Recommendations to boost municipal flow

[Valveman]

Wow! Your plumber didn't understand anything apparently. It may work for now, but that had to be expensive and it won't last very long. Those are "pressure tanks", not "sealed storage tanks". LOL They will hold maybe 30 gallons each, instead of 120 gallons each if they were vented tanks as they should be. Just one 120 gallon storage tank would have given you the same amount of storage as those 360 pressure tanks (combined).

Then you let him sell you on a variable speed booster pump. That was three times the cost of a regular jet pump, and will last a fraction as long. Yeah you got water, but not much, and not very reliably, and at several times what it should have cost. Plus Galvanized bell reducers on those tanks with everything else being non corrosive materials???

I'll bet the plumber drives a nice car. He can make a very good living doing stuff like that.

https://www.plastic-mart.com/product/6139/100-gallon-vertical-plastic-storage-tank-vt0100-23
https://www.lockewell.com/index.php?main_page=shopping_cart&zenid=6846a69c38b67b9bde4db8cb30e1c58b
https://cyclestopvalves.com/collections/frontpage/products/custom-pk1a-pside-kick-kit

100 gallon storage tank $164.00
Jet pump 266.00
Constant pressure control kit 365.00
Total cost of a dependable system $795.00

Sorry! When someone ask for advice and does the opposite I feel I have wasted my time.

 

[BobbyH]

Sorry! When someone ask for advice and does the opposite I feel I have wasted my time.

You didn’t waste your time on me. I’m not a plumber and know nothing about the trade. You gave me great information but I don’t know a check valve from an elbow. I told him what you told me. I’m told the air pressure was drained from the tanks so they’re working as storage tanks. I don’t know enough about pumps other than it looked like the picture from your diagram.

Perhaps it won’t last long and I’ll have to do it again. Hopefully by then I’ll know more about these things or, at my age, it won’t matter

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Valveman]

I'm sorry! Sorry people have to put up with shoddy workmanship. Removing air from a pressure tank doesn't make it a storage tank, it makes it a waterlogged pressure tank. You might be getting 5 gallons of draw from each tank, and that might be enough of a buffer to make it work. But don't count on having any water stored in those tanks if the city supply is shut off. Your basically just boosting what you get from the city. Let me guess $3000-$4000??

 

[Valveman]

After reading this thread over again I see you get up to 38 PSI from the city. In that case those 360 gallon pressure tanks can store about 100 gallons combined if you have 20 PSI air pre-charge in the tanks. Turn off the city supply, drain all the water out of the system, then make sure you have 20 PSI air in the top of those tanks. You should also have a check valve on the city line coming into those tanks, or you are just feeding your stored water back to the city when they need it. Like I said, no air in those tanks and they are waterlogged and not storing anything. 20 PSI air and they will store 100 gallons when the city pressure gets up to 38. When that variable speed pump quits you, just get a regular jet pump.