Know anything about Hughes "Mainline" pressure tanks?

[desertwell]

We need to replace the five pressure tanks connected to our shared well (5 homes). Our current tanks are probably about 10 years old and were manufactured by Wellmate. They've been leaking for years.

We have an opportunity to get a good deal on Mainline tanks (85 gal) from Hughes Supply. There seems to be little information available about this brand online... as far as I can tell, it's the Hughes Supply "generic" brand.

Is anyone familiar with this brand or manufacturer? We would like to know whether these tanks are likely to be good quality or if we should pay more for another brand.

Thanks.

 

[Valveman]

The fact that you said "85 gallon" makes me think these are Flexcon tanks. The reason you need to replace those tanks is because of all the pump cycling that breaks the bladders, which also destroys pumps and everything else. A Cycle Stop Valve and one good tank would do a better job than those five tanks. To see how it works see these links.

http://www.cyclestopvalves.com/simple/municipal.php

http://www.cyclestopvalves.com/simple/home.php

 

[Sponsor]

 

[LLigetfa]

They've been leaking for years...

Leaking air from bladders or holes rusted and leaking out water? Have you considered using composite tanks? They don't rust.

I'm trying to picture how this is all piped and why each home would need a tank. Is it one shared pump or does each home have their own pump?

 

[Valveman]

The Wellmate tanks he had are fiberglass.

 

[Ballvalve]

Here is a free shipped good tank:

http://www.amazon.com/WaterWorker-H...e-86-Gallon/dp/B000QIE6TC/ref=pd_sim_sbs_hi_9

Maybe the cycle stop is cheaper here, but it also might make the pump run forever with 5 houses.

 

[Valveman]

With 5 houses a CSV won’t make the pump run “forever”, but it will run a lot more of the time. Which is precisely the point. It is the pump cycling on and off that causes the bladders in the tanks to fail in the first place. Cycling also causes water hammer, which breaks lines and fittings, shortens the life of the pump and controls, and many other problems. The pump running a lot more of the time instead of cycling would be a good thing, and save the price of 4 tanks.

a system with a backup pump. These pumps feed a small town, and because of the CSV’s it is done with a single 80 gallon tank.

 

[Ballvalve]

If I had 5 houses I would have a 3000g tank with a 1000 g drawdown and one tank with a high cut out pressure. Now you have backup and a system that works much like a CSV. If I had 500 houses I'd get the deal above

 

[Valveman]

A 3,000 gallon pressure tank would only hold about 500 gallons of usable water, and would cost $10,000+. It wouldn’t make a good backup supply, because you can’t count on it being pumped up to the full 500 gallons when the power goes off.

Depending on which CSV you use, it and the pressure tank will cost less than $1,000. Then you could spend a few thousand on a good generator, and have real backup capability. How many weeks were people out of power during that “duracho” on the east coast? Add in hurricanes, tornados, ice storms and 500 gallons of storage won’t last but a few minutes.

Here is a picture of a system like you mention. It has a 12,000 gallon pressure tank. Even though this system has a huge pressure tank, we were asked to install Cycle Stop Valves to eliminate the water hammer. The pump cycling on and off to fill this big tank was causing so much water hammer, that 50% of their water was disappearing to leaks in the system. After adding the CSV, the repaired leaks are staying repaired, unlike before the CSV.

 

[Justwater]

The best tanks u can buy are steel diaphragm style made by either flexcon or well-x-trol. all others will work initially, but do not last as long and seem to lose more air over time. jmo

 

[hughessupplymike]

Hello Desertwell,
My name is Mike and I'm the product specialist for our private label team with Hughes Supply. Our Mainline (originally called Brigade) brand of Well Tanks are made by Pentair. Our model ML11064 is an equal to Pentair's PSP85-T52. Please contact your local Hughes Supply for availability or further information about the product.
Thank you,
Mike

 

[Valveman]

Hello Hughssupplymike
Welcome to the forum. Thanks for the heads up on that brand of tank. Sounds like Desertwell already has a good price on those tanks from you guys at Hughs Supply. Since Hughs Supply is a good distributor for Cycle Stop Valves, I hope you also got Desertwell a price on a model CSV3B2T Cycle Stop Valve and one of those 85 gallon tanks? Especially since the CSV and one tank will be much less expensive than five tanks, and will do a much better job, as described above. I also hope you are not forgetting to mention the CSV option to all your other customers.

 

[Ballvalve]

A 3,000 gallon pressure tank would only hold about 500 gallons of usable water, and would cost $10,000+. It wouldn’t make a good backup supply, because you can’t count on it being pumped up to the full 500 gallons when the power goes off.

I mean a static tank for 800 bucks and another pump inside of it - filled by the thousand of gallon run from the well. THAT is a cycle stopper on the well side. Gen set as desired. As to your photo of the pipe set- up, that is one mean museum of flanges. Would'nt want to bolt that collection up.

 

[Valveman]

I would never use a cistern or “static” tank as long as the well can produce sufficient amounts of water. It is much better to get water fresh from the well, than have it sitting in a storage tank getting stale and contaminated.

 

[Masterpumpman]

Valveman said it best. A cistern or static tank is technology of the past if you have sufficient flow from the well. Keep it simple and use a generator for backup.

 

[Ballvalve]

Most of my tanks are 50 psi up the hill - thats the best technology of any portion of history. Saves you 5 grand on fire sprinkler requirements, and handy as hell when the genset takes a common crap and the gas runs out and the wild fire is coming. Its the ultimate CSV.