2 family well system

[85ray]

Hello, I have a non submersible well that feeds 2 homes the well and well system are attached to 1 house then the 2nd house is about 225' away. Currently there is a 1hp Goulds jet pump above ground and 81 gallon pressure tank pressure switch and a breaker box. This is all in one location for both homes. I just replaced the pump and am wondering do I need anything else like 2 tanks some sort of safety switch incase there is a leaky pipe or something was left on. Or how would someone else design the system? Should I use brass or all PVC fittings currently there is some galvanized fittings I would like to remove and replace.

 

[Valveman]

Sounds kind of dangerous to have two different breakers from two different houses feeding the same pump. You only needed the one tank and pressure switch. The second house just needed to be teed into the water line from the first house and tank. I would use brass fittings within a foot or two of the pump in case you get it hot. Then you can go with PVC everywhere else.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[85ray]

sorry there is only one breaker I'll edit that

 

[Valveman]

One 80 gallon pressure tank is plenty for what you are doing. If that tank goes bad you can replace it with a 4.5 gallon size tank if you add a CSV.

There are some safety devices you can add if you want. A low pressure cut-off pressure switch (M4 feature) will shut the pump off if you have a mainline break and the pressure drops too low. But it won't help with a slow leak or someone just leaving a faucet on.

You can add a Cycle Sensor to detect for rapid cycling from a bad tank or switch. The Cycle Sensor will also detect a dry well condition and shut the pump off before it melts down from running dry.

If you want protection for a leak in the house there are sensors you can place in those areas, which can then shut the pump down.

 

[Texas Wellman]

Ah, I disagree with valveman about using a CSV or an M4 safety switch. If you have a deep well jet pump with a regulator on the pump I would say that a CSV is in-compatible with that type of pump. The reason being that a deep well pump should already have a regulator built in to hold back-pressure on the pump to operate the jet. A jet pump regulator and a CSV regulator work in almost exactly opposite ways. The jet pump regulator controls how much back-pressure is fed to the jet and the CSV controls how much pressure is on the user side. Also, a jet pump doesn't make nearly enough water to warrant a CSV. If a shallow well jet pump then I would say that a CSV will work fine but still not really necessarily.

The M4 switch is more of a nuisance. With a jet pump they cannot make nearly as much water as a submersible and you'll find yourself having to manually hold that lever to get the water pressure back up past the 20-psi cut-off mark. Also, while the safety switch has the pump cut-off you can lose prime to the well if the footvalve or check valve is leaking.

If your tank is one of the old hydro-pneumatic (galvanized air over water tank) then I wouldn't worry about galv. fittings as long as they are screwed into the tank. Never mix galv. and brass (but I have seen galv. nipples screwed into brass valves that lasted a long time). It all depends on the quality of the water really. Drain and air up the tank 2-3 times per year and you should be good.

 

[Valveman]

Ah, I disagree with valveman about using a CSV or an M4 safety switch. If you have a deep well jet pump with a regulator on the pump I would say that a CSV is in-compatible with that type of pump. The reason being that a deep well pump should already have a regulator built in to hold back-pressure on the pump to operate the jet. A jet pump regulator and a CSV regulator work in almost exactly opposite ways. The jet pump regulator controls how much back-pressure is fed to the jet and the CSV controls how much pressure is on the user side. Also, a jet pump doesn't make nearly enough water to warrant a CSV. If a shallow well jet pump then I would say that a CSV will work fine but still not really necessarily.

The M4 switch is more of a nuisance. With a jet pump they cannot make nearly as much water as a submersible and you'll find yourself having to manually hold that lever to get the water pressure back up past the 20-psi cut-off mark. Also, while the safety switch has the pump cut-off you can lose prime to the well if the footvalve or check valve is leaking.

A CSV is compatible with a deep well pump and regulator. Because the CSV and the jet pump backpressure regulator work exactly opposite of each other, they have no effect on each other either. The backpressure regulator will still hold the backpressure needed to make the deep well jet work, while the CSV will still deliver constant pressure downstream of the pump to the user.

I agree depending on the size of the jet pump that it may not produce enough water to make a CSV as useful as it is on larger pumps. But even if the pump only produces 10 GPM, I would not use a really small pressure tank without a CSV.

And yeah I hate M4 pressure switches. You have to go out and hold that lever up to get the water going again after any power outage or other problem. But I still don't know of a better way to shut off the pump in case of a mainline break. It would also be a good thing if the M4 switch shut the pump off when the pump loses prime. But if the foot valve is the only check valve in the system, you won't lose prime. The pump would just cycle even when no water is being used. Either way the foot valve would need to be fixed.

 

[Texas Wellman]

Regulator for the regulator huh?

 

[Texas Wellman]

City water don't shut off when you have a mainline break.

A CSV is compatible with a deep well pump and regulator. Because the CSV and the jet pump backpressure regulator work exactly opposite of each other, they have no effect on each other either. The backpressure regulator will still hold the backpressure needed to make the deep well jet work, while the CSV will still deliver constant pressure downstream of the pump to the user.

I agree depending on the size of the jet pump that it may not produce enough water to make a CSV as useful as it is on larger pumps. But even if the pump only produces 10 GPM, I would not use a really small pressure tank without a CSV.

And yeah I hate M4 pressure switches. You have to go out and hold that lever up to get the water going again after any power outage or other problem. But I still don't know of a better way to shut off the pump in case of a mainline break. It would also be a good thing if the M4 switch shut the pump off when the pump loses prime. But if the foot valve is the only check valve in the system, you won't lose prime. The pump would just cycle even when no water is being used. Either way the foot valve would need to be fixed.

 

[Valveman]

Regulator for the regulator huh?

The backpressure regulator for the jet pump is a pressure sustain regulator that controls upstream pressure just to make the jet work. The CSV regulates the pressure downstream to supply water at a constant pressure to the user and to keep the pump from cycling. Two regulators for two different jobs. They have nothing to do with each other.

 

[Valveman]

City water don't shut off when you have a mainline break.

Agreed. But this is a well pump and the low pressure switch will shut off the water supply if the pressure gets too low.