Water well/pump pressure question

[tynyphil]

for my 'off grid' cabin .....I have a 300 gallon tank I can haul water to, or I have a well that I can use to fill it with less desirable ( too high salinity for drinking). It will actually gravity feed to the cabin but not with a lot of pressure. This water we use for outside, showers, washing dishes, etc..... from this tank I fill a 40 gallon 12V pump spray rig tank/pump (located at the cabin) converted to feed the cabin.. It produces 60# pressure and the 12V pump is battery powered and a small solar system. this tank/pump set up feeds the cabin faucets, shower, etc as well as an outside sink and shower. The 40gallon tank has to be refilled every couple of days but that is not a big deal.

 

[BryanDP]

Thanks everyone for your input. One issue I know of is that we did undersize the supply line from the pump to the house (the one with the 40 foot distance and about 10-15 foot rise) but it's not in the cards right now to dig it up and redo it.

What's frustrating is the we *sometimes* have adequate water pressure so I know the infrastructure is capable of doing what we need: it just fluctuates too much. I can sit at the pump gauge and watch it happen. I starts up at 50 psi and holds it for a minute or so then starts falling, down to 30 until the pump kicks on and replenishes the pressure. The 50 psi is a decent shower. The 30 sucks. If I just had 50 psi of constant pressure somehow I would be totally happy.

After I posted last night I ran across a couple of articles that listed a "constant flow system" as one option to resolving our issue. I did some searches on Amazon and on the web in general and most of what came up were little utility pumps for RVs and so forth. Most could deliver "up to 45 psi" so I'm doubtful that would be enough to push it up the hill through my 3/4" pipe.

I then found this:

Burcam - WATER-IN PUMPS AND SYSTEMS - S.W. STAINLESS STEEL JET PUMP WITH FLUOMAC 3/4HP 115V

BURCAM official site. Moving water at an affordable price, BURCAM is a leading innovator in water-in and water-out residential and light commercial pumping equipment since 1978.

www.burcam.com

It provides up to 65 psi constant pressure, specifically stating that no pressure tank or pressure switch is needed. It's only a little more expensive than the average 30/50 tank and cheaper than a lot of them so I'm wondering "what's the catch?"

 

[Mr.Glock]

Drill a Well?

 

[cowadle]

Thanks everyone for your input. One issue I know of is that we did undersize the supply line from the pump to the house (the one with the 40 foot distance and about 10-15 foot rise) but it's not in the cards right now to dig it up and redo it.

What's frustrating is the we *sometimes* have adequate water pressure so I know the infrastructure is capable of doing what we need: it just fluctuates too much. I can sit at the pump gauge and watch it happen. I starts up at 50 psi and holds it for a minute or so then starts falling, down to 30 until the pump kicks on and replenishes the pressure. The 50 psi is a decent shower. The 30 sucks. If I just had 50 psi of constant pressure somehow I would be totally happy.

After I posted last night I ran across a couple of articles that listed a "constant flow system" as one option to resolving our issue. I did some searches on Amazon and on the web in general and most of what came up were little utility pumps for RVs and so forth. Most could deliver "up to 45 psi" so I'm doubtful that would be enough to push it up the hill through my 3/4" pipe.

I then found this:

Burcam - WATER-IN PUMPS AND SYSTEMS - S.W. STAINLESS STEEL JET PUMP WITH FLUOMAC 3/4HP 115V

BURCAM official site. Moving water at an affordable price, BURCAM is a leading innovator in water-in and water-out residential and light commercial pumping equipment since 1978.

www.burcam.com

It provides up to 65 psi constant pressure, specifically stating that no pressure tank or pressure switch is needed. It's only a little more expensive than the average 30/50 tank and cheaper than a lot of them so I'm wondering "what's the catch?"

a positive displacement pump would most likely out perform what you have now and will only run when the faucet is turned on. they can be had in about any voltage but get one with at least 5 gallon per minute flow at the head of your demand. just remember that you need to figure all of the appliances or faucets into the gpm or just run one at a time.

 

[cowadle]

Piston pump regular model - Pompco

Water pumps and piston pumps Pompco Inc, water pumps manufacturer, submersibles, centrifugal, convertible pumps, sewage pumps, sump pumps, booster pumps, shallow well pumps, stainless steel pumps

pompco.com

or get one from an rv set up????

 

[BryanDP]

Drill a Well?

Interesting. Can you explain how that would help my pump give me better pressure at my shower head? If that's the answer it may be time to revisit that option.

 

[BryanDP]

a positive displacement pump would most likely out perform what you have now and will only run when the faucet is turned on. they can be had in about any voltage but get one with at least 5 gallon per minute flow at the head of your demand. just remember that you need to figure all of the appliances or faucets into the gpm or just run one at a time.

We only have a shower, a hand wash since and an outdoor faucet. This is rustic. All consumed water comes in those big 5 gallon jugs.

So would I install that down the hill to replace the well pump or up the hill as close to the shower as possible as a "helper" to the well pump?

 

[BryanDP]

Piston pump regular model - Pompco

Water pumps and piston pumps Pompco Inc, water pumps manufacturer, submersibles, centrifugal, convertible pumps, sewage pumps, sump pumps, booster pumps, shallow well pumps, stainless steel pumps

pompco.com

or get one from an rv set up????

I have an RV style water pump in my food truck and an extra (backup) on the shelf that I considered giving a try but I think those are meant to draw water from a non-pressurized water tank. I've thought about having my current pump fill a tank and then use an "always on" pump to run the shower from that but I can't figure out how I'd shut my pump off using a non-pressurized tank. If I had room for like a 300 gallon tank I'd just fill it manually occasionally but I've only got room for about 30-40 gallons so the well pump would need to be filling it at the same time were using the supply of water.

 

[cowadle]

just use the positive displacement pump without any other tank or pump. make it you primary supply. turn on shower pump starts and shower off pump stops. let it draw from the source same as other set up wexcept use a filter on the intake not the pressure side.

 

[okietool]

Ok.
Water doesn’t compress.
You have to have an air chamber or some bladder to have any reasonable pressure stability.
If you just have pipe and water and pump as soon as your pump comes on the pressure hits past peak.

OR. You can pump to an elevated reservoir or tank and then hydrostatic head supplies the pressure. That’s the reason you have water towers.

It sounds like your bladder is flat or the screen on your pump may be stopped up (if it has one)

When your pump comes on the bladder will compress to 1/2 it’s empty volume when you double the pressure.

If it holds two gallons and is pressured to 16 psi it will hold one gallon at 32 psi 1/2 gallon at 64 psi, etc.

I’m sure you will hear otherwise but water doesn’t compress. Try to compress it goes wrong quickly.