Product Description

IC Pump Station provides the most commonly used water pump control functions to ensure that the pump delivers the pressure and flow desired. Safety shutoffs are also provided to shut off the pump if a problem condition arises. IC Pump Station is the low cost alternative to $20,000 custom-built water pump control systems. IC Pump Station does so simply what custom controllers attempt to do. Custom controllers require a personal computer, interface card, specialized software and two weeks programming time. Two years later a fuse blows, the programmer has retired to Bermuda and the entire system needs to be completely rebuilt for another $20,000. Not with IC Pump Station. Consider the sprinkler timer analogy. One could run lawn sprinklers with a PC computer but very few people do, mostly because of cost issues. Most home owners just go down to the local hardware store and buy a dedicated sprinkler timer. Even though sprinkler timers may vary in appearance and have a variety of program routines, they provide just the right amount of functionality needed for the homeowner. Likewise, IC Pump Station provides a basic range of important functions for a well pump controller, without charging you for features you will never use .   Click here for the sprinkler timer analogy
IC Pump Station is also designed to work with simple, inexpensive off-the-shelf items (like sprinkler timers) to reduce costs.
The IC Pump Station product line is divided into two basic categories:

ON-Off operation:

On-Off operation provides fully adjustable low pressure on and high pressure off settings. Using an included pressure sensor (also called a transducer or transmitter), the IC Pump Station measures the system pressure and turns the pump on when the pressure falls below the pre-set low pressure on level. When the system pressure rises above the pre-set high pressure off level, the IC Pump Station control unit will turn off the pump. Minimum on and Minimum off timers (from 1-240 seconds [1-4 minutes]) prevent rapid, uncontrolled pump cycling. Adjustable "pressure sampling delays" will then control how quickly the IC Pump Station reacts to changes in system pressure. User-definable safety shutoff points shut off the pump, keeping it off until the operator can correct the problem and manually reset the IC Pump Station control. Even though IC Pump Station costs about twice as much as a conventional adjustable pressure switch - such as a Mercoid switch - IC Pump Station gives you much more needed control power. In addition IC Pump Station can be ordered with various options to service a wide variety of water pumping demands. See the options list below. Click here for more information about On-Off operation

VFD operation (or variable speed operation) provides an output voltage/current and dry contact relay switch to manage nearly all VFDs on the market today. Since VFDs have become very complicated, many customers prefer to use the IC Pump Station control unit as a VFD "set point controller" because it's much easier to use and understand. With the purchase of a VFD, we pre-program, pre-wire, bench test and fit the VFD with "keyed" cables. This makes installation a 20 minute project instead of an full day ordeal. The IC Pump Station VFD control unit measures the system pressure and turns on the VFD, which turns on the pump motor and adjusts the motor speed with a voltage/current output signal. Instead of a "low pressure on" and "high pressure off" setting, the VFD operation provides "low trigger on" and "target" pressure settings. When the system pressure falls below the "low trigger on" level (after delays) the pump motor will turn on and will speed up or slow down order to maintain the "target" pressure. IC Pump Station can also maintain constant flow regardless of pressure with the addition of a flow meter. Since there is no flow sensor* input with the use of pressure inputs, minor "cycling" (speed up, slow down, speed up, slow down) will be noticed since the control must test for a no-flow condition (since it is possible to have pressure but no flow). This cycling will not hurt the motor or pump in any way. To manage this, advanced IC Pump Station software algorithms as well as a user-supplied "surge" tank which is "teed" into the discharge line downstream of the check valve keeps the cycling down to almost unnoticable levels. Although VFD equipment costs more, savings can be realized because the surge tank(s) can be smaller as it's used only for cushion and not storage. Power savings are possible at part-speed operation as the energy simply isn't put into the motor. Controlling the pressure by controlling the pump motor speed is superior to valve control as any pressure rise upstream from a valve represents a waste of energy and energy is money. *Flow sensor can be included as an option. Click here for more information about VFD operation

Additional on-off pump with a common pressure point:  Both on-off and VFD control units can be ordered with an additional on-off pump output (pump #2) operating independently of pump #1. Each pump has its own low pressure on, high pressure off and low pressure safety settings. This configuration can be used for a variety of applications.

Lead lag operation:  Pumps can be used as a lead/lag configuration and the pump with the highest "low pressure on" setting will start first. If the "lead" pump cannot deliver the required pressure and flow the pressure will drop further and the "lag" pump will turn on.

Jockey pump:  This configuration can be also be used to start a jockey pump to prime a main pump before starting the main pump.

Pump Alternator:  Pumps can also be configured as alternating so the first cycle turns on pump #1, the second cycle turns on pump #2, the third cycle turns on pump #1, etc.

VFD + On-off operation:  A large on-off pump paired with a relatively small VFD controlled pump provides smooth quasi-VFD operation at less cost than an all VFD system. Normally the VFD pump does most of the work until the flow rate exceeds the capability of that pump. When that happens the the pressure will drop and the on-off pump will turn on. When the on-off pump pressure exceeds the VFD "target" pressure the VFD will "ramp down" (and stop, if needed) while the on-off pump does all of the pumping. When the pressure rises the on-off pump will turn off and the VFD pump will take over

Additional on-off pump with a separate pressure points:  Operates like the above-described common pressure point configuration except that two pressure sensors are used with different pressure ranges. Different pressure systems are typically isolated with a check valve. Pump #1 responds to one pressure sensor and Pump #2 responds to the other pressure sensor. Typically these pressure sensors have different ranges i.e. Pump #1 is 0-100 PSI to control the system pressure and Pump #2 is 0-25.0 PSI to control the tank fill operation.

Safety shutoff alert:  IC Pump Station can be ordered with a safety shutoff output that closes a relay when the control unit goes into a safety shutoff condition. This relay can be used to sound a horn or other alarm, turn on a light or even to activate an auto-dialer that calls a phone number and plays a recorded message to alert the user that something is wrong with the pump.

Phase converter starter:  In areas where only single phase power is available IC Pump Station can start a phase converter and wait 10 seconds before starting the pump and turn off both the phase converter and pump when not needed.

Reset pump panel after power outage:  Often pump panels need to be reset after a power outage. IC Pump Station can "pulse" a relay after the power has been established to reset the pump panel.

Instruction manuals

Brochure and Pricing