I'm having a problem with water pressure at my rural property. The system has always worked, but it has never had great pressure.
Currently we pump water (for handwashing, camping showers and general use outside only) via an approximately 50 foot long tube routed to the deep part of our spring-fed pond. The pump and 5 gallon pressure tank which is charged to 32 PSI per the specs in the pump's instruction manual is located a couple of feet above the normal water line at the edge of the pond and the check valve at the end of the tube is less than six feet below the water surface so effectively we have the equivalent of a water well that is less than 10 feet deep. The pump then pushes the water up the hill, an approximately fifteen foot rise in elevation for about 40 feet into a small shed where we have all of our plumbing connections.
When the pump has been sitting and is fully charged to its maximum 50 PSI we get decent/acceptable pressure at the shower head. As the shower runs, the pump pressure decreases to and comes on again at about 30 PSI. By this time, the shower flow has, of course, become unacceptably weak. In addition to 30 PSI just being pretty low for a shower, the problem is exacerbated by our filter system for which the specs state needs at least 40 PSI to push water through the filters effectively.
Our goal here is a nice 40-50 PSI shower for 10-15 minutes at a time. In addition to losing pressure in our filter (especially below 40 PSI) we know we lose a lot of pressure from the rise from the pump to our building so my thought is to have a supply of water in the building to "get us started". Is that a logical thought and if so what is the best way to do it? I have a couple of ideas but I'd like to get some feedback (or a better but different idea) from anyone in the know:
Our first thought was one of these pressure tanks that have an inflated bladder inside. Some of them spec up over 100 PSI, but I've also read that they need to match the PSI of the lowest output of the pump. I figure that could be solved by a check valve between the original pump/pressure tank and the proposed new pressure tank. I just can't exactly wrap my head around how that would work.
My second thought was for a pressure-less system where our existing pump and pressure tank would fill a holding tank toward the top (but with enough room until "overflow" so that the inlet would eventually be underwater. We would then have an outlet toward the bottom of the tank that would feed a 50 PSI (or so) constant flow pump. There would be less distance, and virtually no rise and enough PSI to push the water through our filtering system. A secondary benefit would be that we could put a time-release chlorine float in the top to help out further with the cleanliness of the water and possibly even give the filter some relief.
I'm leaning toward the second idea at this point as it would be cheaper, easier to maintain and seems to have benefits that a pressure tank system would not, but I'm also looking for an even better idea if anyone has one.
Thanks in advance for any expertise you may share.
Bryan
Currently we pump water (for handwashing, camping showers and general use outside only) via an approximately 50 foot long tube routed to the deep part of our spring-fed pond. The pump and 5 gallon pressure tank which is charged to 32 PSI per the specs in the pump's instruction manual is located a couple of feet above the normal water line at the edge of the pond and the check valve at the end of the tube is less than six feet below the water surface so effectively we have the equivalent of a water well that is less than 10 feet deep. The pump then pushes the water up the hill, an approximately fifteen foot rise in elevation for about 40 feet into a small shed where we have all of our plumbing connections.
When the pump has been sitting and is fully charged to its maximum 50 PSI we get decent/acceptable pressure at the shower head. As the shower runs, the pump pressure decreases to and comes on again at about 30 PSI. By this time, the shower flow has, of course, become unacceptably weak. In addition to 30 PSI just being pretty low for a shower, the problem is exacerbated by our filter system for which the specs state needs at least 40 PSI to push water through the filters effectively.
Our goal here is a nice 40-50 PSI shower for 10-15 minutes at a time. In addition to losing pressure in our filter (especially below 40 PSI) we know we lose a lot of pressure from the rise from the pump to our building so my thought is to have a supply of water in the building to "get us started". Is that a logical thought and if so what is the best way to do it? I have a couple of ideas but I'd like to get some feedback (or a better but different idea) from anyone in the know:
Our first thought was one of these pressure tanks that have an inflated bladder inside. Some of them spec up over 100 PSI, but I've also read that they need to match the PSI of the lowest output of the pump. I figure that could be solved by a check valve between the original pump/pressure tank and the proposed new pressure tank. I just can't exactly wrap my head around how that would work.
My second thought was for a pressure-less system where our existing pump and pressure tank would fill a holding tank toward the top (but with enough room until "overflow" so that the inlet would eventually be underwater. We would then have an outlet toward the bottom of the tank that would feed a 50 PSI (or so) constant flow pump. There would be less distance, and virtually no rise and enough PSI to push the water through our filtering system. A secondary benefit would be that we could put a time-release chlorine float in the top to help out further with the cleanliness of the water and possibly even give the filter some relief.
I'm leaning toward the second idea at this point as it would be cheaper, easier to maintain and seems to have benefits that a pressure tank system would not, but I'm also looking for an even better idea if anyone has one.
Thanks in advance for any expertise you may share.
Bryan
Last edited:
