Case
How the 3-inch Grundfos SQ saved another old water well
When an old submersible pump stopped giving water at a man’s countryside getaway in Texas, his well driller installed a small, 3-inch model from Grundfos, the SQ. The well’s original 4-inch metal casing for the pump was rusty, leaving little space for a regular 4-inch pump to go back in. A year later, the Grundfos SQ has performed well beyond the property owner’s expectations.
“The first time I started using the SQ, I was in shock. It just amazed me what they can do,” says Darrell Ferguson, Water Well Driller.
The situation
Mitch Thames and his wife Carolyn own a piece of land in the countryside just south of Ganado, Texas, west of Houston. “We call it The Barn,” says Mitch, who is President and CEO of the Bay City Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture. “We have some land and a barn, and we park our RV out there. We use it as a little getaway. We were lucky enough that it had a water well on it when we bought it.”
He says they did not know how long the well had been there, and they knew nothing about the submersible pump’s model or age. In early 2023, it stopped working. Mitch was referred to water well driller Darrell Ferguson, who has a shop near Edna, nearby.
Mitch Thames uncovers his water well pumping system from insulation at his property south of Ganado, Texas.
“When he called, he was out of water,” says Darrell Ferguson. “His pump wasn't running. So, we got over there and we had a hard time pulling the pump, because it was inside four-inch metal casing. Through time, metal casing starts corroding and rusting from the inside-in. So, you've only got three-sixteenths-inch (0.5 cm) clearance between the motor and the casing wall.”
Darrell says this situation is quite common on old wells. Here, he did get the pump out. He then recommended installing a smaller new pump – a 3-inch Grundfos SQ “slim line” submersible model.
Mitch says he was worried at first about the smaller size. “I was a little concerned that it would affect the flow and the pressure. But today, I would not hesitate recommending it to anybody.”
The solution
Darrell Ferguson explains, “If you try to put a four-inch pump in an old well like that, you'll stick the pump before you ever get it all the way down. And then the customer loses the pump and the well.” This means the customer has to pay for another pump and dig a new well. “The 3-inch slimline keeps customers from having to pay for drilling a new well when the old well is still producing good water. I've been using those three-inch slim lines for as long as I can remember, and they hold up good. They're very dependable. They can really pump some water.”
Darrell adds, “And the impellers being so small? The amount of volume and high-end pressure they can deliver is just …. The first time I started using it, I was in shock. It just amazed me what they can do. They're all stainless steel, you don't have to worry about anything rust and corroding. The pump has a lot of safety features. It will sense waterlog situations, high voltage, low voltage. It's got a 'pump down' sensor on it. It will handle up-thrust situations – to where it protects the pump and keeps it from destroying the impellers if your water level's too high.”
Mitch Thames’s “Barn” property, a covered RV getaway, with the water well next to the old silo (bottom left).
The outcome
Out at The Barn, Mitch shows off the clean, running water inside the RV. He turns on a garden hose to water some oak trees he and his wife planted on the south and east sides of the property.
“I admit, I thought a smaller pump would mean less quantity, less pressure. But I was totally wrong. It has provided us with everything we've been wanting - both from the pressure and the quantity standpoints,” Mitch says.
Well driller Darrell Ferguson says, “If everybody used the SQ model, it would be a lot easier on us, because they're a lot easier to pull, they're smaller, they're lighter in weight, they perform well. They will out-perform a lot of the 4-inch submersibles, depending on which setup you get. And they have a good life expectancy.” He smiles. “It would also save a lot of room in our service truck because the boxes are smaller.”
Mitch Thames says, “I thought a smaller pump would mean less quantity, less pressure. But I was totally wrong. It has provided us with everything we wanted.”
Topic
Domestic ground water supply
Location
Ganado, Texas
Water well driller
Darrell Ferguson
End customer
Mitch Thames
Grundfos supplied
After the old pump at Mitch Thames’s property died and nearly got stuck inside the rusted, 4-inch metal casing on its way out, water well driller Darrell Ferguson installed a 3-inch Grundfos SQ submersible pump. Learn more about the Grundfos SQ line here.