Water line and storage tank question?

[stumpfield]

This is a plumbing question.... I plan to install a water storage tank about 25' above the well and run 2" water pipe down to the home site. Do I need to run 2 separate water pipes? 2" connect to the bottom of the tank and a separate 1" line to the well pump for filling the tank from the top? All the pipes will be in the same trench. We are talking about an extra 100' of 1" pvc pipe. Is there any advange for running the extra 1" fill line to the top of the tank? I do have check valves to keep water from flowing back into the well. How reliable are check valves? Thanks for your comments.

 

[Jimbrown]

You do not have to run two pipes. You can tee into the same pipe used to feed the house and it wil fill the tank. However, in most cases there will be less load on the pump if you run a 1in pipe to the top of the tank and fill it that way. It just depends on how much reserve your pump has.

 

[cityfarma]

The feed to the tank should be to the BOTTOM of the tank. This is because there will always be a higher head (requiring more energy) if fed to the top of the tank. When fed to the bottom of the tank, the head increases as the water level rises. It will always be less than the head if fed at the top. It makes no difference if the tank is large or small, it is the head that makes the difference.

Simply run 2" pipe from bottom of tank to house and "T" off a feed from the pump. When the pump is running, it will feed the tank. When not running, gravity will feed house.

Cityfarma

 

[SnowRidge]

Is this is an auxillary/emergency tank, or is this to be part of the regular domestic supply? If it is the former, why are you concerned about a check valve? There should be a regular shut off valve in the fill line.

If this is to be part of the regular domestic supply, then it begs the question, is the tank to be vented to the atmsophere, or is it to be pressurized? If it is to vented to the atmosphere, you will need some sort of high level limit switch to shut off the pump when the tank is full. Also, your house pressure will be limited to that which the tank head will supply, which may not be enough. In that case, you will need an auxilliary pressure pump at the house.

If it is to be both pressurized and large enough to store a meaningful amount of water, I would expect the tank to be very, very expensive.

In any event, the tank will have to be protected from freezing.

 

[shaley]

Yeah Snow, That's a good question. What's going to make the pump shut off? Tell us more..