deep well pump filling up cistern

Hello everyone,

I need advice.

I'm trying to pump up water from a well

I need an automatic system that can fill up the main house cistern (the well is a 7min/approx. 200m walk down hill from the house and it's too far for me to be checking on it). The length of the pipe would be 100m distance from the pump/well to the main cistern. The capacity of the well is 0.6m3 and it fills at a rate of 7L/min in the summer. Technically it's not a well but a spring that's been channeled in a sort of reservoir but I'll just call it a well because functionally it's the same I think for this purpose.

So, I have basic knowledge with electrics and plumbing (I've set up a lot of pumps around here on the farm) but this is slightly more complicated than my experience level.

I would like the pump to be able to turn on and off filling the main cistern from 2/3 to full because I think if the pump runs too long it will suck up too much water too fast from the well without enough time for the well to replenish it self.

From my understanding, I can have the submersible pump shut on and off depending on the water level in the well with a float level switch water controller that would be hooked up to a pump control panel wired to the submersible pump. This would be located close to the pump/well and far from the house.

My question is, assuming the above is correct:

How can I connect cistern level sensors (near house) to automatically start/stop the pump 100m away in the well? Does this require a relay panel, long control cable, or other system hooked up to the "pump control panel"?
Or rather what's the reliable way to wire cistern sensors 100m back to pump controller?

To summarise my plan is:
1. Submersible pump + control box with thermal protection at well
2. Well low-level float (stops dry-running)
3. Cistern high-level sensor (stops pump when tank full)

Maybe I've misunderstood something.

Thank you


The pump control panel I'm thinking about getting is this one:
ZYIY 110V Deep Well Pump Accessories Controller for Submersible Pump - 1.1KW 1.5HP Switch Control Box With 60uf 25A Capacitor Starter

Max said, Technically it's not a well but a spring that's been channeled in a sort of reservoir but I'll just call it a well because functionally it's the same I think for this purpose.

For what you are describing, we use a submersible pump.

To me these are very versatile pumps and can be used in lots of situations.

By the way what you are describing, on Homestead Rescue they call that a well, too.

my setup for a sump area is an 8" ball float on a vertical threaded metal rod running thru a plastic pipe. The plastic pipe is the guide for the float rod controller setup. The plastic guide pipe is clamped in place so it doesn't wiggle.  Near the top of the threaded rod a large washer (about 4 inches diameter is held in place with nuts) as the water level goes up and down the washer rises up and down. When water is near top of tank the washer hits a proximity switch which turns on the sump pump. As the water level goes down the washer bottoms out hitting a switch that turns the pump off. Yes a clever person could rig up similar system with cheaper common house 3 way light switches, but i used commercial switches As for making sure the system doesn't over flow the cistern rig up a float switch in the cistern to only power the well when level is low. I like to keep the electricity out of the water all together so you don't have to rely on water tight fittings/barriers.

What you will need is called a vfd( variable frequency drive) and a basic form of PLc(programmable logic controller). The PLC you may not need tho if you want to keep it simple using relays.

With the vfd, you're able to control the hz(speed) of the pump, and start and stop. Research abb vfd.They have safety for if the pump runs dry with sensors. Wire it to your float switch or transducer. Transducer are fairly affordable nowadays. Measure and place it on the depths you want.

There's different ways to wire it. All depends on how you want to do it.

The trick here is you have a on or off for the pump based on two float switches. One for your cistern and one for the well. Start with the well. If there's enough water in the well, then pump turns on. Then you have the float switch on the cistern, if the switch turns on then the pumps turns on to fill up the cistern. So you need two yes or two on for that pump to kick on if that makes sense. Now just wire it accordingly.

You will have to do a flow test and see how much and how hard you can pump before the spring runs dry. Then keep in mind your water usage and how often the cistern will need filled. Then you can just donate rough estimate on how often the pump will need to turn on and how long.

But really you can do it many different ways. You can have the float a lot higher and just run the pump more often but for a shorter length. Or a longer time with a slower pump speed...

Would an adjustable timer at the voltage source be simpler?