I am replacing a submersible pump in a 377 foot, 6" casing well that had gone bad from (I presume)lack of water in the drought we have been experiencing here for 6 to 10 months; I had observed it running for 10 to 20 minutes without building up pressure perhaps a dozen times over the last year and each time cutting the power for a day allowed it to recover and build pressure again until the final time when it failed overnight with an apparent open circuit on the yellow lead. It was hung on 340 feet of 1" schedule 80 pipe, and after pulling it I measured the well depth at 377 feet and the water level at 300 feet from the well head. I purchased a Subgard 400 from Subgard International along with a new 5GPM pump and a PumpSaver control, and intended to set the new pump at 360 feet with the SubGard 20 feet above it at 340 feet.
However our local well service man, who brought the extra length of pipe, advised against using the Subgard saying that the PumpSaver would protect the motor from lack of water if it recurs, that the Subgard would prevent the PumpSaver from from shutting the motor off, and that if the Subgard allows it to recirculat very long the water in the bottom of the well would get too hot. He thought the Subgard was a potential source of failure and that it was not needed with the PumpSaver control. we'd not had a problem with flow from this well until last summer when I found that watering the lawn for several hours appeared to run the well dry; I don't know the recovery rate of this well but my neighbor who has a deeper well thought his was rated at 4 GPM when it was drilled many years ago. None of the deeper wells in the neighbor hood have had our problem.
So... My dilemma is should I ignore the local pro's advice and install the Subgard, or would I be better off to trust the PumpSaver alone and eliminate the Subgard?

Phil in Northwest Arkansas