Water Line, and Pressure Tank Questions

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preppypyro

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Type of pump?
Submersible pump is a 3/4 berkly

Three wire (control box) 3 wire with ground
Wire Size unsure
Wire Length approx 350 feet from house, 100 feet down well


Size of Pump?
Motor Horsepower? 3/4
Pump Model #unsure
Date Pump Installed in november of 2007
Pumping from?

Water Well
Depth of well 180 feet, pump is at 100 feet
Depth to water approx 10 feet from the top of the well
Pump Setting__________
Pipe Size 1 and 1/4 inch from well to the house
Drop Pipe Material
plastic poly water pipe 1 and 1/4 down the well, and from the well to the house


Well Recovery Rate 12 gpm
Well Casing Diameter 5 inchs inner diameter
Rock Well__________ Sand Well__________ Other______________
Date Well Drilled August of 2007

Well Casing Material
PVC


Pressure Tank?
Bladder or diaphragm tank (one pipe to tank)
Model of tank is jet rite 2, model pjr 6 2.1 gallon tank
Air charge in top of tank, with pump off and water drained 30 PSI



Pressure Switch Setting? We have an adjustable switch, believe it is set at just over 50 psi, not sure how to tell what the "on" setting is.


Pump Control Method?
Franklin Electric Mono Drive

Pump Protection "unsure"
Cycle Sensor_________
Pumptec_____________
Low pressure cutoff switch (lever on side)__________
Other_______________

Filters or Softeners culligan iron filter first in line, culligan water softener next in line, after the pressure tank


Water Used For?
House Use, 2 adults, one 6 month old. Three bathrooms, two showers and one shower/bath, I have a multimeter, and know a little how to use it.


Questions I have.

Ok first post here! I have done a lot of reading here, decided to join and add/contribute (IF I ever can!)

Little background. I live outside of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Not sure exactly what the frost level is, but we bury our stuff at minimum of 6 feet underground, personally I buried all my septic and water lines at 8 feet.

I have a 5 inch (inner diamter) well, and installed the pitless adapter at just shy of 8 feet. We got some poor advice when we first installed in back in 07, and didnt use a brass fitting from the pitless to the barbed hose adapter, so we developed a leak, and had to dig it up two days ago and repair it.

The first question I have is regarding water line routing. When we first dug the line, we had the line going as straight as we could, with the only turn in the line being very gradual. The other night when we were repairing the problem, we rushed and installed a joiner in the water pipe, and created a loop underground before it attached back to the pitless.

I will be the first to admit that it was late at night and my wife and I were both tired, and just wanted to finish, so we took the easy route, but I was wondering if the loop underground (think of a loop maybe 3 feet in diameter) would hurt anything, like water pressure? We were careful when we buried it, and it shouldn't rub or anything, but it did get me thinking about a possible loss in pressure, perhaps??


Second question is involving my pressure system itself.
Attached is the way I have my system set up currently

pressure-tank-install-10.jpg



I have one of these for a switch, and its adjustable with a Allan wrench up top.

pressure-tank-install-11.jpg


This is the specs on the tank we have.

pressure-tank-install-12.jpg


Ok so now my question! I was fiddling around with that switch when the water was turned off, and moved it from the factory setting of 50. I fiddled with it more when the water was back on, and have it sitting at almost 55 psi on the guage. I checked the tank pressure with the water off and it was at 30 psi.

From a chart I had found, and some quick calculations, I believe my pressure tank should be pumped up to about 38 psi.

Is it just that easy? Just take my compressor and fill it up to 38 with the water turned off (and a tap open, don't do anything till all the water comes out, then fill the tank)

Say i wanted to boost my pressure in my house up a little more, say to 60. Would I just need to adjust the switch with the allan key, let my system drain, fill up the pressure tank to 42ish psi, then all is goods? Any reason to not bump it up a little bit? (like from 50-60?) Since I have the constant pressure system, maybe I need to stay within some certain values?

(I realize the cycle stop valves are popular in here, but the mono drive is what i have for now!)


Sorry for the long first post, and I'm sure probably silly questions to many of you!

Thanks for any advice, replies, and any help you guys can provide.
 
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Craigpump

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I gotta ask, who installed the tank and fittings?

A 3' loop in the pipe shouldn't be an issue as long as the loop isn't verticle and into the frost line where it would freeze.

The correct pressure for the tank with Constant Pressure System should be 70% of shut off pressure. So if your shut off is 60psi, you want 42 psi in the tank. To do that, shut off the pump and drain the tank then set your air pressure through the schrader valve.
 

preppypyro

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Thanks for the reply. The loop in the ground isnt vertical.

As for the installation, that is my "slick" handi work haha. I know it looks terrible, and I appreciate you taking the polite route of asking to confirm before just slamming me :D

Long story short, that setup was in a temporary mobile home that we had bought ans set up at this farm before we built our new house. It was my first time doing anything with plumbing, pex piping in particular and it shows!

The game plan was to have it all set up temporary, and we had a plumber lined up to plumb all of our septic and fresh water plumbing in exchange for me doing a bunch of backhoe work for him. He started on the septic, finished it, then said he would do the fresh water plumbing after I got done the back hoe work for him. I finished his backhoe work, and the guy then changed his mind and told me i was on my own for freshwater plumbing. Im a fairly fiesty guy when I get the wool pulled over my eyes, and this guy was one step from physically getting thrown from my property! I see he made a good business from doing this though, so more power to him I guess.

Anyways Im in for tips of how to get the freshwater pexing looking better as i do plan on re doing some of it maybe in the summer!
 

Craigpump

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Well, I would get rid of that Chinese tank and use a Well X Trol product along with a real tank tee. I mount the tank on a board which I then shoot to the wall with a ram set gun. After that is nice and level, your pex will look infinitely better.
 

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preppypyro

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Thanks for the tip. Ill look into the tank and tree when I change stuff around in the summer time for sure. I wonder why the place we bought all of our stuff from didnt mention that this was a cheap tank, and there was no mention of a tank tee. When we bought this stuff we had asked for the best stuff they had.

Hopefully our Berkley pump isnt a POS, my goal was to buy good everything and keep it for a long time.

For now in the winter my crappy looking system works, and as long as it works till the spring, Im a happy camper haha.
 

Valveman

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Yours is a Flexcon tank, considered #2 in the industry because it is a copy of the Amtrol design. Don't replace it until you have to.

Craig, if you have ANY sediment in the system, you will have trouble with that pressure transducer being on the bottom of the tee.
 

Craigpump

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I appreciate the input Valveman, the system has been in there 4+ years with no problems what so ever. As for the tank, I have little faith in anything made in China......
 

Valveman

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I appreciate the input Valveman, the system has been in there 4+ years with no problems what so ever. As for the tank, I have little faith in anything made in China......

Well you either lucked out and got a good one, or there are only a couple of old people living there with no irrigation or anything, so it has lasted that long because it is very lightly used. I hope you didn’t just jinx it by saying you have had no problems so far. Lol

I have always used WellXtrol. But I have had problems with the smaller tanks recently, so I am trying a few other brands. I am not sure any of the smaller tanks are still made in the US. That one says Taiwan.
 
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Craigpump

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I hope I didn't jinx myself too! Actually the system is for a family of 4 and the father is a car nut who washes his cars all the time

I prefer Well X Trol over the others as well, we have had very, very few failures over the years.
 

Valveman

Cary Austin
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I believe just washing cars and a regular family of four is very light use compared to a system with sprinklers or a heat pump.

I have only had problems with the smaller wellx tanks. I use their big ones on systems up to 150 PSI all the time.
 
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