PKW1-Pside-kick vs CSV and Bladder Tank ?

My 42 Gal 20 year old Kenmore bladder tank just went. Have a Flotec 3/4HP FP4322-08 -convertable deep well jet pump 3 yrs old, 40/60 switch.- no issues. Kids have gone, so just me and the wife.

I have looked at the Cycle Stops for years but never commited. I realy like the idea of constant pressure.
I was initially going for a new tank and an independant CSVW1, untill I saw the pside-kick. Like the idea of just connect the pump and go! About to retire so want some thing simple and easily serviced for the future.

My concern though, the P-side has only a 4.1 gal tank. Is that really adequate? In an emergency, I have a generator to run the pump and a hot water electric heater thats always full.

In summary - I want strong constant pressure ( not using any flow restrictors) but don't want the pump coming on everytime one rinses their hands.

A 4.4 gallon tank gives 1 gallon of usable water before the pump starts. This is enough to let you wash your hands, a toothbrush, or fill and ice maker without the pump starting. Water comes from the pump, not the tank. So having a generator is the best backup. Even a big tank would only have about 25 gallons of water to use, that is if it happen to be full when the power went off. With a generator you have all the water you need, as long as you have fuel. With a CSV, the pump stays running as long as you are using water. So even with the small tank, there is no cycling when a shower or any other water is being used.

Thanks - I have tried to read many of your prior posts and am hoping to wrap this up this weekend. I am definately in favor of the Cycle Stop product. My dilemma is whether to purhase the pside-kick or a 20 gal bladder tank and a CSV1W ( want to mount inside baement where tank is).
Concerns:
1. Want strong constant pressure. ( I understand the Pside-kick will do so but? - just me and the Mrs. now. 1.6 gal flush toilets, shower a day, normal washer and dishwasher twice a week. In this scenario would not the pside-kick cycle on more because of th small tank size?

2. If I went the CSV1W with a 20 gal bladder tank, I figure I would have less cycling for hand washing etc., it would come on constant for showers but the pressure would not reach max till the tank drained???

3. Are either of these products compatable with my present pump and well?

4. I favor the Pside-kick as it would fit so perfectly wher my present tank is in the basement.

Finally, YOUR recommendation if you would!

No tank is large enough to help during power outages. The generator is the way to go for back up. Yes the pump will cycle a few more times a day for flushing and washing with the smaller tank but, the CSV eliminates so many cycles for longer uses of water like showers and irrigation, that it more than makes up for the few extra cycles for the house. I am torn. I use to say the 20 gallon tank was best. But so many people have been using the CSV with the really small tanks, without problems for up to 17 years now. They even like how the smaller tank lets the system get to constant pressure quicker than with a large tank. All I can say is it will work great either way.

valveman said:

No tank is large enough to help during power outages. The generator is the way to go for back up. Yes the pump will cycle a few more times a day for flushing and washing with the smaller tank but, the CSV eliminates so many cycles for longer uses of water like showers and irrigation, that it more than makes up for the few extra cycles for the house. I am torn. I use to say the 20 gallon tank was best. But so many people have been using the CSV with the really small tanks, without problems for up to 17 years now. They even like how the smaller tank lets the system get to constant pressure quicker than with a large tank. All I can say is it will work great either way.

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OK - So I'm even more so siding on the pside-kick, need new piping and swithc is like 20 years old anyway.
Last ? MUST the shower maintain a constant flow of 1GPM to keep the valve from cycling on off??
Guess I'll check what I have now by holding a jug under the stream and time it.

Yes you have to be using at least 1 GPM to keep the pump from cycling. Most showers are 2.5 GPM or more.

At my own peril, I'm going to go ahead and disagree with you on that one.

The only thing I want to disagree about is the size of the tank when using a generator. If you're got a big enough generator to power the whole house then go for it. But if you're like me and most people your generator is only so big, and you can't power everything at once and you have to actively manage your power consumption. For example, running the (window unit ) A/C and fridge at the same time is ok, but you will need to turn off everything else when running the well. Most "Home Depot Specials" are of the 5500w variety and starting a standard 1-HP pump takes all it has. If you're like me and have a standard 82-gallon tank you can charge that tank up with ~50 gallons of water and have a good head-space in the top. You can draw a lot of water out of that tank before it needs to be recharged, albeit under much less pressure than what you're used to. But when the power is out, as it was here for Hurricane Ike for weeks, you can get by with starting your pump/well 2-3 times per day. So in this instance, the bigger the tank you have the better.

valveman said:

No tank is large enough to help during power outages. The generator is the way to go for back up. Yes the pump will cycle a few more times a day for flushing and washing with the smaller tank but, the CSV eliminates so many cycles for longer uses of water like showers and irrigation, that it more than makes up for the few extra cycles for the house. I am torn. I use to say the 20 gallon tank was best. But so many people have been using the CSV with the really small tanks, without problems for up to 17 years now. They even like how the smaller tank lets the system get to constant pressure quicker than with a large tank. All I can say is it will work great either way.

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Just bought a few 3000 gallon tanks for 589$ Put that on a hill or stand and now you can forget about rotating with generator useage. Use a 1/3 HP pump to pressurize the output.

Texas Wellman said:

At my own peril, I'm going to go ahead and disagree with you on that one.

The only thing I want to disagree about is the size of the tank when using a generator. If you're got a big enough generator to power the whole house then go for it. But if you're like me and most people your generator is only so big, and you can't power everything at once and you have to actively manage your power consumption. For example, running the (window unit ) A/C and fridge at the same time is ok, but you will need to turn off everything else when running the well. Most "Home Depot Specials" are of the 5500w variety and starting a standard 1-HP pump takes all it has. If you're like me and have a standard 82-gallon tank you can charge that tank up with ~50 gallons of water and have a good head-space in the top. You can draw a lot of water out of that tank before it needs to be recharged, albeit under much less pressure than what you're used to. But when the power is out, as it was here for Hurricane Ike for weeks, you can get by with starting your pump/well 2-3 times per day. So in this instance, the bigger the tank you have the better.

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You make a good point. If you let out the air to 20 PSI, then start the generator and let the pump fill it up to 60 PSI, you can get 46 gallons of water out of an 86 gallon tank. That could get a house buy for quite a while if you conserve water, during a power outage. With a 20 gallon or smaller tank, you would just have to start the generator while taking showers and maybe fill up some buckets as needed. But even the 86 gallon tank is worthless during a power outage unless you have a generator. Because it will most likely be empty when the power goes off.