Using Lightning to power well pump?

[Humble Farmer]

Hello,

Has anyone tried to power their home well pump with their Lightning?

Thanks

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[TaxmanHog]

Yes, several members have reported their usage with pumps, search for the threads.

Well pump tripping GFCI

Pro power ground fault detected on 240v well pump

 

[Citizen0]

Yes! Last year we had two major hurricanes hit here in South Georgia. My family lost power for about 12 days total between the two storms. I live in a very rural area with a deep well that goes to my home and my mom's home next door.

I used my Lighting to power both homes. My house was with an L14-30 input to the main panel (which powered everything including the HVAC) and I ran a heavy duty extension cord to my mom's house (to power fridge, a few lamps and her TV so we could keep up with the weather).

I could NOT power the well at the same time due to the amperage draw if the HVAC was running and the well kicked on. Wells have a very high start-up amperage draw, but it settles down after a few seconds.

So my solution was to disconnect the wires that went directly to the well from the cutoff in the pumphouse and move them over to an L14-30 input. I would then disconnect the truck from the houses and park next to the well so we could have water periodically throughout the day.

It wasn't the most elegant of solutions, but it worked and really was a lifesaver.

I've since installed a Jackery 5000 Plus along with 800W of solar panels on the pump house taking the well entirely off grid. This is a very expensive solution for what it is, but water is one of those things that you just can't go without. LMK if you need any other info.

 

[dtomlin]

I have a long cord that plugs into the 220v outlet on my Lightning. The other end I connected the 2 hot wires and the ground wire at the pressure switch. I didn't use the neutral. Worked for me.

 

[Aminorjourney]

Yup. My F150 Lightning does both our well pumps with no problems. However, it's via our Home Integration System.

Our main well pump is a traditional old-school pump that's low volume, and therefore pretty low power. Our reservoir-to-house pump is a soft-start three-phase unit.

 

[jwrezz]

Yup. My F150 Lightning does both our well pumps with no problems. However, it's via our Home Integration System.

Our main well pump is a traditional old-school pump that's low volume, and therefore pretty low power. Our reservoir-to-house pump is a soft-start three-phase unit.

How does the HIS do 3 phase, or is that part of what the HIS does? I thought it just did split phase.

 

[Karlos]

Yes, in fact the Lightning will power our house (lights etc), as well as hangar, septic tank and well pump, just not at the same time. The startup on the well pump pretty well maxes out the 30 amp circuit in the truck bed. I can add back some light loads AFTER the pump is running. Controlling both house and hanger with separate Reliance Transfer 6 line & 10 line switches. Has Amp load guages to view and balance loads. Have used it twice with multi-hour power outages, hardly affected the truck energy.

 

[Truckdriver1880]

Yes I power my well pump with my truck during power outages. But I do it via a sub panel I had installed so can power most of my house including the pump. I actually added more circuits to the sub panel as the draw per day was only about 6% of my ER battery. So now I can use washing machine, dishwasher, microwave, wifi, pump, furnace and all my lights and sockets. Which is still only about 8-9% battery/day during and outage.

 

[MidAtlanticLightningClub]

If you expect to run the well often, especially with other appliances like AC units that also have a heavy draw on startup, you might consider getting a soft start installed.

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