I have a detached income unit on my property that’s getting a necessary facelift. I’m going to redo the plumbing and have a pressure tank to place. The plan is to have two tanks coming off the well-one for the main house and one for the unit. My question is should I locate the tank at the well (about 100 ft away) or underneath the income unit? Would I get better and more consistent water pressure if its closer to the source of the water or at its end point?
I think that it wouldn’t make any difference, but I’ll defer to the experts.
Vince M
Replies
There is no need for a 2nd tank unless you think that you need more storage volumne to reduce the amount of pump cycling. And then adding a 2nd tank would be just the same as having a single larger one.
It does not matter where it is if you have adequate sized lines.
You want your main storage where the pump pressure switch is.
It does not matter where it is if you have adequate sized lines.
This is true only if you have no significant pressure drop in your system. I have a 50# pressure drop and it makes a huge difference where the tank(s) is. Certainly it should be where the switch is.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
You two are saying the same thing. If the lines are adequately sized there will be no significant pressure drop.
You two are saying the same thing. If the lines are adequately sized there will be no significant pressure drop
Absolutely NOT. The line size has nothing to do with it. Elevation does.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
The pressure change due to elevation is constant and independent of flow. Therefore it can be compensated for by setting the pressure switch to different settings. So the pressure tank and pressure switches do not have to be at the same elevation.
But if there is a pressure drop due to inadequate piping size, this will cause control problems. The pressure switch and tank should not be separated by piping of inadquate size or the system will not function properly. That's why it's good to have the pressure tank and the switch in the same place.
By my calculation, 50 PSI corresponds to an elevation difference of 112 feet.
By my calculation, 50 PSI corresponds to an elevation difference of 112 feet.
Sounds about right. And when I placed the pressure tank at the lower level, on advice from a well service company, it turned out to be the wrong thing to do. It does matter a great deal where the tank goes if there's a pressure drop.
I've reduced the effective size of my tank by at least half, according to the mfg. Had I placed the tank in the house, no problem. Running the pump/switch/tank at 80/100 psi works, but would work much better if the switch/tank were 30/50 (at the house).PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
One larger tank is better. I worked with a system in which two tanks, separated by some distance of piping, were installed. It caused rapid switching of the pump on and off.
What happened was that the pump pressurized the tank near the pump, but because it took some time for water to flow through the long pipe to the other tank, the remote tank did not get up to pressure before the first tank did and kicked off the pump. Because the remote tank was still at a lower pressure, the water still flowed, raising the pressure in the remote tank and drawing down the nearby tank. That kicked the pump back on. It continued for several cycles, kicking the pump on and off fairly quickly.
Perhaps two tanks would work if they were near each other and of similar size, but I'd go with a single large tank.