So... can you guys help me understand this? You buy a cycle stop valve so that... your well pump has to run twice as much? Basically any time you have more than a glass of water, your well pump is running continuously if you have a tap open?
Just to avoid the 40 to 60 psi swing of a normal pressure tank setup? But then if your power goes out... you have no reserve pressurized water.
What am I missing, this doesn't make any sense to me. I have zero issues with the 40 to 58 psi swing at my house... can hardly notice. Our 40 gallon pressure tank supplies many gallons of water before the well pump has to run one cycle.
Pumps like to run. They are made to run 24/7/365. They last longer when running continuously than when cycling on and off. Again, you can use any size tank you want with a CSV. But normally any larger than 10 gallon size is just wasting money and space. Your 40 gallon tank holds 10 gallons of water. Without a Cycle Stop Valve your pump cycles on/off for every 10 gallons used. For a house that uses 300 gallons a day, that would be 30 cycles per day. The 4.5 gallon size tank with a CSV will cycle the same 30 times a day. A pump can survive a long time with just 30 cycles a day. But turn on a sprinkler, fill a pond or pool, run a drip system, or even have multiple people taking multiple long showers and 30 cycles a day can turn into 300 cycles per day, which isn't good. When running water for a long time the CSV makes the pump keep running, which is good. The CSV turns 300 cycles into 1 cycle, even with the small tank. Your well pump running continuously as long as water is being used is a good thing. I have a stock water well that hasn't turned off in almost 20 years so far. It will last much longer than my house well that has the small tank and cycles 30 times a day. But when I am running my garden drip system or a yard sprinkler, the pump is already running and using water in the house doesn't add a single cycle. So, my pump only cycles 30 times a day when I am not irrigating or using water elsewhere, then it doesn't even cycle once a day. It just stays running until I turn all the water off.
You don't have any "reserve water" in a 40 gallon pressure tank anyway. It would only be full and have 10 gallons in it if it had shut off at 60 PSI just before the power went off. Otherwise you have no control of if having 10 gallons or 1 gallon in it when the power goes off. Murphy's law says it will always be at 41 PSI and only have 1 gallon of water in it when the power goes off. If you want reserve water, put a couple of 5 gallon water jugs in a closet for small amounts and get a generator for long power outages.
You can "hardly notice" the pressure bouncing from 40 to 58 when in the shower because you have never had constant pressure. The difference in strong constant pressure and a 40/60 swing is tremendous. By using a CSV to hold the pressure at a constant 50 the entire time the shower is on, you won't even need soap.
The Cycle Stop Valve is designed to solve all the problems caused by pump cycling. Some of the things destroyed by cycling the pump include the pressure switch, start capacitor, start relay, check valve, pump, motor, as well as other things. Cycling the pump also surges the well, which can stir up sediment and even cause contamination issues. Cycling the pump causes sprinklers to shoot out far and then close, instead of hitting the right spot every time around, as well as pressure fluctuation in the house and shower. If you are not having any of these problems, you don't need a Cycle Stop Valve. But then again, why would you not want a Cycle Stop Valve and never have to experience these problems?
It is one of those things that if you have never tried it, you don't know what you are missing. If you don't like it for any reason I will take it back. But in 30 years no one has ever sent one back. The CSV is an easy adder to a 40 gallon size tank. That way you get the best of both worlds. But is a short time you will come to understand the 40 gallon tank is 10 times larger than needed with a CSV.
