Water supply / pressure problems - suggestions?

[Caddyshack]

Hi everyone.. Thank you for the replies. Here are a few answers to some of the questions...

The feed from my the water shutoff to our home is 1 inch. I would guess there is very little change in elevation from the shutoff to my home. It is however almost 1000 feet from the shutoff - it runs the length of my 5 acres property. The shutoff is 400 feet from the main branch - inside a manhole cover buried in a small patch of woods - this is where I connect. So I'm 1400+ feet from the main branch. I don't know why the original homeowner made the connection this way, I suppose it was the only way he could get a commercial water service - for all I know, this may have been what him and his family lived with.

I don't know the exact course of the pipe run and nowhere along the run do I have electric power for boosting pumps.

I've worked the valve at the shutoff several times, doesn't seem to be a hangup there. I pulled the pressure regulator off in the house thinking I might have a strainer clogged and that made no difference with the system.

The house plumbing is cvpc and is about 19 years old - I haven't had a plumber in to look at it as yet.

I will pursue contact with the local fire department, I think that is a great idea. However, I'm new to the neighborhood and have only met neighbors up the road who have their own well systems - I will have to check with my other neighbors to see if they have pressure problems.

I will contact the water authority again. They will not however promise service without outages. Frankly, I'm tired of going to work without a shower - my coworkers don't like it either.. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Thanks... Ron

 

[_RaT_]

Therein could well be the problem. Let's take for example you install 100' of sch 40 PVC pipe. For every 100' of length with a 10 gpm flow, you loose 30.5 psi in 1/2" pipe, 7.77 psi in 3/4", 2.40 psi in 1" and .30 in 1.5" . If your line is 1000' long and its 1" sch 40 PVC your pressure loss from friction is 24psi. As the GPM goes up the pressure loss grows substantially. If you used 1.5" sch PVC it would be 3 psi. Go to this link to figure your own values based on your pipe size and material. Friction loss (pdf files)

PS. Look at the difference in friction loss between similar size SCH 40 PVC and SCH 40 steel pipe, almost double or more.

 

[NY_Yankees_Fan]

Ron,

I see a tractor with a backhoe in your future /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gifto replace that 1 inch pipe with a larger pipe say 2 inch or 2.5 inch. If you get a water flow test at the street you can then calculate the loss and figure what size pipe you need. Do not forget to add in the height of the house .433 per foot of rise and also elbows and tees to the lengths of pipe. I would say would should have a flow of 10-15 gpm at about 25-30 psi so you can shower and flush at the same time.

 

[_RaT_]

Do you guys ever use trenchers? If we can get a ride on trencher, we typically go that route for speed and cleaness. I know back there you need to bury things deep.

 

[NY_Yankees_Fan]

Rat,

In NJ water mains for domestic feeds must be 3' feet down and fire protection water mains 4'6".

 

[Harleymsn]

Caddy, I agree with NY Yankees fan about having them check the valves. When we moved into our present house a number of years back, the water dept guy came out, dug out the valve cover at the street, rammed the rod into the ground and 'opened the valve'. Our pressure was really low. After complaining for a week, they finally sent another guy out, who actually found the valve and turned it open, instead of turning the dirt near to the valve.

 

[dbelisle]

You may want to have the pressure checked at you location .
if you have good pressure , ( 40 pounds or above ) it might be a obstruction, a valve not fully open, or your piping may to small. Either way a booster pump would help.

I have installed jet pump systems on a number of homes that are high up on the water system and have low pressure or low volume.

You can pick up a jet pump system with tank and pressure switch all assembled at one of the big box home supply stores for a few hundred dollars.

It has solved the problem your are describing for a number of people.
I just installed one for a customer that he had picked up at HD last week.

Dave in NH

 

[_RaT_]

I think it's a given that with the distances he mentions, his pipe is much to small. If the pipe is steel, its even worse. Some might think it's strange to install a 2" PVC pipe as a supply for a home that might use 10 to 15 gpm at most, but if keeping the friction loss and therefore pressure drop down, it's what you do. Rat...

 

[NY_Yankees_Fan]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( The feed from my the water shutoff to our home is 1 inch. I would guess there is very little change in elevation from the shutoff to my home. It is however almost 1000 feet from the shutoff - it runs the length of my 5 acres property. The shutoff is 400 feet from the main branch - inside a manhole cover buried in a small patch of woods - this is where I connect. So I'm 1400+ feet from the main branch. )</font>

I think he is going to have to replace the entire 1500 feet of pipe. 400 feet from the street to the manhole is a long way to go and expect any flow. Then again if he has 120 psi in the street, he maybe OK /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif. Got to start with a water flow test or at least find out what the static pressure is in the street.

I hope he lets us know what the end result was. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[ByronBob]

When I had public water installed in my old home the W/A asked what type of material I was going to use. I said plastic and they told me 1" was required for only 80 feet. My neighbor behind me was 600 feet from the water line and he used 2" copper line.
Like Rat mentioned. The line is way too small for that distance. Your system isn't plugged. The law of water limits are your issues.