Grundfos CMBE 1-44 - 8.8 GPM 1 HP Booster Pump (85' Head) 115V

Great pump, easy to use, compact, and lite weight. It is a bit on the expensive side.

My home is a fairly new home. The main feed is 3/4" PEX tubing inside the home. There is also a whole house filter and a water softener. The water pressure supplied to the home is roughly 40 PSI when static. This meets minimum requirements but isn't nice to live with. For instance, the clothes washer and a sink faucet couldn't be operated at the same time.

I chose the Grundfos unit because it was totally self contained and looked easy to install and operate. I picked my location based on 1. It was a utility area in the basement. 2. There was already an outlet handy. 3. It was close to the existing whole house filter and water softener. To install it I built a simple shelf, mounted the pump and ran the tubing. Next I shut the water off and opened the faucets to let it drain. I spliced it into the water supply line just in front of the whole house filter. I used two 1" MIP to 3/4" PEX reducers, two sticks of 3/4" PEX tubing and few fittings. Once this was done I turned the water back on and let it run through pump while I went around and shut off all of the faucets once all of the air was out of the system. Once all of the faucets were closed the supplied gage on the unit read 40 psi. I plugged it in.

The pump came on immediately and bumped the pressure up to about 60 PSI and shut off. I thought is was very quiet though I can hear it running just about anywhere in the house when the water is on. It sounds like a low volume whine and I'm probably just tuned into now because I just installed it and it's a new sound. It really is quiet. Adjusting the pressure is easy, just press the arrows to make it go up or down. After playing with it I settled on 72 PSI which is about a 30 PSI boost. When a faucet is opened you can see the pressure on the gage dip just as the pump comes on and then goes right back to the original setting. The motor seems to vary speed depending on how much water is being used.

Overall I thought this was a very easy installation if your handy. You don't realize how many times a day you use the water. After having this for a day I don't know how I put up with the low flow for so long before. I should have done it sooner. I won't rate the durability/reliability since it's only been in use a couple of days. The only negative is that I couldn't get the blue tooth to work so I could talk to it with my phone. For the life of me I can't figure out why I would need it though so it has no effect on my rating. I think the shipping container needs a little work. When I first saw the box I thought FedEx had destroyed it but once I got it open it was unscathed. Water Pumps Direct did a great job of communicating the delivery status. I have no problem recommending Water Pumps Direct or the Grundfos unit to my neighbors if they need a water booster. This unit checks all of the boxes, it's earned a good review.

Use it for 3 weeks. So far so good.