Good head

[AlanM]

Question for the plumbers out there,
I have my own well which is about 150m from the house and about the same level. I have a hill behind the house and was wondering about the relationship between head height and water pressure.
My options are to store water in my basement and pressurise it from there for the house with a pressure vessel
or, install a tank up the hill and pump the water from the well up to it and let gravity do the work. Question is what height equals a decent pressure ?

 Alan

[Amy]

I clicked on this real quick but its just another plumbing question 

Oh well.

Store water under the house you say? Have you read the post re flooding?

seriously, why dont you leave the water where it lives and pump it in? That way you get the pressure you want without the mess AND you still have the gravity option when the mains fails

Anyway, its Miss Good Head to you in future please. 

[AlanM]

Thought that title might tempt you in

I'm not worried about flooding, my house is at 1000', and i don't have any mains. I am above the reservoir! What i was trying to avoid was having the pump switch on and off every time i turn a tap, hence some form of storage

[dhaslam]

It is usual to use a pressure vessel but I think they can make some noise.

http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/plumbing/well/pressure_tank/replace.htm

http://www.pump.co.uk/shop/BoosterSets/PressureVessels/d9/sd32?code=022-554

[Alan]

Quote “ Question is what height equals a decent pressure ? “

One pound per square inch is equal to 27.679 inches of water.

You incoming water pressure on the water main is about 35 / 50 pounds per square inch.

50 pounds per square inch requires the bottom of the tank to be 115.3 feet higher than the tap.

Obviously you could live with less pressure than that at the taps.

25 ft ( Approx height of a tank in a two story house ) gives a reasonable flow in the down stairs taps when used with 22mm pipe / fittings.

Regards

Alan

[daftlad]

They use pressure tanks alot in France in rural areas that have no mains.
The pressure switch on then is usually set for around 2 bar which is equivelent to 20 meters head, which means the pressure will vary between 1.5 and 2.5 bar,
To be honest us Britishers tend to not mind less water pressure because we are used to loft tanks, the only thing is the shower, and pipes can be smaller with more pressure meaning less heat loss.
Not a plumber but know a bit about French rural plumbing.
Less to go wrong with a tank up the hill as well.
laters

[billi]

I have my own well which is about 150m from the house and about the same level.

so would it gravity flow ?

we have a similar thread going here http://www.navitron.org.uk/forum/index.php/topic,7302.0.html

I personally like these pressurised  tanks called wellmate  or so  to  let the Pump just run occasionally  during the day  and have a pressurised store

But thats me off grid   to avoid start up loads of pump ;fridge; etc in parallel

Billi

[desperate]

Hi all

10m head = 1bar 20m head = 2bar etc

Desp

[AlanM]

thanks for the replies folk. 
Billi, Yes the water would flow to the basement of the house.
 I do like the idea of a pressurised tank in the basement, wheras the tank up the hill has less to go wrong ( ) unless of course ice forms, which it does, occasionally.

I had thought that mains pressure is about 2-3 bar, is that correct? If using a tank, what would be a sensible size,
(space is not a problem).

[Brandon]

a weeks supply?

A tank big enough to swim in?

The options are endless.

[Shay]

A pressurised vessel comes as standard for any bored well around our parts other wise a dripping tap could start the pump off.
My one is only about 57Litres I think.
http://www.wellmate.com/products_comptec.htm

[Justme]

Mine is 18L if I remember right.

We have a borehole pump the feeds a storage tank that gravity feeds a booster pump with pressure vessel in line with the supply to the taps. Small amounts are delt with by the storage & then  when the pressure falls the pump comes online to stabilise the flow / pressure. When the taps closed the pump runs on represurising the tank for next time.

Works well & was cheep enough to install.

Justme