Well System needs a pressure tank!!!!!

OK i am a total newby to forums of all kinds. BUT thought I'd try this forum in order to begin work on our well system.

Basics:
13 Ft. hand dug well for small 2 bed 1 bath house.
800 ft. to well from house.
Gould pump at the house - sucking water (not pushing)
Water cleaning system, with bleach, soda ash, and then charcoal tanks.

Here is the problem that we wish to resolve.

With this kind of system we have no built in water pressure tank.
Our water pressure is about a 5 on a scale of 1-10.

Finally: The access to the mini-basement area of this 1920's house is only aprox. 48 x 40". (picture an old-fashioned tornado safe space with the door that opens up to the sky....

Finally, well is too far away to build well pump and electrify there to have water pushed to house like you would normally have.

With the space limitations we are looking at having to built it either under the house (the basement area is only 60" high and the total finished footprint under there is about 12 x 9.

Problems we would like to fix.

1) Build a pressure tank to increase pressure.
2) Check out our carbon tanks to make sure they are still working..the water has been feeling really slimy lately and smelling funny.
3)Check out our chemical pump system to make sure it is working properly.

I need help in figuring out a way to get a pressure tank inserted into our system and then a check list of the elements I need and the building order...

HELP!

tank

We might want to know a bit more about the system, because without any storage system at all, your pressure should be constantly changing while running water, and the pump should be going on and off continually while doing so also. The larger the tank the less often the pump has to run, so the limiting factor is cost and the space to install it.

info on jet pump and tank....

I do know that the supply water line going to a jet pump should be larger then the out going water line….ie 1-1/4†in line, and 1†out going water line. I’ve been told, (by my well supplier co.) that if a jet jump is starving for water, it will make sort of a dry bearing sound. They do make what they call, a shallow well jet pump that is designed to suck water out of sallow well, and you may be able to use that type of jet pump at the end of your 800 foot run. If I were you, I would hook up your new system using your existing pump, and see if it makes the bearing sound, while using a fair amount of water out of it.
As far as the pressure tank, all you have to do is to tee off of the out going water line somewhere after the jet pump, and install the tank. I would also install an emergence blow off valve in that area. (That valve will open up if for some reason the pressure switch on the jet pump mal functions and the jet pump does not shut off when it should).
They also have a pressure switch, (that you take off the existing pressure switch and mount the new one on the jet pump) where if there is a situation where the pump starts sucking air, it will shut off the pump, (at 30 psi or below) so you don’t ruin the impeller. This type of switch has to be manually reset, so you will know that something went wrong.
If the plumbing in your house is kind of old, you may stick with a lower pressure setting on you pressure switch….ie 30 to 50 psi.

Good luck,

Mike

PS. I think that my pressure tank is out, (haven’t had time to check it yet) but because of the amount of water lines in my house, and the distance from my jet pump to the house, I think my pipes are acting like a bladder tank. My just pump does cycle too often, but not like it the pump was in my garage, close to the house. (Yeah, I know I need get off of my butt, and change out the pressure tank….I know).

Something else.....

I don’t know if you looked at my post on re-useable bag filters. These bag filters go all the way down to filter to 10 microns, and the filters are washable. My parents are using one of these filters on their well,because they get a lot of sand and silt from their well.
My post is on page two, and it’s listed as, “ Information on a reusable whole house water filter: “. I have a photo of the filter and the web site to go to.

Mike

yes our pressure is constantly changing due to the fact that as the pressure drops the pump comes on and pushes more water into the line into the house. The pressure is set to trigger the pump to come back on at 60 psi.

Is there a good average size for a pressure/holding tank? We are two adults and two small children with only one bathroom for water usage at the time. We are planning an addition and want to add another bathroom, but need to resolve our pressure issue...

m

M Burgess said:

yes our pressure is constantly changing due to the fact that as the pressure drops the pump comes on and pushes more water into the line into the house. The pressure is set to trigger the pump to come back on at 60 psi.

Is there a good average size for a pressure/holding tank? We are two adults and two small children with only one bathroom for water usage at the time. We are planning an addition and want to add another bathroom, but need to resolve our pressure issue...

m

Click to expand...

Here is a good web site that has charts on different size bladder tanks. http://yourwaterneeds.com/WT_PressureTank.asp

Just remember that even though one of the side benefits of a pressure tank is that it does store a small amount of water, once you draw down that stored amount of water, you are still at the mercy of what ever your pump can produce, (Gallons per minute). See example of one of the tank specifications I took off of that web site:



Reflects amount of water that it holds Equivalent Tank Size
Reflect size of the tank DIA X HGT

Draw down (Gallons) Model 20-40 30-50 40-60
PS50-T50 120 gal 24" X 32.5" 18.3 15.5 13.4 Price: $362.00

As far as the cut in pressure you are running on now, (60 psi), I sure would think about getting a pressure control valve, (installed on the incoming water line after the bladder tank) and start it at a lower pressure, like around 35 psi, and see if you notice draw down pressure during normal water consumption in your house. You can always adjust it up as needed. The reason I’m saying this is because of the age of the plumbing in the house…the lower the pressure you can tolerate,(or not notice) the easier it will be on your plumbing system.

Mike

Water is not compress-able, only the air in a pressure tank is compress-able. Water lines do not have any air in them and CANNOT act as a pressure tank. Without a good pressure tank with air in it, the pump can cycle on and off as fast as you can snap your fingers. Larger pressure tanks reduce the number of cycles but, do not keep the pump from cycling.

A Cycle Stop Valve on that pump will allow you to use a tank the size of a 1 gallon milk jug. This is beneficial when space is limited. Also the CSV will hold the pressure steady for as long as a shower or any other water in or out of the house is being used. "Constant Pressure" in the shower is a good thing.

Drawing or sucking water from far away is hard for a pump to do. It will greatly affect the pressure the pump can build. Also I would think that 60 PSI is where the pump shuts off and it would come on around 40 PSI. 60 PSI is usually about all those kind of pumps can deliver.

Let me know if you have further questions or check out this link;

http://www.cyclestopvalves.com/video/commercial-dsl.wmv