1gpm well for irrigation

[Reach4]

A 300 gallon tank would easily fit in my mechanical room next to my central air unit. You think a guy with zero experience with the stuff..

Measure door openings!

A conical bottom tank, on a stand, will collect any sediment, so that would be a plus.

 

[Brad Perkins]

Measure door openings!

A conical bottom tank, on a stand, will collect any sediment, so that would be a plus.

I'll go measure today but I think it's 36". My basement is not finished and the wall is not load bearing so I could make a larger one fit if I had to

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Brad Perkins]

You either tee the hydrants off the booster pump, or put another control on the well pump so you can use it directly.

View attachment 52335

With this setup, could you T off between the well pump and first pressure switch? Opening a hydrant would still trigger the switch and turn on the pump right?

Attached a pic of where the tank would go and a pic of where the pressure tank would tie into the manifold. Any issues there?

 

[Valveman]

You can get water storage tanks that will fit through the door. You can gang them together for more capacity if needed.

 

[Brad Perkins]

Are you showing a 2 wire or 3 wire pump setup?

 

[Valveman]

Are you showing a 2 wire or 3 wire pump setup?

It is the same. You would just need to add a control box for a 3 wire system.

 

[Brad Perkins]

I've been doing some reading and the water isn't quite so muddy anymore but still have a couple questions.

Would I need a dole valve to slow the rate of flow to the cistern to help project the well pump from cycling or would it be ok with a 7 gpm pump since it would run about 25-30 min with a full well? Then a cycle sensor would protect the pump from running dry correct? Now does that cycle sensor have a feature that commands it to not power the pump again for say 3 hours once a dry condition is detected?

Now I'm still unclear how I can get water pressure to outside hydrants. With a float sensor triggering the well pump and a PK1A setup triggering the cistern pump, I'd have to T off the PK1A and run another pipe outside but I don't really want to drill 2 holes in my basement wall. Now in another diagram I see 2 PK1As in the system.. 1 before and 1 after the cistern. What has me confused is why I couldn't T off between the 1st PK1A and the well pump outside so that I only need 1 pipe going in my basement. See pic

 

[Valveman]

I wouldn't use a Dole valve. Just let the Cycle Sensor turn the pump on/off if needed to protect from dry run, until the float switch is up. The restart delay in the Cycle Sensor can be set to turn the pump back on from 1 minute to 5 hours as needed.

You can install hydrants on the well pump anywhere after the PK1A kit. If you want to tee off before the line comes in the basement, you will need to put the CSV before the hydrant. We make a CSV125 to fit in the well for times like this. Then you would use the PK125 on the well pump so the CSV can be in the well. The manifold and tank can still go in the basement. You just need the PK125 kit for the well pump and the PK1A for the booster.

 

[Brad Perkins]

I wouldn't use a Dole valve. Just let the Cycle Sensor turn the pump on/off if needed to protect from dry run, until the float switch is up. The restart delay in the Cycle Sensor can be set to turn the pump back on from 1 minute to 5 hours as needed.

You can install hydrants on the well pump anywhere after the PK1A kit. If you want to tee off before the line comes in the basement, you will need to put the CSV before the hydrant. We make a CSV125 to fit in the well for times like this. Then you would use the PK125 on the well pump so the CSV can be in the well. The manifold and tank can still go in the basement. You just need the PK125 kit for the well pump and the PK1A for the booster.

That's prefect. So do you or anyone else have pump recommendations? In the event I want a sprinkler system in the future, I'm thinking a 10 gpm well pump to run up to 3 heads per zone and still hit 20 min run time to fill the cistern and then for the house probably a 5 gpm to supply up to 2 people showering at a time or a faucet and appliances. I'll see a pressure drop if my demand exceeds the gpm rate on the pump correct?

 

[Valveman]

A 3/4HP, 10 GPM sub down the well like a 10GS07 or a 10S07-12. Then either a 1/2HP, 10 GPM sub or a J7S jet pump as a booster.

 

[Brad Perkins]

A 3/4HP, 10 GPM sub down the well like a 10GS07 or a 10S07-12. Then either a 1/2HP, 10 GPM sub or a J7S jet pump as a booster.

In doing a search I find the pump you are referring to but then I see it with a motor too. I'm assuming I'll need that with the motor. Now should I care going with a 2 wire or 3 wire? The price looks to be the same.

 

[Valveman]

Three wire needs a control box, two wire does not. I prefer the three wire, but won't make much difference.

 

[Brad Perkins]

Ok, last big question from me. I think I'm getting this figured out. Would I really need a Cycle Sensor on the cistern pump in the pic? If the cistern capacity exceeds my daily water usage plus the float switch would kick on to refill the cistern well before it's run dry... I think I'd never run the cistern dry. Now if the well goes dry or the well pump stops supplying water then all bets are off. But would there be a simpler safety switch that I could use since the chance of the cistern running dry is pretty small... Such as the low pressure cutoff switch? I'm trying to save a little money in some places. I figure I can always add a PK125 on the well later if/when I add irrigation. For now I can use the facets on the house for most of my watering needs.

 

[Reach4]

Ok, last big question from me. I think I'm getting this figured out. Would I really need a Cycle Sensor on the cistern pump in the pic? If the cistern capacity exceeds my daily water usage plus the float switch would kick on to refill the cistern well before it's run dry... I think I'd never run the cistern dry. Now if the well goes dry or the well pump stops supplying water then all bets are off. But would there be a simpler safety switch that I could use since the chance of the cistern running dry is pretty small... Such as the low pressure cutoff switch? I'm trying to save a little money in some places.

Your logic is sound. You could use a float switch, or you could keep an eye on it.

You could also use a cheaper, but imperfect, low-pressure cutoff pressure switch. Those lock off if the pressure drops to about 10 psi below the cut-on pressure, and you need to use a lever to manually get it going again. It is possible that that switch might let the pump run for long periods when out of water if you stop using water during that condition.

 

[Valveman]

You can also use another float switch at the bottom of the storage tank. A "pump down" float switch at the bottom of the tank will shut the booster pump off if the storage tank runs dry, same as a Cycle Sensor will.

 

[Brad Perkins]

You guys have been a huge help so thank you for the insight. I'm really wanting to utilize the well. My family and few friends are giving me crap because I didn't have the well witched and blame that as the reason for my situation. Many wells in my area produce a much more water than 1 gpm and basically consider it a dry hole. I'm going to show them it's not a compete loss and besides I wasn't excited about having to spend another $6k on rural water.

 

[Valveman]

I have a well that only makes 9/10s of a GPM. It is supplying 2 houses, and they can use water anyway they want. There is a company called Wellmanager that can make a well with a quart a minute supply a house.

 

[Brad Perkins]

Any reason why this tank wouldn't work? I know it's not 300 gallons but I couldn't find one that offer this much flexibly for mounting the pump. Also what size pipe and type of pipe should I use? 1 inch schedule 40? Talking about from the cistern pump to the pressure tank. Then from the pump to the house run 1 inch poly... Same as the pump. Add a shutoff valve in my basement and run pvc again from there to the tank.

Now the tricky part is the float switch. Does anybody have a picture or diagram how to install those? And the pump down float... Any diagram showing how to wire that up? Something I can show the electrician because this isn't going to be something that see everyday. Thanks!

 

[Valveman]

That tank will work. Sch 4o is OK. A bucket with a little cement holding a piece of PVC pipe is what I use to mount the float switches to. You just need a pump up and a pump down on the same pipe to make that work. The Pump down switch just wire in series with the pressure switch. That way the float switch has to be in the up position before the pressure switch gets any power to work with.

 

[Brad Perkins]

That tank will work. Sch 4o is OK. A bucket with a little cement holding a piece of PVC pipe is what I use to mount the float switches to. You just need a pump up and a pump down on the same pipe to make that work. The Pump down switch just wire in series with the pressure switch. That way the float switch has to be in the up position before the pressure switch gets any power to work with.

View attachment 52401

Why not mount the float switches to the sub?