Distance between well, expansion tank, and house?

[WilliamWWhitworth]

Needing advice on how far away from the house can I move my expansion tank and it still be as effective as it is.
A little background, my well is actually about 4-500 feet away from the current location of the tank, which is about 50 feet from the house.
Would I be ok moving the expansion tank about 200 feet closer to the well and away from the house?

Attached is a photo of the property. The blue is the current location of the tank, the red is where I want to move it to, and the green is where the well is located. The red spot is an old well location that the power to the current well actually runs to (it's actually where the start capacitor is located).

 

[Valveman]

As long as there are no check valves in the system except for the one on the pump, the pressure tank can be pretty much anywhere you want to put it. HOWEVER. the pressure switch must always be very close to the tank.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[WilliamWWhitworth]

@Valveman so I could theoretically have the Pressure tank and pressure switch at the well head, and it shouldn't be a problem (except for maybe having to adjust the pressure tank to account for being about 400ft from the house)?

 

[Reach4]

If the pressure tank and switch are remote, the change in pressure drop with flow will be a bigger factor. So you would probably want to use bigger pipe for the long run. If the pressure tank and switch is at the house, somebody else using water will have less effect on the pressure in the house. So with the tank and switch at the house, 3/4 inch pipe would be enough, but you would probably use 1 inch. With the tank and switch at the well, you might choose 1.25 or 1.5 inch.

This will be on top of other factors. Try putting in different GPM numbers into http://irrigation.wsu.edu/Content/Calculators/General/Pipeline-Pressure-Loss.php. You might put in 500 ft into the calculator to compensate for fittings etc.

 

[Bannerman]

so I could theoretically have the Pressure tank and pressure switch at the well head,

Correct.

Is there any rise in height between the location for the pressure tank/switch and the house? Any elevation rise will result in pressure drop equal to 1 psi for every 2.3 feet rise in height after the pressure tank. The rise can be typically compensated for by increasing the pressure switch setting range and pressure tank pre-charge pressure.

Extending the horizontal run distance will not alter the pressure at the house much when water flow is low, but the extended pipe length, will result in greater flow restriction (often referred to as pressure loss) due to friction within the pipe when the flow rate is high. Friction maybe reduced by increasing the pipe diameter for the extended run of pipe.

 

[Valveman]

Having the pressure tank/pressure switch at the well head means you can tap into the line anywhere along the way. But normally the pressure switch/tank are located where the power comes in.