Cracked shallow well pump housing

Bought my house in Oct 2015. 3/4 acre lot. Property has shallow well and PVC spigots coming out of the ground in 4 locations. Awesome. But I procrastinated and NEVER tried it out. Well I finally went to prime and try recently and quickly observed the housing of the expensive Goulds GT15 (1.5hp) pump is destroyed. Obviously from freezing water. So- The 230 volt motor seems to work. A new housing is $360 plus. For $400-$500 I can get a complete new unit of a different name brand. Is it safe to assume the Goulds housing is the only part of the pump that is damaged? Lowes website has a BURCAM 2 hp shallow well pump for $412. So- replace housing or purchase a new replacement unit??

Most homes around here have shallow well "lawn pumps."
In my experience, the Lowes/Home Depot brands don't last much past their 1-2 year warranties; I've had one from each store.
So...after being disappointed by those 2 units, I paid for the more expensive Sta-Rite pump. It has been going strong for (+/-) 10 years now.
I've never heard of the Goulds name brand, but if they're known to be better than most, I'd pay the extra cost.
Just my experience...

I'm willing to buy a replacement housing for the commercial quality Goulds pump I have. I am concerned -what if the freezing water damaged more than just the housing. The electric motor kicks on and spins. Makes no noise. From what I see of the vane it is not damaged or spinning crooked.

Why not disassemble the pump to determine if there is other damage before making the decision to repair/replace it?

Laziness.

Goulds is an excellent pump. As to these small varieties, if the internals aren't damaged, braze the housing up and move forward.

My common sense tells me to stick with Goulds. This is a $600-$800 pump depending on retailer. I did find a source that sells the replacement Goulds housing (P# 1K324) for $275 shipped.

Quite honestly, I don't think there's any chance that the frozen housing could have damaged the motor.

I'd braze it and reuse it. If you do buy a new housing, have the old one brazed and keep it as a backup if it ever freezes again.

Check out adding a bleeder valve to empty water from pump housing at end of year. You'll have to re-prime in the spring. Pretty easy to add bleeder to plugged outlet at bottom of housing and a "T" with plug or valve to plumbing at high point to fill for prime. The plug or valve can also be opened up to hasten the draining of housing.

Thank you gentlemen.

Inspected the motor -at least where water contacts the base. No damage. Turns on and runs quietly. I ordered a new housing from Pumps and motors.com. By far the cheapest. $279 shipped for Goulds part number 1K324. After the pump starts pumping I then get the pleasure of repairing the in ground tubing that was I'm sure damaged as well from the non winterization by previous owner. My lawn is dead and crunchy.

I replaced the housing and with about a 2 gallon fill consisting of: Remove cap, pour water in till full, install cap, turn on pump, turn off -refill, cap on turn on......repeated this and after 2 gallons of water poured in it worked and the psi and volume from each spigot is incredible. But each time I went to use the pump it took more and more water to prime. Most recent after the above repeated procedure and 6 gallons total water poured in it never drew water on its own. I have removed the inline copper one way check valve. Its easily replaceable if its bad. What constitutes a bad check valve? I can push the center valve disc- its spring loaded and moves freely. The "Foot Valve" would be another story. My shallow well is in a small shed. How would I lift out the piping to get to the foot valve? Apology for upside down pics.

You most likely have a crack in the suction line causing it to lose its prime.

How shallow is shallow? Rule of thumb is that anything less than 50' is "shallow". In your case unless you want to cut a hole in your roof, you'll probably end up cutting the suction line and pulling it out in pieces. Replace it with flexible poly piping and do your foot valve/suction strainer maintenance at the same time.

I don't know the depth of the well. I took the copper one way check valve to an irrigation supply store locally. He took my valve and poured water into it and it didn't hold in either direction. So I ordered a new NIBCO 2" valve. 6PakBee stated: " you'll probably end up cutting the suction line and pulling it out in pieces. Replace it with flexible poly piping and do your foot valve/suction strainer maintenance at the same time." This could be my next move. Thank you.