Beany
New Member
How often should pump cycle? I have a 63 ft well,44 gal. pressure tank,pressure switch at 45/65,air in tank set at 43 lbs. How often should pump cycle with faucet open?
But with a CSV when you open a single faucet for say a glass of water, the pump comes on within seconds and runs until you shut the faucet off...
Is this a trick question? Depending on water use, given the parameters in this thread, it could stop the pump from cycling hundreds of times a day.Using his same tank, what will a CSV change?
If the draw is heavy the pump will run continuously until the draw stops and then the tank will recover and the pump will shut off...
Using a pressure tank with 10 gallons of draw and running a 3 GPM faucet, a 10 GPM pump will run one minute and be off three minutes, which is a cycle every 4 minutes. That is 15 cycles per hour or 360 cycles per day. No matter the size of tank you use, a CSV would make the same system only cycle once instead of 360 times in the same period, saving hundreds of cycles per day.
That assumes that the single faucet will be running continuously. How often does that happen in real life?
For in the home use only, a larger tank will of course let you flush more toilets and get more glasses of water before the pump starts. But how many times a day do your really flush a toilet or get a glass of water? Even if the pump has to start every time you flush and every time you get a glass of water, it doesn’t add up to very many cycles.
Destructive cycling comes from times when you “open a faucet†for extended periods of time as for long showers, filling a pool, or running a sprinkler. That is when a CSV, no matter the size of tank, can save hundreds of cycles per day. For having the CSV option to save hundreds of cycles per day for extended water uses, even with a small tank, an extra 20 cycles per day for just flushing and glasses of water is a moot point.
Again, how often does that happen? If the tank and pump is properly sized the pump will come on when the tank draws down and continue to run until the demand is satisfied including the tank.
However, if you are really trying to do the absolute best job for your customer under every possible circumstance, use the CSV with the larger tank. Now you are able to flush several times and get many glasses of water before the pump starts. But when you “open a faucet†for extended water uses, the CSV takes over and eliminates hundreds of cycles per day. You would have the best of both worlds, so to speak.
I have no argument with that statement at all.
Even for systems with no out of the home water uses, the CSV and small tank has many advantages. The smaller tank cost less, takes up less space, and requires less of the homes heating energy. The smaller tank lets you have the constant pressure from the CSV much sooner. With a larger tank, you will feel the shower pressure decrease every second until the pump starts. Then you only have good constant pressure for the last half of your shower. With the CSV and a small tank, you will feel the good constant pressure before you get the temperature adjusted in the shower, and it will stay strong and constant until you turn off the shower, no matter how long that is. An extra 20 cycles per day for toilet flushes is a small price to pay for the luxury of instant constant pressure using a small tank with the CSV.
Properly sized piping as well as pump and tank sizing will greatly reduce or eliminate that pressure loss feeling but even so with a pressure balanced tub/shower valve you are not going to feel a pressure difference in the shower.
However, my own tests, which I have been doing for about 20 years, shows that the small tank doesn’t increase the number of cycles (for home use only) by more than about 5 times per day. This is because when a toilet is flushed, the pump is usually already running for a shower, washing a toothbrush, or something else, and flushing the toilet doesn’t add another pump cycle.
I am always amazed at how many pump installers try desperately to find a single negative thing about the CSV, instead of adding up all the positives. Either they don’t want their customers to have the benefits of constant pressure, reduced costs, longer pump life, and a smaller footprint, or they wouldn’t know a good thing if it hit them in the face.
Re-read my post. I did not say that at all...
FWIW-I'm seeing an average of 12-15 years of service for submersible pumps here, and not unusual at all to see one last for 20+ years. My dads own pump, a 1.5 HP mounted to a way too small under sized galv. 82 gallon tank, lasted for 28 years. It was a Sta-Rite VIP with a cast-iron head.
This is awkward, but...
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