what's a good size pump/tank for our house?

Since my pump and tank are driving us nuts,,, we've decided to look into getting a new pump and tank, but we have some questions. I'm sure we could ask the guys at home hardware but they're trying to sell it so i just want to make sure.

Here's my question: What size and/or horse power pump and tank would be right for our house?

Our house is a small bungalo (one level) house. We have a basement but it's only 5 feet high and is used for storage and nothing else. We're a familly of 5. 2 adults, and 3 kids (ages 8, 12, 14). Our well is a shallow well and from what everyone tells us, no one in our neck of the woods ever runs out of water. We're tapped into a really good vein and we're surrounded by lakes. We don't use it to water gardens or sprinklers or anything like that. Just for the house.

Also: any opinions on those pumps that come with the tank built on it? Are they any good? They seem cheaper but do they work well? ALso ,,, are their any kinds of pump that we should avoid???

Thanks to all for your help

I almost forgot: we have only 1 bathroom (fun!), clothes washer and no dishwasher. Any ideas?

You may want to open the well and see how much water is in it. Then describe what problems you are having with the current set up. Then tell us what pump you have now.

additional info

We currently have a 1/3 hp pump that now won't shut off. We have a tank but not sure how many gallons (it's a little bigger than the size of a propane tank for the bbq). The well has plenty of water, it's about 16 feet deep and never runs out of water. Then again, we conserve and don't waste it either. But all our neighbours have never run out of water. If you look at a map of Quebec, Canada, we're 60 km (i hour drive) north of Montreal. We're the part surrounded by lakes.!!!

It used to be ( when my uncle owned the house) that the water came into the house, went straight up to the kitchen and then off to the bathroom about 15 feet away. Last summer, we swapped the kitchen with the living room. Both rooms have better set ups now. But the kitchen is now 30 feet from where the water comes into the house. We had no problems until a few weeks ago.

All the plumbing pipes were changed last year for new flex-pipe. It goes 3/4 inch pipe into 1/2 inch pipe going up. The bathroom got a new shower, toilet and sink. My washer is in there too. The house also got a new hot water tank.

Two weeks ago, my husbands son and family (all 4 of them) finally moved out of our house. They were with us for 2 months and we're thinking that having 9 people on a 1/3 hp pump wore it out. Is this possible???

We're guessing that the pump needs to be much stronger than 1/3 hp, but how strong? What size tank?

Any ideas? Does this extra info help?

My idea when you say a tank for a bbq is maybe something like 5-gallons? If we are talking the same thing, it is woefully undersized. You can dig up some details, but the tank should be large enough so your pump doesn't need to run when you only use a very small amount. If your pump can pump maybe 10 gallons per minute, your tank should hold at least that much, and likely a lot more than that. A really small tank like that would cause the pump to turn on and off way too often and wear it out. If you do a little search here, you can pick some links that will describe some of the design parameters.

I don't know about your third horse pump, because we still don't know the brand name, which lots of times tells us a lot. But a 1/2hp jet pump can produce 10 gpm at a good pressure. For a home your size, it should be adequate. I would prefer a 1hp for the added pressure it would produce. The tank like Jim said should be much bigger. Like at least an 80 gallon equivelent.

I can sell you good equipment, but being in Canada the freight would probably shoot the savings down to ordinary prices.

bob...

Thank you Bob, The freight would kill us. lol

We have a:
Mastercraft 1/3 hp jet pump
Red Lion captive air tank model R14 (max working pressure 100psi) (drawdown @ 30/50 is 4.3 gallons. what ever that means) Just found out my air tank is a 14 gallons.

And now that we're having problems with it, we have really crappy water pressure. It's so bad that when we take a shower and put the shower head upside down, the water only goes up about 4 inches . But we can still take a shower so we're thankful for that.

My husband is thinking of a 1 hp pump. How big is an 80 gallong tank? It sounds really big, like, I'm picturing 16 5gallong bbq tanks together! I know it couldn't be that big, but about how high is an 80 gallon tank?

An 80 gallon tank will be about 4 ft high and a little less than 2 ft diameter. It will depend on the brand.

I typically size a tank at least 3 times the pumping rate. For a 30 to 50 psi system, I would take the pump GPM at 40 psi and multiply it by three for the minimum size tank. Therefore, if your pump does 12 GPM at 40 psi, then you would pick a tank of at least 36 GPM. Then find the next size larger that that (for example 40 gallons). But anything larger is better. You might go to 5 times the pump capacity if you want longer cycle times.

A tank three times the pump rate will give you enough drawdown to have the pump on for about 1 minute if it is properly precharged.

The one I sell is a squat tank and is 21" in diameter and 27.8" tall.

bob...

"The one I sell is a squat tank and is 21" in diameter and 27.8" tall."

If those are the overall dimensions, that is about a 32 gallon tank.

That size tank is frequently identified as an "80 gallon equivalent" tank assuming an operating pressure range of 20 to 40 psi.

When you buy a tank, you should ask:

What is the actual volume of the tank?

What is the "drawdown" for the pressure range you want to operate your system at? If you are operating from 30 to 50 psi, the available drawdown is about 30% of the ACTUAL volume of the tank.

A bladder tank with 32 gallons ACTUAL volume will have a drawdown of 9.9 gallons between 30 and 50 psi. If you have a 12 GPM pump, that is a little on the small side but will probably work.

Note the comparison between the 9.9 gallon drawdown and my recommendation of at least 3 times the pump GPM. They are pretty close.

Your even further ahead to go with a Cycle Stop Valve and a smaller tank. You save money, have constant pressure and don't cycle your motor to death. I then recommend the PC-66, 42 gallon equivelant.

The reason we use the equivelant to galvanized tanks is for the drawdown comparison. The physical size of a tank is totally unimportant. Drawdown (or the amount of gallons between the pump turning on and turning back off) is the important factor if only using a tank. If using the CSV, the tank size is far less important.

bob...

Yes, and you size the tank to provide at least 60 seconds off between pump runs, regardless of the gpm size of the pump. Franklin Electric (manfacturer of 90+% of all motors) calls for at least 60 seconds off for motors up to 1.5 hp.