water tank to provide water to barn

[Coyoteco]

I want to have one or two 275 gallon water tanks in my barn from which I can “run” water to various faucets. From the tanks, I would have the plumbing to the various faucets.

Now, I think that I would need a pump to pump the water into a pressure tank. Wouldn’t I also need some kind of gauge to determine the water pressure going into the tank?

I suppose that the setup is similar to that of a well, and am trying to find an old thread on wells on this forum but haven’t been successful so far.

Thanks.

[Bluey]

Maybe you mean a storage tank, piped into the regular water lines, so you can use it when you want?

When all we had was windmills, no electric pumps and pressure tanks, we had the windmills pump on storage tanks set by the windmills and set high enough for gravity flow to run water down to house, barn and pens.

That is one way to do it, or you can use a regular pump to get pressure out of the storage tank, that then won’t have to be set high for gravity flow.

We have a 500 g water tank for our arenas and fire fighting with it’s own pump, like this one:

https://www.wyliesprayers.com/v/product-detail/Express-Water-Wagon/1l/

That would work for what you want, is on a trailer and you could possibly add a valve you can connect somewhere in your water lines to serve them.
Just setting a tank and pump by it would work as well, if you don’t need the tank for other uses.

If you are going to use it in potable water situations, be sure to get the kind of tank certified for that.

[trubandloki]

Keep in mind that water stored sitting still does not necessarily stay nice and clean. If you are going to store water make sure you set up is such that you are not begging for a situation with green fuzzy water. How many days worth of water do you want to store? Where will your storage containers be kept so they are not baking in the direct sun?

[Coyoteco]

That’s right Bluey, storage tank, piped into the regular water lines, so I can use it when I want. I have the shop/tack room, the open barn area, the stalls and that opens into an indoor. I currently run garden hoses and plan to put in underground water from the house - but am tired of the garden hoses and haven’t gotten around to running the water lines. I can say as many times as I want “this summer” but lol that doesn’t get it done - so I just want to put the tank in there, pump it to a pressure tank - go turn on a faucet and water the horses or the arena, or wash my hands - that kind of thing. Then if I ever get my water in, I’ll just connect to the plumbing to the new water source.

(Running the water to the barn is kind of a big deal as I do have to divert a creek, notify my neighbors of that, and it’s pretty far and it has to be three feet deep. Doable, but a bit of a hassle). Then, technically, I can do a well, so that’s another possibility - and was the original plan but I hit a snag with my permit. That can be remedied, but it all takes time.

The barn and arena are both well insulated so the temperature never gets much below freezing inside (maybe 29 low when there is extended below zero weather) and stays cool in summer.

trubandloki - you are so right about the water getting bad:), This winter, I filled all of the water and the horses were out for a few weeks (much longer than I had anticipated) without using the water so I ended up having to empty and clean all of the tanks, to refill with clean water when I needed to stall them again. So, your point is quite valid.

[Guilherme]

You don’t have to divert the creek. Run the pipe to the creek, bring it up and over the creek, then bury it again. No diversion required. Put the pipe that’s in the open over the creek into a larger PVC pipe after you’ve wrapped it in insulation. Or maybe you want to use the foam insulation that comes in a can.

I don’t know where you are but unless you have long stretches of deep cold this would likely do. You’d have to “drip” a faucet in cold temps. And if you are in deep cold country you’ll have trouble with your tanks freezing, too.

Should you decide on a tank I don’t think you have to have pressure tank. IIRC you can buy “on demand” jet pumps that will give you close to normal pressure. You’d have to check with local plumbing supply or maybe Norther Tool to see if such are available.

G.

[Coyoteco]

[QUOTE=Guilherme;8039989]
You don’t have to divert the creek. Run the pipe to the creek, bring it up and over the creek, then bury it again. No diversion required. Put the pipe that’s in the open over the creek into a larger PVC pipe after you’ve wrapped it in insulation. Or maybe you want to use the foam insulation that comes in a can.

I don’t know where you are but unless you have long stretches of deep cold this would likely do. You’d have to “drip” a faucet in cold temps. And if you are in deep cold country you’ll have trouble with your tanks freezing, too. We will look to see what we find at Northern Tool. Thanks.

Should you decide on a tank I don’t think you have to have pressure tank. IIRC you can buy “on demand” jet pumps that will give you close to normal pressure. You’d have to check with local plumbing supply or maybe Norther Tool to see if such are available.

G.[/QUOTE]

Do you know of a good on-demand pump?

BTW, the barn doesn’t get below 29 degrees even in our extended sub-zero periods. We get to 20 below about once per year and sub-zero three or four times per year. That is a good idea on crossing the creek. I can check to see if it would work. Diverting the creek may not be a problem really, but burying "under* it will be a bit tricky - doable, but tricky.

[trubandloki]

With those temps there is no way you are going to stay thawed even with a dripping faucet, unless you put heat tape on it.

[Bluey]

You talk about a creek?

We laid miles of pipeline, some went under creeks too.

That means you have changes in elevation, which will cause changes in water pressure.

If you are going all downhill with your lines and it is a considerable drop, you may ought to also have pressure relief valves in your lines and/or consider a plain gravity flow system.
A storage tank set on a higher location would provide you with water below it also, if you can find a place you can access higher than where you need the water, that you can get to on this side of the creek.

Could you work out of a portable tank with a pump, fill it and haul it to the barn and use it for a few days, then do it again, if all you want is to fill buckets?

Laying some pipe there really should not be much of a task or pricey, but I guess you know what you are doing already and it sounds different than how we would do that here.

[Coyoteco]

It’s just been a busy couple of years or so and this hasn’t gotten done. I still plan to, but thought getting the plumbing in and using a tank would be good especially in the event that I don’t get to it this summer/fall. I can fill the tank from another tank off a trailer (for potable water) or if I decide not to keep it really pure, I can use a garden hose from the house between cold spells as we have warm days throughout the winter so filling a tank is very easy.