Artificial Lift (Beam Pumping)
Power Consumption
&
Horsepower Required
          The following information is thoroughly tested (once or twice) and certified to be "close enough for government work".  I will stand behind the formulas and calculations until I'm proven wrong.  Please do not expect these calculations to be accurate to any number of decimal places.  They exist, and should be used as a reference and a reality check.  Comments: E-Mail parkerm@cavemen.net
Calculating Power Consumption 
Method I

     Forget Amperage, forget KWH, forget cyclic loading.  This method uses none of these and still stays in the ball park.  The formula is:

$/Day = 0.045 X HP X HRS
     Where: HP = the horsepower of the prime mover and HRS is the number of hours it runs in a day.  Thus a 15 HP motor running 13 hours a day tallys up a bill of roughly $ 8.78 per day or $ 263.40 in a 30 day month.
     This method assumes that peak load is 15 HP.
Calculating Power Consumption 
Method II

     This method is based on the depth of the sucker rod pump.  It will also obtain a number that is in the "ball park"   The formula is:
       $/Day = 0.030/bbl/m(ft)
    Where: bbl=the number of barrels of fluid lifted in 24 hours, and m(ft)= the depth of the pump in thousands of feet.  Thus a pump at a depth of 3000 ft, lifting 100 bbls of fluid per day would generate an electric bill of $ 9.00 per day or $ 270.00 / mo.
 
Calculating 
Horsepower Required

     The following formula will give excellent results, and even an engineer can use it.

HP= (Dia ^2) X LS X SPM X ft /540000
     For an installation using an Ultra-High-Slip prime mover, simply divide by 720000.
     Where: Dia is the pump diameter, LS is the length of stroke, SPM is the strokes per minute and ft is the footage to the seating nipple.
     Thus a well 3000 feet deep with a 1.5 bore pump, a 100 inch stroke and running 9 spm would require a 11.25 hp motor.  You might get by with a 10 hp but a 15 would allow future increases in SPM or DIA.
 

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