Water supply line to house with well pressure tank Qs

C4Ranch · Jan 28, 2014

Here's the situation, existing house has 2 1.5k gal water tanks feeding house with small pressure tank and 3/4 hp pump.

I just drilled a well that's down the hill about 250'. Guessing the hill has around 20-30' elevation.

As you can see from the picture, it looks like my best option for trenching the pipe is up the road or in the existing culvert. Questions:
1. Should I run the line up the culvert or road? Getting a trencher in the culvert looks complicated. But if I trench in the road, do I risk ongoing erosion issues? We do get below freezing, tonight it's gonna be 16 so I want to go down at least a foot or two.
2. What size and type of line should I use? 1" or 3/4".. PVC or pex? Will one deliver more pressure over the other?
3. Are there any water pressure issues going up the 20-30' in elevation? I plan on having a pressure tank at the bottom of the hill by the well head and plumb into the small one up top also. Will keep the storage tanks via shutoff valve as backup.

Tia!

J

amaxwell · Jan 28, 2014

C4Ranch said:
Here's the situation, existing house has 2 1.5k gal water tanks feeding house with small pressure tank and 3/4 hp pump.

I just drilled a well that's down the hill about 250'. Guessing the hill has around 20-30' elevation.

As you can see from the picture, it looks like my best option for trenching the pipe is up the road or in the existing culvert. Questions:
1. Should I run the line up the culvert or road? Getting a trencher in the culvert looks complicated. But if I trench in the road, do I risk ongoing erosion issues? We do get below freezing, tonight it's gonna be 16 so I want to go down at least a foot or two.
2. What size and type of line should I use? 1" or 3/4".. PVC or pex? Will one deliver more pressure over the other?
3. Are there any water pressure issues going up the 20-30' in elevation? I plan on having a pressure tank at the bottom of the hill by the well head and plumb into the small one up top also. Will keep the storage tanks via shutoff valve as backup.

Tia!

J

I am not a plumber or have a lot of experience in this ,but I would think you should not use the pressure tank until the water is at the top. Most tanks operate at 40 to 60 # pressure, and I think it would drop a lot by the time it reaches the top with that pressure.I would use the larger size pipe to get better flow.Hope a expert chimes in to advise you.

Raspy · Jan 28, 2014

I'd use 1"sch 40 PVC or, better yet, 1" black poly pipe rated for 200 PSI. It's excellent stuff. But you need to know the flow rate of the pump from the well to the tank to know what size for sure. If you use PEX you'll have to convert to another pipe before exiting the ground or find another way to protect it from UV.

Lay it at about 3' deep. 2' might freeze.

The pressure change by elevation is 2.3 feet =1 PSI

The road area is not always the best place to run pipes because there will be road work later and if you need a shutoff it will have to be in a meter box or someplace where it won't get damaged by erosion, traffic or other road work. But if it's best for routing, and access with the trencher, it might be the best place. Just keep it deep. I eventually started putting all my lines deeper than 3' and have no worries about road work or freezing. You can also put a red warning tape about a foot above the pipe as you fill, or route a wire that can be used later for tracing.

farmer2009 · Jan 30, 2014

If I understand you correctly the two pressure tanks you are talking about are going to be on the same line and pump. The problem with putting them that far apart is you need your pressure gauge to be as close to center of the two tanks as possible. Other wise you will under/over fill one tank and the pump will shut off. Either you won't be getting all your storage potential or you will be over stretching the bladder with can lead to early failure. I would put the tanks at the top of the hill together and the switch in the middle.

As far as the pipe I would use atleast a 1" PVC sch 40 or 1" black pipe. And install it on the edge of the road. If this is not possible and it must put in the road then I would add a 2" DWV pipe as a casing to stop the gravel from getting pushed through the pipe.

flusher · Jan 30, 2014

So the bottom of the well is 250 ft below grade. Total elevation from bottom of well to house is 270-280 ft. You need to determine the level of the water in the well and then hang the pump halfway between the top of the water level and the bottom of the well. For example, my well is 154 ft deep, the water level is 90 ft below ground level and the 1.5 hp pump is at 120 ft.

I'd put the pressure tank near your house and set the regulator for 60-70 psi. A 270-280 ft head is not that different from 250 ft of head if you put the tank near the well. The pump won't know the difference.

I'd put the trench down the middle of the road to make it easy to dig with your TLB. 36" depth, 1" PVC or black plastic, run the water pipe inside a 2" plastic electrical conduit to protect it. Lay a length of insulated copper wire along the pipe and bring the end of the wire out of the ground near the pressure tank so you can find the pipe for any future repair work.

Good luck.

speedbump · Jan 30, 2014

Keep in mind that driving over a road will push frost much lower than normal. I don't know how cold it gets where you are. So you would know better than I what the frost depth is.

You didn't say anything about your well or the pumping equipment, so I can't comment on that other than the 30' elevation difference is 13 lbs of loss. The one inch sch 40 or poly at 10 gpm will cost you 12 lbs. That's a total of 25 lbs. I would jump up to 1-1/4" pipe for the 250' of distance.

It doesn't matter where your tanks are as long as the pressure switch is with one of them. And with bladder tanks, bigger is always better.

Gary Fowler · Jan 30, 2014

My brother in laws house is fed from the same water system that I am on (his water meter is in my front yard) but his house is over 400 feet from the meter. We have 100 PSI at the meter and his 1" line runs down into a bit of a valley and them back up the other side. He has excellent water pressure and plenty of flow to run a 10 head sprinkler system in addition to his house use. I don't think you need more than a one inch line unless you plan to use something requiring the full pump capacity and even then the 1" line may handle all your pump can produce. If you have a submersible pump, it should produce plenty of head pressure to push the water up to the top of the hill so you can install your pressurized holding tanks.

As for how to run you line, run it so it will never interfere with any future digging work. If that is in the middle of the road, so be it. Back fill and tamp well and put back a good rock surface to prevent washing of the dirt. Putting in a locating wire would be a good thing also. BIL didn't do that and we had a bit of a time finding the lines when he wanted to add on some more hydrant locations.

charlz · Jan 30, 2014

Don't guess on the pipe size, get your pump spec, pick a pipe material type and size the line accordingly. Bigger is generally better. I would use a couple of check valves. Should be one at the top of your pump and I would possibly add one at the top of the well and at least one where the line coming from the well comes into the pressure tank/switch.

turnkey4099 · Jan 30, 2014

charlz said:
Don't guess on the pipe size, get your pump spec, pick a pipe material type and size the line accordingly. Bigger is generally better. I would use a couple of check valves. Should be one at the top of your pump and I would possibly add one at the top of the well and at least one where the line coming from the well comes into the pressure tank/switch.

I have seen the recommendation to use check valves before. What purpose do they serve? The one at the pump holds all water above it unless it leaks. I can see another at the top of the well _in case_ the pump one leaks. That would keep one from having to pull the pump.

Harry K

C4Ranch · Jan 30, 2014

Great info, thank you for your help! I haven't had a pump installed yet, had to save some money after drilling 320' deep. Driller said he was getting about 10-15gpm.

I guess I should get the pump installed to spec the pipe diamater before running the plumbing?

Wondering if I even need a pressure tank at the bottom, could I just use just the 1 that's already there (bladder type)?

Thanks!
J