New house

We are building a new house in Seabeck, WA. There is a well that we will share with one other family. Our house will be almost 600 feet from the well and pump house. What type and size of pipe should I use to get to the house? Will I need to install a pressure tank in the house? We are new to the whole well type of system and would like to learn more about it as we will be doing as much as we can. As far as I can tell the well is new (within a year or so). Inside the pump house I see 1 1/4 PVC coming in, teeing to a large pressure tank, going to a ball valve and a pressure gauge and back outside. There is a pressure switch on the wall that says 3/4 hp on the cover. Any Ideas? Any advice anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated.

I would put a 40 gallon bladder tank in the house with at least a 1" line, and preferably a 1 1/4" line from the pump house. The 1" line will have nearly 20 psi presssure drop at 10 GPM over 600 ft. You should have a ball valve where the line comes into your house.

I would also put a water meter on each line in the pump house. They are available for less than $50 each for a 3/4" rebuilt meter from USA Bluebook, and it will save you a lot of arguments when someone runs the well dry.

Any treatment you might want or need should go in your house. Since there is a tank in the pump house, I would put the treatment before your pressure tank. You should have a water test to see what you might need.

Thanks for the reply! Should I use PVC or poly? Would 1 1/2 inch be too much? Or would there be no advantage because the pipe from the well is 1 1/4...

I think you'll end up with a lower pressure drop in the larger pipe, but don't know the details or whether it will buy you much. Go with something that won't need lots of joints along the way would be my preference.

1 1/4 poly should be plenty. Pressure drop will only be about 5 psi at 10 GPM. Your tank in the basement will supply peak demands so you won't notice the pressure drop unless you are putting 15 GPM out a lawn sprinkler.

You should try to get 300 ft lengths of poly pipe. Probably can't get longer. You don't need more than 80 or 100 psi rating. You don't need 160 psi at twice the price.

You could use PVC if you could get 20 ft lengths with bell ends. I don't know the price difference. It is a little more susceptible to breaking if water freezes inside. I prefer PVC where fittings are required because all the clamps are expensive and are a mess with poly fittings. If you use poly, make sure you have a torch handy for heating the pipe to get a good seal. And the pipe must be buried below the frost line.

Use the dark gray or white PVC barbed fittings for poly pipe. The nylon fittings seem to break after a few years. You may want to use a brass fitting where it comes into your basement, but they are pretty expensive and I don't use them outside.

If you use PVC be sure to get Schedule 40 fittings. Some local hardware stores don't know that they exist and will sell you DWV fittings which can be a disaster with pressure piping.

Be sure you have a 0-100 psi pressure gauge on your system. You can't manage a water system without it.

If there is no relief valve in the pump house, one should be installed. If not, you must have one on your tank.

Thanks for all the advice! I think I now have a better idea of what I will be doing. I am sure I will be asking a lot more questions about this system and all the other plumbing jobs planed durring this project. Thank a bunch! And thanks in advance for all the info I will be getting from everyone.
KD

Kdog,
Here are a couple of excellent tutorial sites on wells and pumps:
www.peekspump.com
www.jessstryker.com
Good Luck!
Mike