Home & Garden Water Pressure Systems

Nasty (and expensive)... We had Noel come back and reset the pressures and checked it with the pressure gauge we had him add to the pump discharge line. The small added toy makes it easy to check the cut-in and cut-out... I ain't screwin wit nuttin.

And Jens, sounds like a good system, although we sprung for the fiberglass pressure tank, which is lighter than steel. I'm not sure "under grounding" is a good idea, have to dig it up for maintenance ??? Storage is stainless. We sprung for the larger pressure tank as it would reduce cycling...

 

You usually need two check valves. One as the town water is entering your system, to prevent the pressurized water from going back into the town supply. The other is between the storage tank and the pump, as with most pumps, after the pump finishes, the pressure can push the water backwards through the pump into the storage tank. Some pumps may prevent this, so you would not need the extra check valve.

 

It is true, that if you have the tank up high, this will help in one very special condition.

a) no electricity
b) no city water available.

If there is no electricity but the city water is available you can bypass the pressure system and get water directly from the town. All systems should be designed so that you can bypass the pressure system if needed. You can even make this bypass automatic with the use of check valves (a valve that allows water to flow in only one direction).

As for making the pump last longer? I find this reason very suspect at best. Has anybody really done a study on pump longevity vs suck up distance? A decent pump should last years. Better to put the extra money into a better pump than the added expense of putting the storage tank up high.

There is also a very good reason NOT to put the storage tank up high. If the city water is low, but just enough to get to your house, but not enough to get to the high up tank, then the tank will not be filled at all!

If you really wanted, you could design a system that gives you the best of both worlds. Have a dual storage tank system, one tank low, one tank high. This will help you in all situations. I could show you how to design such a system. You would need to use a check valve to keep the upper tank from over flowing the lower tank.

 

Good point. Better to get a larger pressure tank than put the storage tank up high.

 

There is one other point I want to make about this post, and I think it is important. There is some confusion here I want to clear up.

There is a big difference between "sucking up" the water from the tank or well, and "pushing up" the water. Pushing up the water is no problem at all, as pushing water up (from the point of view of the pump) is no different than filling a pressure tank. Pushing up water definitely WILL NOT reduce the life of the pump anymore than filling a pressure tank will. I can say this with 100% percent confidence.

Sucking up water however is a whole different thing, and can be a problem, and can reduce the life of the pump, but probably not for the reason you think.

I don't think sucking up water inherently reduces pump life, but the problem is at start up. When the storage tank or well is below the pump, then the pump must be primed (unless it is a special expensive self priming pump). Priming means to get all the air out of the system. Many pumps can not start pumping water unless all the air is out of the system leading up to the pump.

If the pump is below the level of the water in the storage tank, it is easy to start up the pump as the water will just flow down into the pump.

However, if the pump is above the water supply, it must be primed. Unless you know what you are doing, this can be tricky, and it is easy to wind up running the pump dry. Running the pump dry can definitely damage or destroy the pump very quickly.

This is probably where the misconception comes from that sucking water hurts the pump. Sucking water does not hurt the pump, but sucking AIR MOST DEFINITELY DOES!

This is why, if at all possible the pump should be located below the maximum level of the storage tank.

To make priming easy it is only necessary to put the pump below the level of the water on start up. Even a few inches below is no problem. It is not necessary to raise the storage tank very high.

 

I have installed my system in Dauin now 7 years. I have a deepwell and submersible pump. Well is 120' deep and pump is at 100'. The deepwell pump fills a 800 litre SS head tank positioned 18' above ground level, Standard Blue 3/4 hp pressure pump fills a pressure tank. I found that the crappy brass non return valves with swing flap that you can buy in most places were NBG. The pressure pump was short cycling causing pump wear and additional power useage. I now have fitted a Simmons 1'' Check Valve USA manuf, (Polaris Supply) with rubber seat, no more back leakage and worth every penny. Deepwell pump is controlled by float SW in head tank with manual overide facility. In times of brown outs I can bypass the pressure system. I have a fully prepared spare pressure pump ready to fit. Deepwell pump was quality product from Italy, with correct 60HZ motor.

 

Added thought about our system. We used a 600 L stainless steel, had some rust at the welded joints in the tank (attention to detail).. The notice on the tank says "...for hard water, use the polyethelyne. Now someone said something about algae, which sounds like BS. I think our next tank up the mountain will be plastic. Also i'm pretty sure in all the discussion about pressure tank capacity / recycling that the bigger the pressure tank, the less cycles on the pump, maybe less starts/ stops ?? Our neighbor with a small tank complained of his pump crapping out after one year....

 

Not sure what you mean but algae grows in water, whether in a storage tank or a swimming pool. I believe the bottom line is there must be no light penetrating the tank wall, to stop algae so stainless tanks with a good seal should be good whereas plastic tanks have to be "sunlight proof", IMHO. Of course chlorine helps kill algae so if your water is treated it may be fine.

I ask because I left a 5 gallon plastic jug of tap water in my car to add to the radiator when it was leaking. It got very green in a couple weeks.