Gauges...

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Cliffyk

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Hello all,

Today I installed small (1.5") gauges at the inlet and outlet of my water softener so that I might monitor the pressure drop across the unit. I had had these installed before i replaced the control valve, however that pair were poorly matched, one reading 4 psi higher than the other, and with my anal retentive nature it had always bothered me--so I chucked them along with the old control¹ and got a new pair from Amazon (a whopping $7.61 each).

As often occurs, whenever he hears me clunking around, my neighbor (a retired general contractor) came over to watch and drink some of my beer. He was surprised by the manner in which I installed the gauges (see photos). Specifically that i simply drilled and tapped 1/8" NPT holes into a couple of the 1" PVC ells and screwed in the gauges with a bit of PTFE paste--it may not be "up" to someone's code, but I've been doing it for at least 15 years with never a problem.

I do always do this at a connector to go through the "double" wall, and I have never done it any larger than 1/8" NPT.

Have others done this?

Guages-00.jpg


While "taking" gauges, I saw in a thread here recently a recommendation for using a vacuum gauge at the suction line for a shallow well pump. I have always done this as it can provide a wealth of information about the pump and well's performance and condition, including early indications of potential problems.

I find a combination vacuum/pressure guage to be best; here's my current setup installed into the gauge port of our 1 HP Pentair pump. A liquid filled gauge is best for this application as it will dampen oscillations (in the suction mostly).

at rest:
InletGauge-01.jpg


pumping:
InletGauge-00.jpg


BTW, after accounting for frictional and other losses while "pulling" from an active well, 1 inHg is very close to 1ft H₂O, a close indicator of from how deep you are sucking water. (to be exact 1 inHg = 1.1329 ft H₂O).

So, in the above photo I am drawing water from 21 ft. or so...
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¹ - The old control was a Carnature 8900 series P.O.S that I got tired of rebuilding every 6 months. I replaced it with a Clack WS1 (The softener is a Pelican PT3 we got a 3-1/2 years ago.)
 

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