Whether or not a well pump has a good flow rate or produces enough gallons per minute (GPM) is completely dependent on your specific situation. Everyone’s water needs are different, some people have a house with lots of people living in it, others are doing irrigation and running sprinklers, and some people live alone. All of these people will have a different idea of what a good flow rate from a submersible well pump is.
If you are doing some form of irrigation, such as running sprinklers or drip lines, then you will likely need a higher flow rate than people who aren’t. How to determine the flow rate you need depends on the specific sprinklers or drip lines you are using. If you know the make and model of the sprinklers/drip lines you are using, you can often search online and find the spec sheet for that specific product. In that spec sheet you will find the GPM required by the product in order to function properly. Let’s say your sprinkler heads take 2.4GPM in order to run efficiently and you have 8 sprinkler heads, 2.4GPM * 8 sprinkler heads = 19.2GPM needed to run your sprinkler system.
If you are providing water to your residence from the same well that you run your sprinklers off of, you will want to get a pump that can do more than 19.2GPM in order to ensure you still have some left over in case you need to run the sink or take a shower at the same time the sprinklers are running. You can do the same with drip emitters to find the total GPM your drip system requires, though the spec sheet for drip lines will often give you the flow rate in gallons per hour as drip emitters use significantly less water. So let’s say your drip emitters use 2 gallons per hour, and you have 70 emitters, 2GPH * 70 emitters = 140 gallons per hour, then take 140 and divide it by 60 to get the gallons per minute which would be 2.3GPM. If you would like to learn more about sizing a well pump for a sprinkler system, check out this blog post!
If you have a household with lots of people in it, you will need a higher GPM than someone who lives alone, assuming neither are doing any irrigating. A good way to get an estimate on how many GPM your household would require would be to take into account how many bathrooms are in the house. A typical shower uses 3-5GPM, so if your house has three bathrooms you will want to get a well pump that can do 15GPM as that would cover all the bathrooms possible flow rates. You might want a little bit more in case all showers are going at once and someone wants to wash some dishes, but usually 15GPM would cover a three bathroom home without issue.
So there isn't one answer to how many GPM a good household well pump should pump, just what best fits your specific situation. If you are having any trouble figuring that out for yourself, feel free to call one of our pump specialists at 855-560-5670 and they can help you get sized for the best submersible well pump for your needs.
