plowhog
Elite Member
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2015
- Messages
- 3,042
- Location
- North. NV, North. CA
- Tractor
- Massey 1710 / 1758, Ventrac 4500Y / TD9
First of all, sorry to learn of your drought conditions. I'm dealing with the same in CA-- creating similar although different questions and problems.
- Why do you believe you get more GPM "coming through the pressure tank?" If i read this correctly, the "pressure tank" is your bladder tank that is part of the well system. It's purpose is not to increase pressure; in fact, it can't do that. Its purpose is to limit rapid cycling of the well pump, so it doesn't constantly turn on and off. If you don't "run thru the house" for more pressure, where is that other connection? A yard hose bib?
- fyi, pressure is rated in PSI, and volume is rated in GPM. They are different things, although related. You might consider adding some inexpensive pressure (PSI) gauges to your system. Most likely there is already one right at your well head or near your pressure tank. You could probably go look at it now and see the exact pressure of your system. You can also get inexpensive PSI gauges that screw onto hose bibs. Then you could compare PSI at your well (the source) and at the garden (or nearby hose bib) to see if they are similar or different.
- fyi your well pump likely has a "cut-in" and "cut-out" pressure setting. Commonly, a well pump will cut in at 40psi, and cut out at 60psi.
- I'm unclear about using sprinklers to water your garden. How large (in dimensions) is your garden, and is this how you normally water it? (A few photos would help ...) Knowing this answer is kind of key as typical sprinklers are going to require reasonable / good pressure, and gpm, whereas if you can gravity flow water or use lower PSI drip irrigation then that opens some more options.
Apologies for so many questions, but the more info at hand the better answers to provide. Again, I sympathize with the problems induced by drought and I have been fighting the same battles as you. This year is a significant drought. Not too long ago we have 4 consecutive years of drought.
Q- why avoid using the well? Using it seems a lot simpler than hauling or pumping water from 500 feet away? Are you worried about maybe pumping it dry, and if so, do you know the well recharge rate?I have been watering from our well sparingly to keep things alive but I don't want to do that too much.
Q- how big is the pond, and could you theoretically make it go dry if you start taking a lot of water from it?I have a decent size pond with relatively clean water and it has never gone dry.
Q- I tried doing this to irrigate our recently planted apple trees this year. Although I hauled the 275 gallon tank and expected to use it with gravity flow to the trees, which turned out to be quite stupid given that it took forever to gravity flow the water out of the tank through a hose. Yes this involves a lot of effort to fill, haul, and empty the tank. Even if you approach it more wisely than I did.repurpose a 275 gallon water tank that I can put on my trailer, pump that full in just a minute or two, and then haul to the gardens where I can use a small electric pump to distribute it. Obviously less work overall but more time consuming going back and forth.
The above generates a lot of questions:I am pretty confident that I'd still be left with way more pressure than I currently have off of our well head, which is only doing like 5 GPM. If I run thru the house I get better pressure because I'm coming thru the pressure tank first, but I bet it still not more than 10 GPM. At that pressure, three sprinklers will already cover the garden.
- Why do you believe you get more GPM "coming through the pressure tank?" If i read this correctly, the "pressure tank" is your bladder tank that is part of the well system. It's purpose is not to increase pressure; in fact, it can't do that. Its purpose is to limit rapid cycling of the well pump, so it doesn't constantly turn on and off. If you don't "run thru the house" for more pressure, where is that other connection? A yard hose bib?
- fyi, pressure is rated in PSI, and volume is rated in GPM. They are different things, although related. You might consider adding some inexpensive pressure (PSI) gauges to your system. Most likely there is already one right at your well head or near your pressure tank. You could probably go look at it now and see the exact pressure of your system. You can also get inexpensive PSI gauges that screw onto hose bibs. Then you could compare PSI at your well (the source) and at the garden (or nearby hose bib) to see if they are similar or different.
- fyi your well pump likely has a "cut-in" and "cut-out" pressure setting. Commonly, a well pump will cut in at 40psi, and cut out at 60psi.
- I'm unclear about using sprinklers to water your garden. How large (in dimensions) is your garden, and is this how you normally water it? (A few photos would help ...) Knowing this answer is kind of key as typical sprinklers are going to require reasonable / good pressure, and gpm, whereas if you can gravity flow water or use lower PSI drip irrigation then that opens some more options.
Apologies for so many questions, but the more info at hand the better answers to provide. Again, I sympathize with the problems induced by drought and I have been fighting the same battles as you. This year is a significant drought. Not too long ago we have 4 consecutive years of drought.