Theeplaymaker
New Member
Hello all, I have been doing a lot of reading on intermediate storage and have decided that it is the right option for my home and the issues I have experienced here the last few months. I am looking to just clear up a few things so that I can be as ready to go as possible when the tank arrives. I'll start with my situation.
I bought the home 2 years ago and the previous owners didn't really know a lot about the property since they bought it at auction and were only there for 2 years. It has 3 wells on the property 2 that are plumbed into the home. The one that was hooked up when I moved in is in the pump room in my basement. The other 2 are out in the yard. I am not sure if there is anything even in the 1 because there is only 1 pipe coming in from outside.
1 year ago Pump 1 in the basement stopped working when I was doing a load of laundry (old style center agitator type washer that uses over 35 gallons a load, we just received our new HE front loader (12 gallons a load) yesterday since that same washer seemed to dry up both wells). I left it for dead after doing some test and hooked up Pump 2 that worked fine for the past year with no issues. I had done 2-3 loads of laundry in a row and also had 2-3 people shower in a row at times with no issues until the day before I was going on my honeymoon. Pump 2 stopped working when I was doing a load of laundry. I called a company and they determined it was something wrong with it and decided to replace Pump 1 in the basement that originally ran dry/died 2 years ago. This worked fine for about 3 weeks and then bam, doing laundry again and I lost pressure. Let Pump 1 sit over night and it pumped up to 50 psi the next morning and never got to 60psi. I decided to switch back to Pump 2 that I thought died 3 weeks before and now I have been using that one fine for the past 3 weeks. We decided to replace the washer though and haven't used it since.
Pump 1 (3/4 HP 7gpm Goulds) is set at 316' and the well they guessed is 350'+ (no markings anywhere to know for sure.) Unknown recovery rate (thought about dropping it an extra 15-20')
Pump 2 is set at 380' and the well is 400' - 1/2 GPM (I'm guessing it's a 1 HP since it draws about 10 amps.)
I also have a cistern with a 1/2 HP jet pump but I don't trust it for my water usage only use it to wash cars/outside things
Neighbor told me this property has always had water issues. So now onto my plan and I know not all the Pro's on here agree with intermediate storage but I figured if I sell the place I'll have to disclose the well issues anyways so that will explain the tank.
I ordered another 1/2 HP jet pump and a 165 gallon storage tank. I plan to run the 2 wells into the tank to keep it topped off and then run the jet pump to supply the pressure in the home. I have a dirt floor pump room in the corner of my basement where this will all be installed in, out of sight and once the door is replaced hopefully less noisy. I am planning on reusing my V140 pressure tank. I also have a sediment filter and then UV light but I plan on throwing some calcium hypochlorite mixture in the tank at regular intervals as well.
My big questions are with controlling the 2 well pumps that will supply the storage tank. I went to school for electrical and my dad is an electrician so we have an idea of what we want to do but I wanted to hear what the pro's have to say. I want to use 1 float to control the pumps but I also want protection incase one runs dry. I am guessing I'll have to get a CSV for each pump. I know this is a long post but hopefully someone can confirm or help me devise a good plan to keep the storage tank full and if there is anything else about anything I said that doesn't sound right. I have looked into hydro fracking but at this time I decided on a storage system.
Once again sorry for the novel and thanks for any opinions!
I bought the home 2 years ago and the previous owners didn't really know a lot about the property since they bought it at auction and were only there for 2 years. It has 3 wells on the property 2 that are plumbed into the home. The one that was hooked up when I moved in is in the pump room in my basement. The other 2 are out in the yard. I am not sure if there is anything even in the 1 because there is only 1 pipe coming in from outside.
1 year ago Pump 1 in the basement stopped working when I was doing a load of laundry (old style center agitator type washer that uses over 35 gallons a load, we just received our new HE front loader (12 gallons a load) yesterday since that same washer seemed to dry up both wells). I left it for dead after doing some test and hooked up Pump 2 that worked fine for the past year with no issues. I had done 2-3 loads of laundry in a row and also had 2-3 people shower in a row at times with no issues until the day before I was going on my honeymoon. Pump 2 stopped working when I was doing a load of laundry. I called a company and they determined it was something wrong with it and decided to replace Pump 1 in the basement that originally ran dry/died 2 years ago. This worked fine for about 3 weeks and then bam, doing laundry again and I lost pressure. Let Pump 1 sit over night and it pumped up to 50 psi the next morning and never got to 60psi. I decided to switch back to Pump 2 that I thought died 3 weeks before and now I have been using that one fine for the past 3 weeks. We decided to replace the washer though and haven't used it since.
Pump 1 (3/4 HP 7gpm Goulds) is set at 316' and the well they guessed is 350'+ (no markings anywhere to know for sure.) Unknown recovery rate (thought about dropping it an extra 15-20')
Pump 2 is set at 380' and the well is 400' - 1/2 GPM (I'm guessing it's a 1 HP since it draws about 10 amps.)
I also have a cistern with a 1/2 HP jet pump but I don't trust it for my water usage only use it to wash cars/outside things
Neighbor told me this property has always had water issues. So now onto my plan and I know not all the Pro's on here agree with intermediate storage but I figured if I sell the place I'll have to disclose the well issues anyways so that will explain the tank.
I ordered another 1/2 HP jet pump and a 165 gallon storage tank. I plan to run the 2 wells into the tank to keep it topped off and then run the jet pump to supply the pressure in the home. I have a dirt floor pump room in the corner of my basement where this will all be installed in, out of sight and once the door is replaced hopefully less noisy. I am planning on reusing my V140 pressure tank. I also have a sediment filter and then UV light but I plan on throwing some calcium hypochlorite mixture in the tank at regular intervals as well.
My big questions are with controlling the 2 well pumps that will supply the storage tank. I went to school for electrical and my dad is an electrician so we have an idea of what we want to do but I wanted to hear what the pro's have to say. I want to use 1 float to control the pumps but I also want protection incase one runs dry. I am guessing I'll have to get a CSV for each pump. I know this is a long post but hopefully someone can confirm or help me devise a good plan to keep the storage tank full and if there is anything else about anything I said that doesn't sound right. I have looked into hydro fracking but at this time I decided on a storage system.
Once again sorry for the novel and thanks for any opinions!