Setup for "a little" pressure during power outtage

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foolhardy

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I'll be building a house in the next year, or so. Our water will come from a well with a solar-powered submersible pump. I would like to use a "water tower" system to ensure that, during a power outtage, we will have at least a little bit of water pressure. With the following setup, we will have roughly 3psi at the fixtures on the top floor [f^1] (using one fixture at a time) during a power outtage. During normal use (non-power-outtage), we would use the booster pump and pressure tank.

I know that I'll need to make sure of a few things:
1. That the house is built to support ~1 ton at the "gravity tank"
2. During an outtage, to flush toilets, we would probably need to fill a pitcher at the tap and pour it into the tank

Please tell me what you think of this setup and if there are any obvious flaws.

Thank you so much for your input.
 

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Texas Wellman

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Why are you using a booster pump and pumping the same water twice? Why not simply pump into one large pressure tank with one pump and be done with it?

I don't understand why you would need to hand pour the water into the toilets if you have the gravity system. Toilets don't take any pressure to flush, only volume.

I have done several solar systems and know their limitations. Post up what size pump, the depth of the water in the well, and how many panels. Is this going to be a grid tied system or off-grid only?

I'll be building a house in the next year, or so. Our water will come from a well with a solar-powered submersible pump. I would like to use a "water tower" system to ensure that, during a power outtage, we will have at least a little bit of water pressure. With the following setup, we will have roughly 3psi at the fixtures on the top floor [f^1] (using one fixture at a time) during a power outtage. During normal use (non-power-outtage), we would use the booster pump and pressure tank.

I know that I'll need to make sure of a few things:
1. That the house is built to support ~1 ton at the "gravity tank"
2. During an outtage, to flush toilets, we would probably need to fill a pitcher at the tap and pour it into the tank

Please tell me what you think of this setup and if there are any obvious flaws.

Thank you so much for your input.
 

foolhardy

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Texas, thank you for your input. With it I did some reading and now realize that a submersible well pump pressurizes the pressure tank. I mistakenly thought that it just got the water up to ground level from whence you had to then pump into a pressure tank. You've cleared that up for me. Thank you very much.

It sounds like, this being the case, even in an outtage I would get pressure into my pressure tank, due to the submersible pump being solar powered.

The water depth is about 200' and, at present, I'm planning on using a 3/4hp 12gpm submersible pump. The power will come from a larger grid-tied 6kw pv system.

It seems like, in an outtage, I would still need the "water tower" if we wanted to use more water at night than our pressure tank could supply; 70 gallons, for example, as the largest pressure tanks that I'm seeing are roughly 30 gallons. Is this correct?
 
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Texas Wellman

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Are you using the Grundfox SQ Flex pump? If not I would encourage you to look at it. If you're using a regular 3/4 HP motor you're wasting energy converting it from DC to AC. I haven't looked at the chart but 3/4 HP sounds small for 200' of head plus 50psi. With the SQ Flex you can use a helical rotor pump which is positive displacement that can push water up from deep.

The Grundfos SQ Flex can accept A/C or D/C voltage, 30-330VDC or 90-230VAC. They work real good with the inverter type generators. The other option if you're looking to use a more normal pump is the Grundfos SQ 3" that has soft-start built in. It will play much nicer with your inverters than a std. well pump.
 

foolhardy

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I have not yet purchased the pump but a DC pump would make a lot of sense.

Due to still needing the "water tower" to sustain substantial (cold) water use into the night I've updated the schematic. How does this look?
 

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