Water system questions

[vineyridge]

I have a small potable well water system with four houses and a farm tank filling station. When the farmer is spraying with chemicals, he uses water in 500 gallon tanks, so the system has to be big enough to fill those quickly. Right now I have a 1000 gallon steel pressure tank that is beginning to rust out from age. Potable water pressure tanks that size are VERY expensive–in the neighborhood of 6-10k.

It appears though that there may be a cheaper alternative–a small, bladder lined pressure tank connected to a water storage tank. I haven’t seen a diagram of how it works yet, so I don’t know if the system plumbing comes off the storage tank or the pressure tank. I plan to research further.

My well pump is 3hp, and the well is 1200 feet deep (supposedly).

Does anyone here have such a system? If so, what can you tell me about it?

[ToTheNines]

Not sure I understand correctly, but for the farmer, couldn’t you use your well pump to keep a large non potable tank full, say 750 gallons. He could then use a Grundfas or other on-demand pump (I will check spelling) to remove from his tank.

I have a rainwater system (actually two). Each has a 10,000 potable tank and an on-demand pump. I can use all the water I want from them with plenty of pressure with the pump.

To replace the pressure tank that directly serves your well and the houses, you can then get a small one.

[vineyridge]

[QUOTE=ToTheNines;8737242]
Not sure I understand correctly, but for the farmer, couldn’t you use your well pump to keep a large non potable tank full, say 750 gallons. He could then use a Grundfas or other on-demand pump (I will check spelling) to remove from his tank.

I have a rainwater system (actually two). Each has a 10,000 potable tank and an on-demand pump. I can use all the water I want from them with plenty of pressure with the pump.

To replace the pressure tank that directly serves your well and the houses, you can then get a small one.[/QUOTE]

Right now the water for the system comes from the pressure tank which refills when the tank pressure drops to 40 psi. We have good pressure for all the users, and each user is plumbed directly to pipes from the pressure tank. If one were to go with a small pressure tank from the well that also feeds the storage tank, how does one keep decent pressure in the water coming from the storage tank? Would a small pressure tank be able to handle all the houses at once? Forgot another user. My washing house is on the tank also. So there are four dwellings, my wash house, and the farm.

One of the users is maybe 1/10th of a mile from the well. The others are all grouped within 500 feet. There is one line that goes to several separate lines for each house, except for the one that is farther away. It goes on its separate line from near the tank as does the farm line and the wash house. And I have a separate line for my garden from the main line to the three houses.

Would the well pressure tank fill the storage tank/s and the users come off the storage tank? And would the storage tank water have pressure or would it need another pump?

[gumtree]

This sounds like an “industrial” set up and a bit out of my league of expertise.

Is there any reason why you couldn’t replace the giant and expensive pressure tank with small tanks at the point of use? They are reasonably inexpensive and easy to install.

This would be a good question to ask on a plumbing forum. Usually a number of very experienced people who have worked and or installed systems on this scale.

When you get it figured out let us know the solution.

[TheJenners]

It’s 1200 feet?? :dead: I can’t imagine what the cost could have been, I’m dying putting in a ~300 foot well…

[vineyridge]

The whole system cost 17k in 1986.

I think I may have found my answer here: http://www.cyclestopvalves.com/index2.html

http://www.wellwaterproducts.com/categories/Cycle-Stop-Valve/

[vineyridge]

Went to a plumbing forum and asked my question. Two guys have answered. They both propose a system with a water storage tank with a submersible pump, a constant pressure valve, and a bladder tank for storage. Had a local well man come by. He flatly said that couldn’t work, that he’d never heard of such a thing, and wasn’t interested in working with me on such a system. Said wells in other places weren’t like wells in Mississippi. He’s 68 and has been doing the same thing since he was eighteen.

I’m pissed.