Irrigation on house system

Hi, here is my question, we are on a typical well setup with pressure tank etc. The irrigation is on the same system so when it is activated, the pressure drops in the tank and the pump kicks on. What is the best way to separate this system. I get lots of air in the house when the irrigation is running and I turn on a faucet indoors. I think there is a leak in the irrigation system also because I notice the pump running when there has been no water useage in the house. It is either that or my check valve at the pump is bad but it was just replaced when we moved in and we don't have a lot of sand in our system. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Also how do I boost the pressure to the faucets at the end of the line. All of my plumbing is accessible via the basement so I could just about do anything.

You have a few things going on here. The pump kicking on without water use would indicate a bad check valve or a leak in the system.

With the pump and the pressure there could be many things. How is your well? Is it strong enough to pump water for the irrigation system? The irrigation system and the house? Do the sprinkler heads run consistently or do they surge as though the water level in the well has dropped below the pump?

If your well is strong enough, you low water pressure in the house indicates that along with drawing the well down, you are getting over to the left hand side of you pump curve where you are able to pump lots of water but little pressure. You could install a bigger pump in the well that would be designed to handle both the load of the irrigation system and that of the house. The downfall to this is that the pump will run very erratically under very small water usages. I would say that the pump would “hammer on and off” under small water usages. A good solution to this would be to install a constant pressure system or a variable speed pump drive. The company I work for has installed many of these on systems with problems like yours. Keep in mind that you need a high volume well to use one of these. These systems will maintain a constant pressure rather than a pressure range like a pressure switch. In addition, the pump will vary the speed and flow produced to maintain this pressure. This eliminates the “hammer on and hammer off” with a large pump on a pressure switch. Other advantages are improved motor protection and troubleshooting codes that can make service calls easier for the pump installer. I would recommend the Franklin Electric Monodrive or Subdrive as we have had really good luck with these. The Monodrive is better as its components are typically more stocked by most good pump installers. Also, almost any submersible pump out there will already be powered by a Franklin Electric motor. Goulds and Grundfos also make good systems. A constant pressure pump would be a better alternative than a booster pump.

I have adequate pressure and volume for both the sprinklers and the house, as it is I had to adjust the heads and combine some zones so the the pump would not pump to the cut out pressure of the tank and then shutoff and play the cycle routine. Once I solved that problem with the system, there seems to be enough water ( we are into an underground reservoir that sits beneath the area in which we live) volume for both jobs. Is there a inline filter that you guys recommend that is better than the normal walmart 5gpm type. I know that there are several items that affect flow inside the house but narrowing it down to the culprit is the problem.

If your biggest problem is the sprinklers dragging your pressure down in the house? Do like they do in Florida. Water at night.

If you have a leek in the sprinkler system it shouldn't be making the pump come on and off when the sprinklers are off unless this leak is in front of the solonoid valves. This could explain the low pressure.

bob...

"Is there a inline filter that you guys recommend that is better than the normal walmart 5gpm type."

The thing about most Walmart and Home Depot filters is that they are (1) expensive (2) uncertain quality and (3) too small.

You want lots of filter area so you don't get a lot of pressure drop. I use the Harmsco PolyPleat 1 micron absolute rated filter in a 20" long cartridge in a Big Blue housing. That is probably more than you need and smaller sizes are available. You want to buy the cartridges by the case to get a decent price. You may want to plumb the filter so you aren't filtering your sprinkler water.

You don't need such a good filter if you are just trying to keep sand out of your system.

I did a emergency call for a guy that had a filter that served only the fridge. Said that the ice cubes were horrible, finally figured out that the filter hadn't been changed in 2.5 years. :eek: That is a clear example of how some preventive measures can backfire when the proper maintenance of changing filters due to gallon usage/ time span is not followed according to mfg. specs.

I agree with what was said regarding the filter area and the cheap filters. I have a 20 in cartridge type already but was using the supply of filters that the previous owner left. I switched to the pleated type and the pressure is much better. It looks like I need to get on a 3 month filter change schedule rather than the 6 month also. I really don't have a lot of silt or debris in the filter housing which is a good thing.