Choosing a house water pump

[canopy]

I have read the archives on choosing a water pump but I still don't have a clear picture of what I need. Setup: 2 story house with pump positioned next to water tank. Desire to have at least a bit of residual water during power cuts. Below are several styles of pumps I have seen though I don't know when to choose one over the other. No budget cap so will pay more if something makes a worthwhile difference. Appreciate any help pointing me to some suitable ideas.

[lopburi3]

Highly recommend Grundfos pumps as below - high water pressure, very quiet and reliable. Well pumps are just not up to providing water pressure that most of us take for granted these days.

https://www.directtoshop.com/search?q=grundfos

[MJCM]

^ +1 to the Grundfos recommendation.

They are bit pricier then other brands but that translates in reliability (10 year warranty) and very quiet.

[canopy]

I like what I see with Grundfos. How to select the most appropriate model? I see 500-900 watt versions plus other differences between the models.

[Thorgal]

I like what I see with Grundfos. How to select the most appropriate model? I see 500-900 watt versions plus other differences between the models.

[lopburi3]

Cheapest unit should be fine for home use pumping from tank. If you normally have some water pressure you can either use a turn off/on connection for power outage or install check valve to prevent return to input line when pump operating. I prefer to manually change myself. Also have tap directly from tank as last resort.

[KhunBENQ]

The smallest seem 0.3 kW (300 W).

Yes thats enough for two story private house (ground-floor, first floor).

We have a 255 W Mitsubishi with pressure tank as seen on the second picture on the left (yellow).

Works fine. But installed just about 6 months ago.

Whether it is worth I can tell you in 5 years.

The previous pump (almost 5 yr old) was a Hitachi without pressure tank.

Too much noise (on/off) when used for bathroom, shower etc.

Now working on another plot to water the garden running continuously.

Edited May 23, 2016 by KhunBENQ

[Sean87s]

I got one o those Hitachi 250 GX pressurized pumps. Im really happy with it and its very silent too. It gives a nice continious flow even when multiple outlets are opened. It feeds about 1 ray of land and 2 homes with 4 showers.

Although i can sence slight pressure drop when multiple garden hoses are opened at the same time. It doesnt affect pressure in the bathroom when showering and flushing or opening the faucet at the same time.

The 250w model got some good continous pressure so i dont get pulsating flow.

Dont know if this is true but when i got the thing at HomePro i was adviced to get the HITACHI since it got built in mechanism to cut the pump if if runs out of water. The Mitsubishi did not have that safety feature.

Edited May 23, 2016 by Sean87s

[KhunBENQ]

Dont know if this is true but when i got the thing at HomePro i was adviced to get the HITACHI since it got built in mechanism to cut the pump if if runs out of water. The Mitsubishi did not have that safety feature.

Unfortunately I have to confirm that the Mitsubishi does not cut off if out of water.

That would be an argument for Hitachi

[SantiSuk]

Agreed.

The Mitsubishi does appear to have a thermal cut out and the pump does overheat and cut out if it runs out of incoming water. But that could take several tens of minutes of dry running if ambient temperatures are moderate/low. My well pump and/or water tower valve were dodgy over the last year, resulting in increasingly irregular water supply. Eventually the pump expired and in the run up my electricity bills for that part of the house (I have two supplies) went up by 30% with the water pump as the probable cause.

So the Mitsubishi lasted only 5 years. Possibly would have been repairable if I had access to a good pump shop in this region (Buriram too far away and have not found one in Ubon/Sisaket) but eventually I just took the easy option and did a like for like replacement.

Pity this thread did not appear 3 months ago - would have bought a Hitachi!

[canopy]

When I was at Thai Watsadu the other day I was surprised that Mitsubishi pumps have a 30 day warranty and Hitachi have a 5 year warranty. Kind of fits along with what people are saying about the two.

[canopy]

Grundfos is proving hard to find retail. The one link provided earlier is to a seller that usually has extremely high prices compared to others. Can anyone recommend any other online sellers to compare to?

[lopburi3]

It is an expensive pump - have found HomePro prices to be competitive on most items for the last several years (in fact much lower than some housing supply chains).

Believe there is a Chinese made similar pump but have no idea how reliable it is - but suspect much cheaper.

Edited June 12, 2016 by lopburi3

[canopy]

I don't mind expensive, but I just don't want to get ripped off. Below is an example of why I would be reluctant to buy anything from directtoshop/HomePro without checking around first. In this example they charge double for the exact same item! That's 10,000 baht down the drain for nothing.

[canopy]

update: I found a number of web sites, such as arunservice, that offer grundfos pumps for around 5000 baht less than home pro / directtoshop.

[kamalabob2]

In Buriram it has proven simple for home owners to get Grundfos, Hitachi or Mitsubishi water pumps installed and serviced. My next water pump for my two floor home with several bathrooms is the Mitsubishi UMCH-905S Super Pump. Significantly less money to buy than a similar Grundfos even in the same water pump shop. I can speak English with the technical director of Mitsubishi Electric Automation (Thailand) Co Ltd who manufacture this pump in Thailand. I can speak English with the owner of the water pump shop that sells, installs and services this Mitsubishi Automatic Multistage High Pressure Water pump. The person at Thai Watsadu who told Canopy about warranty details of household Mitsubishi water pumps was not telling the truth. Just open any box and you can read the warranty when you want to confirm the words of a store sales person. Getting a meaningful written warranty on a wood, fiberglass or UPVC door in Thailand is a different issue.

[Gary A]

The first home water pump I bought was a cheap Chinese/Thai pump. It didn't last very long. I replaced it with one called ITC. It said Japan on the label. It lasted 10 years and still worked but it developed several minor leaks. Everything was corroded and I twisted off one of the corroded bolts trying to replace a gasket. I went back to the same dealer and he still had that brand. It is now a couple years old and is running fine. I think I paid 5,400 baht for this last one.

[wpcoe]

kamalabob: From your photos, it looks like the pump "pulls" water from the tank and "pushes" it through the filters. I thought it was better to "pull" the water through the filters, but am not entirely sure where I got that idea. Can you confirm that you "push" water through the filters and it works fine?

[KhunBENQ]

Good to see that thread connectors DO work in such an installation!

I also use them at strategic points to ease unmount/repair/replacement.

Edited July 1, 2016 by KhunBENQ