Goulds and Pentair Well Pumps: What They Are and What They Cost

Goulds and Pentair are two of the most common names on residential well pumps, and the first useful thing to know is that they are not the same company. Goulds Water Technology is a Xylem brand. Pentair is a separate manufacturer whose water pump lines include Sta-Rite, Myers, Berkeley, and Pentek. Installed pricing does not turn on which one you pick: $1,200 to $2,500 under 200 feet, $2,000 to $3,500 for 200 to 400 feet, $3,500 to $6,000 deeper or for constant pressure, and $700 to $1,500 for a jet pump.

Goulds Water Technology

Goulds describes itself as one of the world’s leading brands in residential and commercial water products, and the line goes back to 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York, when Seabury S. Gould acquired a pump manufacturing business. It is now owned by Xylem and sold as Goulds Water Technology.

The product families that matter to a house on a well are:

• Submersible well pumps, in 4 inch and 6 inch sizes. Four inch is what fits a standard 6 inch drilled well in this county.
• Jet pumps, the above-ground convertible units used on shallow and older bored wells.
• Turbine pumps for deeper and larger installations.
• Constant pressure systems, including an all-in-one Wi-Fi enabled dual-voltage booster the company markets as AquaCase.
• Storage tanks, and monitoring and control equipment including residential boosters.
• Submersible well pump motors sold alongside the pump ends.

Because Goulds also sells motors, it is entirely normal to find a Goulds pump end running on a Franklin Electric motor, or vice versa. That combination is not a compromise or a repair shortcut, it is how this industry has always worked.

Pentair, Sta-Rite, and Myers

Pentair sells well pumps under brand names older than the parent company.

Sta-Rite was founded in 1934 in Delavan, Wisconsin by William C. Heath, on the idea of building pumps “built right to stay right”. Pentair acquired it in 2004 and now sells Sta-Rite pumps, motors, tanks, controls, and accessories in more than 100 countries. Its well line includes 4 inch submersibles in stainless steel and composite versions, a range of shallow and deep-well jet pumps including convertible models, and a multi-stage variable-frequency booster line for constant-pressure systems.

Myers, marketed by Pentair as a brand with a 150 year heritage in water pumps, covers 4 inch submersibles, a broad jet pump range for both shallow and deep wells, centrifugal pumps, and high-pressure booster pumps.

The practical consequence of all this branding is simple: when somebody quotes you a pump, ask for the manufacturer, the model line, the horsepower, and the stage count. Those four items are the quote. “A new pump” is not.

What actually decides whether a pump lasts here

Every pump on this page will run fifteen years in a well that suits it and two years in one that does not. In Henderson County the three things that decide which you get are:

1. Sizing against yield, not against the house. Wells drilled into Blue Ridge fractured rock commonly make 2 to 10 gallons a minute. A pump that outruns the well pulls the water level down to its own intake and runs dry, and dry running is what kills mechanical seals and motors. On a weak well the right answer is often a smaller pump with more stages set deeper, plus storage. The running dry page has the full sequence.
2. The pressure tank beside it. A waterlogged tank starts a pump hundreds of times an hour, and starting is the hardest thing a motor does. A failed tank is one of the most common reasons a pump dies early. A tank is $600 to $1,500 on the tanks and switches page.
3. Wire and splice quality. The right gauge for the run, a properly made and sealed splice, and a torque arrestor so the pump does not swing against the casing for twenty years and chafe its wire through. Those are cheap on installation day and expensive later.

North Carolina’s own construction standard makes the first point a rule rather than an opinion: the pumping capacity of the pump has to be consistent with the intended use and yield characteristics of the well, the pump has to be located to permit easy access and removal for repair, and a threadless sampling tap has to go in at the well head so the water can be sampled properly.

Jet pumps: where Goulds and Pentair still matter most

Both companies carry deep jet pump ranges, and jet pumps are not obsolete in this county. Older bored and shallow wells around Etowah and the river bottoms still run them, and a jet pump replacement at $700 to $1,500 is the cheapest pump job in the book. The reason to convert to a submersible is not brand loyalty, it is that a jet pump is limited by suction lift and struggles as a water level falls, while a submersible pushes from below. You should know which case you are in before anyone quotes either.

What to ask any pump bidder

• Which manufacturer and model, what horsepower, how many stages.
• What the well’s depth and measured yield are, and how they led to that sizing.
• Whether the price includes the pull, new wire and splice, a torque arrestor, chlorination, a flush, and a test.
• Whether the pressure tank and switch are included or are the same age as the pump that just died.
• The North Carolina well contractor certification of whoever is opening the well, which the permits and rules page explains.

Run your own numbers with the pump replacement cost calculator, and compare any bid on scope before you compare it on price.