 480 feet. That is about 80 gallons of water, weighing 800 lbs.

Thanks for the response! After I read your post I went and double checked the data label at the wellhead. And now I have even more questions about it. The label says the well is 505 feet, the pump is 480 feet, the casing is 125 feet, the static water level is 130 feet. The well is only rated at 5 GPM, so maybe the pump has to be that deep to maintain usable amounts of water?

I love the idea of a variable speed pump. Thanks again!

edit: Just to add that in 15 years living on this well we have always had plenty of cool, clean water (as the song went) ??

 

[Davexxxx]

FWIW, its common here to have wells , where the pump is set 20' above the bottom.

Our well used to be 260', pump at 240'. We only had about 40 gal. that could be pumped at any one time. After that, you had to turn off the pump, to keep it from burning up.

Had it drilled to 560, pump at 540. All the water you could use. 5hp pump.

It depends on the recharge rate for the area.

 

[MichF150]

I actually took a couple of naps with the truck right outside my window and never heard it.

I think you mentioned you also run the AC in the truck whilst running in inverter mode. I began the day with the AC off and with the sun and black truck/black interior, it got VERY hot inside. When I opened the door to check the gauges I was hit in the face by a blast of very hot hot air. Very freaky! After that I set the climate control on 80F and will do so in the future.

I ran my house for two days and it get seriously hot. Used about a half tank in 24 hours. We had a solid 4k plus load the entire time.

 

[Kanuck]

I stand corrected...Did not think that a pump would be put down that far into a well. The recovery rate must be the reason.

 

[Gulfstream]

If you move the well pump to the other phase/120V circuit you might be able to run them both. Ask an electrician.

I'm not an electrician but would like to understand . . . Is this a complicated procedure or is it just moving or reversing wires from one connection to another? Thanks!

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