If you’re planning to pump water from a well into your property then you’ll need to install the correct equipment. The key component is a decent well pump. You need to ensure you pick a powerful enough pump to do the job without going over the top. When connecting your system it is also important to take power consumption into account.
Below we will discuss and test well pump wattage, explain how to work it out for yourself, and calculate the total electricity required.
How Many Watts is a Well Pump?
The average well pump uses between 800 and 2000 watts.
The exact number depends on the size and model of your well pump. For example, smaller 1/2HP pumps use less than 1000W while larger 2HP+ pumps draw 2000W and more!
There is no standard power draw for machines like water pumps as it completely depends on the internal motor. As you can imagine, these devices have a huge range in size and power. You can buy small domestic shallow well pumps and commercial deep water submersible pumps.
This means it is critical to check your own equipment for its power consumption
How to Find Out Your Well Pump Wattage
There’s 3 ways you can work out the wattage of a well pump.
- Check Product Specification
The quickest way is to look at the well pump’s specification. The watts (W) is usually written on a sticker on the base of the appliance. If not, you can check the user manual or the manufacturer’s website for technical details.
- Use a Wattmeter
A wattmeter is brilliant for getting a live wattage reading and tracking total energy usage of any appliance. You can simply plug it into your well pump to get instant information.
I used one to test my well pump which gave a live reading of 1480W.
- Wattage Formula or Calculator
If you know the amperage and voltage of your well pump you can use this to find the maximum watt rating. Simply use the formula Amps x Volts = Watts. Or you can head over to the ‘Watt Calculator’ to work this out.
Well Pump Wattage Examples
Let’s take a look at specific examples of how many watts a well pump draws. Below is a collection of modern well pumps with their listed power ratings.
| Well Pump Model | Power Rating (Watts) |
| Grandmaster – Submersible Water Pump | 1500 |
| Proteger Submersible Pump- PRD-M6 | 2000 |
| Goplus® Pump Shallow Well | 1200 |
| Draper 98919 Submersible | 1300 |
| RainBro 1/2 HP Shallow well jet | 375 |
| SCHRAIBERPUMP 4″ Deep Well | 750 |
| FLUENTPOWER 1HP Portable Stainless Steel Pump | 750 |
| Top Multi 3 | 550 |
As you can see, the power ratings vary between different well pumps. So you should take the time to check your own appliance.
How Much Electricity Does a Well Pump Use?
You can use well pump wattage to work out how much electricity it uses. Plus this can be useful in understanding how much it costs to run your well pump.
A watt (W) is a measurement of power at a single point in time. A watt-hour (Wh) is the total amount of electricity used in an hour. For example, a well pump drawing 1500W would use 1500Wh when running for an hour.
Happily, electricity bills are recorded in kilowatt-hours (kWh). A kilowatt is simply 1000 watts. So a 1500W well pump running for 1 hour uses 1.5kWh.
In reality, you cycle your well pump for 30 minutes a day. This means a mid sized well pump uses about 750Wh or 0.75kWh electricity a day. That’s 22.5kWh a month and 273.75kWh a year.
That’s a rough electricity cost of $3.37a month or $41 a year to run a 1500W well pump for 30 minutes a day.
The exact number varies for pump type and usage. Many people will have a lower energy consumption than the example above by using a smaller pump and being careful with water usage.
Using a Well Pump Off-Grid
If you’re planning to use your well pump in an off-grid situation like a power outage, RV, or remote cabin, the information above is important. It enables you to install the correct electrical equipment and calculate the runtime.
You can either use a power inverter, portable power station, or generator to generate the required AC electricity.
To make sure everything runs smoothly you should check two things on this equipment – wattage capacity and total energy capacity.
Your power source, like an inverter, should have a wattage capacity of at least 20% more than your well pump. This ensures it will be able to deliver enough power as they are never 100% efficient. To pump water, you probably need at least 1000W capacity for a small pump and 2000W for a larger pump.
Secondly, you need to ensure your energy source, like a battery, has enough energy to run the well pump for the required amount of time. As we already know, it could use about 750Wh electricity each day. This is the equivalent to 62.5Ah on a 12V battery.
If you’re living off-grid and using a well pump you should look for a low powered pump and use it efficiently to reserve power. The above example is for a large pump cycling frequently throughout the day.
How Many Watts Does a Well Pump Use Summary
I hope you now have a clear understanding of how many watts a well pump uses.
As you can see, the power consumption of a well pump varies a huge amount. The bigger the pump the higher the wattage. If you’re worried about electricity usage or living off-grid then it is wise to choose a low powered option. You could even reduce power draw to 600W or less. Adding to this, use your water sparingly to minimize the number of times you cycle your system.
