Pressure Tank Placement

[heierlu]

I'm in the middle of remodeling my house and am moving things around in the utility room to fit a new water softener, neutralizer, and larger pressure tank. I've got a question about the placement of the pressure tank...

Typically, I see pressure tanks installed in-line between the incoming pump and the rest of the house using a tank tee. That's how my current pressure tank is setup. It's right next to the feed from the pump coming through the floor. What I'd like to do is move the tank to the opposite side of the utility room, about 8 feet away from where the pump feed comes through the floor.

Here's where my question comes in. If I move the tank to the opposite side of the utility room, the main trunk for feeding the house is still on the other side of the room near where the pump feed comes in. Can I put a tee in at the pump feed and essentially have one side "dead end" to the pressure tank 8' away, and the other side of the tee feed the main trunk? I'm not sure if that configuration will cause problems such as stale water on the pressure tank side or some other problem I'm not thinking of. My other option would be to go directly from the pump feed -> 8' over to the pressure tank -> 8' back to the main trunk for the house. That's a lot of extra plumbing that I'd like to avoid if possible, but I certainly don't want to cause problems with this configuration.

Any suggestions or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Reach4]

Here's where my question comes in. If I move the tank to the opposite side of the utility room, the main trunk for feeding the house is still on the other side of the room near where the pump feed comes in. Can I put a tee in at the pump feed and essentially have one side "dead end" to the pressure tank 8' away, and the other side of the tee feed the main trunk? I'm not sure if that configuration will cause problems such as stale water on the pressure tank side or some other problem I'm not thinking of.

Your pressure switch should be at the pressure tank. If you can do that, there is a wide set of possibilities.

Regarding stale, there will be water going in and out. So as long as the amount of water going in and out (about 25% of the nominal tank size) is significantly more than the pipe holds, the water will be getting changed out. https://www.inchcalculator.com/pipe-volume-calculator/ can calculate the volume of a pipe, and you will find that the amount of water in the pipe is small.

Another possibility is to put in a PSIDE-KICK Pressure Tank Kit before the water tees off to be used. It uses a small tank. https://cyclestopvalves.com/collections/frontpage/products/custom-pk1a-pside-kick-kit

 

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[Boycedrilling]

There are to times that the pressure tank needs to be in line with the water piping. The first one is if you are using a conventional hydropnuematic pressure tank. It needs to receive thst replenishing charge of air every time the pump cycles. It is constructed with a separate inlet and outlet for that reason. The second condition is when a cycle stop valve is used. All the water needs to go thru the cycle stop before branching off. It is best if the pressure tank is just downstream from the CSV.

Now, as long as you don’t have a check valve at the tank, it can be tee’d off and a distanc away from the main pipe line. When the pump is running, water is flowing from your fixture, the excess water produced is filling the pressure tank. When the pressure rises high enough, the pressure switch shuts the pump off. If you are continuing to use water, the flow from the pressure tank, reverses, and water flows back out of it. If the piping is of sufficient size, it doesn’t matter if the pipe between the pressure tank and the main piping is 6 inches, 6 feet, or even 600 feet. You do need to relocate your pressure switch to keep it with the pressure tank. So no problem. You pipe to the pressure tank had two way flow. The water does not stagnate in the tank.

Now, I should mention that systems operated by a VFD, that only uses a few pound of differential pressure between on and off, do not fully discharge the water in their tanks. In this scenario, I would not recommend a tank on a dead end branch.

 

[Valveman]

As usual Reach and Boyce are giving good advice. The only thing I would add is that the 1 1/4" and 1" CSV's can be installed a long way from the pressure tank/pressure switch. The CSV must be before any water lines tee off, so it could be at the well head and the pressure tank/pressure switch can be hundreds of feet away if needed. The PK1A with the 4.5 or 10 gallon tank will take up much less space and actually do a better job than a large pressure tank. You can see how hundreds of CSV customers have installed their systems here.
https://cyclestopvalves.com/pages/reviews

Here are just a couple I thought might be similar to your application.

 

[heierlu]

Dang, thanks for all the quick replies! Certainly didn't expect that. You guys are awesome!

I've got a new Amtrol WX250 44 gal pressure tank. I don't have a check valve in the house or any kind of CSV. The calculator above looks like there's only a third of a gallon of water in the 8' long 1" pipe that would be going to the pressure tank. I'm also certain I don't have a VFD. Just a basic 40/60 switch. Based on all of that, it sounds like I'm totally safe to just tee off the pump feed, dead-end the tank on one side of the tee (relocating the pressure switch with it) , and feed the house from the other side. Is that correct?

 

[Texas Wellman]

Most well x trol tanks use the same port for inlet and outlet so even if the tank is 8’ away it should make no difference.

 

[heierlu]

Most well x trol tanks use the same port for inlet and outlet so even if the tank is 8’ away it should make no difference.

Yep, it's only got a single port on it.

 

[Reach4]

Based on all of that, it sounds like I'm totally safe to just tee off the pump feed, dead-end the tank on one side of the tee (relocating the pressure switch with it) , and feed the house from the other side. Is that correct?

Yes. You will put a valve, probably a ball valve, on the house side, or just use the valve that is there already. No shut-off valve between the pump and the pressure switch/tank.

 

[heierlu]

Yes. You will put a valve, probably a ball valve, on the house side, or just use the valve that is there already. No shut-off valve between the pump and the pressure switch/tank.

Awesome, thanks for the confirmation! You guys have been great. I very much appreciate the help!