- Joined
- Apr 2, 2007
- Threads
- 20
- Messages
- 192
- Location
- Heart of the Alaska Range
- Website
- www.denalihwy.com
200 miles to town - each way - means that I do virtually all the plumbing, electric, construction and mechanical work around here. Occasionally I get in over my head, however. Perhaps there is a Mudder with enough plumbing background to give some direction here?
I need to alter fairly significantly my waterworks. Effectively, I need to bring all my separately-pressurized units together and have all my systems emanate from a single pressure tank.
Here is what I have to work with:
* a well & well pump that is adequate for my combined needs
* a pressure tank in the house/office.
* (shortly to be installed) dcw AND dhw lines - 1" diam each - to all units
What I need to do is enhance the pressure tank. At present, it is a 42-gallon tank: fairly standard for a single house, at least around here. I am looking to achieve the following two goals:
1) diminish the # of cycles the well pump sees, and
2) provide adequate pressurization for as many as SIX simultaneous showers/toilet flushes/etc.
Now, the former is a fine goal for any plumbing system, but it is all the more critical here because of the insanely high cost of electricity we see (we are at TWENTY times the national average, at $2.25/kWh - and yes, I am doing $omething about that, as well - but not in this thread). By the way, that immense cost is one reason I have zero interest in going the route of a cycle-stop valve to achieve my goal.
My tanks, like others in this region, are NOT "modern" bladder-style units, but the older galvanized steel tanks. I intend to keep that route: first, I like the way I never have to deal with "waterlogged" tanks, but more importantly, we have frozen ground approximately eight months out of the year, and this older technology's system of air-release + snifter valve to drain the well line after every cycle means, again, one less headache for me to contend with.
OK, that's background. Now the question: can I easily place in series two or more tanks? I have the real estate in my water-room sufficient to add either an 82-gallon or 120-gallon pressure tank. But I don't see any reason to abandon the otherwise fine extant 42-gallon unit. Have I any problems simply joining - without even a check valve, I should think - that second tank? If so, need I - MUST I - add the normally requisite air-release float onto that second tank? Obviously, there can be only one snifter valve - thus if I keep the existing tank it will stay right where it is.
I know that ideally, the location - that is, depth in the well - of the snifter's "release valve" is supposed to be a function of the size of the pressure tank. In practice, however, around here we just drill a weep hole in the well pipe a few feet above the well pump and call that good. So, unless I hear some incontrovertible reason why that parameter must be exactly followed, I think we can ignore any change there.
Are there other items I have to concern myself with?
I need to alter fairly significantly my waterworks. Effectively, I need to bring all my separately-pressurized units together and have all my systems emanate from a single pressure tank.
Here is what I have to work with:
* a well & well pump that is adequate for my combined needs
* a pressure tank in the house/office.
* (shortly to be installed) dcw AND dhw lines - 1" diam each - to all units
What I need to do is enhance the pressure tank. At present, it is a 42-gallon tank: fairly standard for a single house, at least around here. I am looking to achieve the following two goals:
1) diminish the # of cycles the well pump sees, and
2) provide adequate pressurization for as many as SIX simultaneous showers/toilet flushes/etc.
Now, the former is a fine goal for any plumbing system, but it is all the more critical here because of the insanely high cost of electricity we see (we are at TWENTY times the national average, at $2.25/kWh - and yes, I am doing $omething about that, as well - but not in this thread). By the way, that immense cost is one reason I have zero interest in going the route of a cycle-stop valve to achieve my goal.
My tanks, like others in this region, are NOT "modern" bladder-style units, but the older galvanized steel tanks. I intend to keep that route: first, I like the way I never have to deal with "waterlogged" tanks, but more importantly, we have frozen ground approximately eight months out of the year, and this older technology's system of air-release + snifter valve to drain the well line after every cycle means, again, one less headache for me to contend with.
OK, that's background. Now the question: can I easily place in series two or more tanks? I have the real estate in my water-room sufficient to add either an 82-gallon or 120-gallon pressure tank. But I don't see any reason to abandon the otherwise fine extant 42-gallon unit. Have I any problems simply joining - without even a check valve, I should think - that second tank? If so, need I - MUST I - add the normally requisite air-release float onto that second tank? Obviously, there can be only one snifter valve - thus if I keep the existing tank it will stay right where it is.
I know that ideally, the location - that is, depth in the well - of the snifter's "release valve" is supposed to be a function of the size of the pressure tank. In practice, however, around here we just drill a weep hole in the well pipe a few feet above the well pump and call that good. So, unless I hear some incontrovertible reason why that parameter must be exactly followed, I think we can ignore any change there.
Are there other items I have to concern myself with?
).
