Franklin Electric covers a wider range than most people realize. Ask about them and you will usually hear “well pumps”, but the same company builds the drive that holds your house pressure steady, the grinder pump under a basement bathroom and the self-priming unit feeding a sprinkler system.
This page is the map. Each pump type below has its own guide covering sizing, faults and what to check first.
What Does Franklin Electric Make?
Franklin Electric makes submersible motors and pumps, surface and jet pumps, self-priming turf and transfer pumps, grinder and effluent pumps, and the drives and controls that run them. The company is a US manufacturer based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and it owns both Red Lion and Little Giant.
Key Takeaways
- Franklin builds motors, pumps, drives and controls, not just well pumps.
- Red Lion and Little Giant are Franklin Electric brands.
- Pump family is decided by the job, not by preference.
- Most parts are matched to horsepower and voltage, so nameplate details matter.
- Each pump type below has a dedicated guide.
The Range, by Job
| If you need to | The pump family is | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Draw water from a drilled well | Submersible well pump | Sizing a submersible |
| Draw from a shallow well, pond or cistern | Jet pump | Shallow well jet pumps |
| Feed an irrigation or sprinkler system | Self-priming turf pump | Sprinkler pump sizing |
| Hold steady house pressure | Constant pressure drive | Constant pressure and VFDs |
| Lift basement waste to the sewer | Sewage ejector | Sewage ejectors |
| Send waste uphill or a long way | Grinder pump | Grinder pumps |
| Clear a flooded site or trench | Trash pump | Trash and semi trash pumps |
Two families cause most of the confusion. Submersibles and jet pumps both serve wells, but the dividing line is roughly 25 feet of lift, which is physics rather than preference. And ejectors and grinders both move sewage, but one passes solids whole through a wide pipe while the other shreds them into a slurry for a narrow one.
Motors, Drives and Controls
The part of Franklin’s catalog that gets least attention is the electrical side, and it is where most avoidable failures live.
Three wire submersible motors need a matching control box holding the start capacitor and relay, mounted above ground so a failed component is an afternoon rather than a well rig. That box is the first thing to open when a pump stops, and what to look for inside it is covered in our guide to the well pump control box.
At the other end of the range sit the variable speed drives that hold one pressure regardless of demand and cut the number of motor starts dramatically. Starts, rather than running hours, are what wear a motor out.
Where to Start When Something Goes Wrong
- No water at all. Check the control box and pressure switch before assuming the pump.
- Pressure fading over months. Usually a worn impeller or a well drawing sand.
- Pump cycling every few seconds. The pressure tank, almost always.
- Water changed color or smell. Test it, and check whether the pump is drawing sediment.
- Alarm on a sewage basin. Stop running water, then call.
The full diagnostic order for a well system is in our guide to telling whether a well pump is bad, and water quality questions are covered in is well water safe to drink.
Parts, and Why the Nameplate Matters
Most Franklin components are matched to horsepower, voltage and duty rather than sold as generic fittings. A control box rated for the wrong horsepower will start a motor and then damage it, and a replacement impeller of the wrong diameter changes the pump curve.
That makes the motor nameplate the most useful thing you own. Photograph it at installation, because on a four inch submersible it is only readable when the pump is out of the well. Sourcing is covered in our guide to buying Franklin pumps and parts.
The company’s own background, including how the submersible motor came to define it, is in our look at Franklin Electric’s history, and the current catalog sits on the manufacturer’s site.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Franklin Electric make?
Franklin Electric makes submersible motors and pumps for water systems, along with surface pumps, grinder and effluent pumps, drives and controls. The company is best known for the submersible motor that sits below the water in a drilled well. It also builds fueling systems, which is a separate side of the business from water.
Who owns Franklin Electric?
Franklin Electric is a publicly traded company rather than one owned by an individual, headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The more useful question for a buyer is what Franklin Electric owns: both Red Lion and Little Giant are Franklin Electric brands. That ownership is why parts and engineering are often shared across those lines, and why an older pump stays repairable.
How do I find the year a Franklin submersible motor was made?
Find the year a Franklin submersible motor was made from the date code inside the serial number on the motor nameplate, rather than from a printed year. The format has changed over the decades, so the reliable route is giving the full model and serial to a distributor to look up. Photograph the nameplate while the pump is out of the well.
Where can I buy Franklin Electric pumps?
Franklin Electric pumps are sold through pump distributors rather than general retailers, because both pumps and parts are matched to horsepower, voltage and duty rather than sold as generic stock. Look for a distributor that holds the repair parts as well as the pumps, since that is the difference between a same-week fix and a long wait for a failed capacitor.
Franklin Electric Pumps at Ken’s Distributing
Ken’s Distributing stocks the Franklin Electric range along with the motors, control boxes and repair parts that keep those systems running, and ships across the United States and Canada.
Tell us the application, the depth or lift involved and the flow you need, and we will point you at the right family before you compare models.