Lake Water System Setup

[LLigetfa]

The flow rate on the well is estimated at 0.25GPM.
. . .
But we do understand we could use a large holding tank, with some type of switch on the pump that kept it off for a certain amount of time allowing the well to replenish.

0.25 GPM is 360 gallons per day which might be more than your average daily consumption. The holding tank would even out the heavy use days with the lighter use days. For a holding tank to provide decent pressure by gravity, it would need to be around 150 feet higher than the point of use. The weight of water applies 0.43 PSI per foot of rise.

A Cycle Sensor will sense when the well runs out of water and will keep the pump off for a preset length of time to allow the well to recover.

 

[AMFarms]

0.25 GPM is 360 gallons per day which might be more than your average daily consumption. The holding tank would even out the heavy use days with the lighter use days. For a holding tank to provide decent pressure by gravity, it would need to be around 150 feet higher than the point of use. The weight of water applies 0.43 PSI per foot of rise.

A Cycle Sensor will sense when the well runs out of water and will keep the pump off for a preset length of time to allow the well to recover.

thanks!! This has all been very helpful. I think this set up will be our first plan. Seems more reliable and more well known. We would not be able to get a holding tank high enough to gravity feed anything. I assumed we would have to have a float and secondary pump set up to the pressure tank in the house.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Water Pro]

thanks!! This has all been very helpful. I think this set up will be our first plan. Seems more reliable and more well known. We would not be able to get a holding tank high enough to gravity feed anything. I assumed we would have to have a float and secondary pump set up to the pressure tank in the house.

those dabs are nice for a secondary (re-pressurization) pump. self contained with built in pressure tank. they ramp up with greater demand. they come with an optional float for holding tanks. eliminates an extra pressure tank and submersible pump.

 

[Water Pro]

Are you sure?

well ya. I mean, if your at the same level as the lake, water will just fill the trench and freeze. if you coming out of the side of a hill your exposed before going into the lake. I suppose if you dug the trench 6 feet and it immediately went up hill, then the water in the trench below 6 feet may not freeze. In my experience, most times people draw from the lake at seasonal camps, then just remove the pump in the fall. The only one I've seen used all year had to have the heater.

 

[Valveman]

If you can trench out of the lake and stay under the frost line, you won't need a drain back system. If any of the pipe is above the frost line you will need the drain back. A well would be easier to keep from freezing and delivers cleaner water than a lake. A 1/4 GPM is 360 gallons per day, which should be plenty, but I think a storage tank would be needed. Just use a float switch and a Cycle Sensor to control the well pump and fill the storage tank. Then use a regular jet pump with a PK1A kit to deliver constant pressure to the house and you will have a problems free and long lasting pump system. Those DAB pumps or any of the variable speed or flow switch controlled pump systems are not designed to last very long so as to separate the homeowner from as much of their money as possible. But they sound good with "built in pressure tank, ramping to meet demand, etc, etc," which is just fluff to trick you into buying one of these Tar Babies.

 

[dchurch]

Hey all. My partner and I recently purchased an off grid property with a legal water license to pull water from the lake for domestic use. The property has a well that was drilled four years ago and produces approx 0.25 GPM.... hence why we are exploring the lake option first. The lake shore is approximately 1500ft to the property line, and an additional 300ft to the potential house site. Elevation gain is 50-60’ depending on where we end up putting the house. We will eventually have 2 small year round houses on the property. First we need to know if this is a feasible option, I have been unable to find anything online remotely close to our situation. Our thoughts are to throw a submersible pump in a 4” perforated pipe with appropriate screens in the lake, connected to 2”? 1 1/2”? pipe buried below the frost line, to either a holding tank or directly into a bladder tank. Is this the best option? All power will be solar or generator and have to run from the property, we can’t have any power sources at the lake shore. We understand a further filtration system will be needed as well. As the pump and piping in the lake will be weighted down to the bottom, how do you make repairs/maintenance accessible? All advice appreciated.

 

[dchurch]

I helped install a similar lake water system about 30 years ago. We made a stainless steel frame/carrage and mounted the submersible on top. We connected about 100 feet of pipe and wire to it on shore then ran the pump out into the lake with a boat. We connected rope with to the carrage and sunk it to the bottom of the lake (about 40 feet deep). I did the diving and saw that the placement was fine. A float was used to allow retreval of the pump and frame. We burried all of the wire and plumbing underground from the home pressure tank to the lakeshore and out into the water as far as we could. As far as I know the system is still in place. I was a friend of the owners and know that the system was trouble free for at least 10 years that I visited them.

 

[Hulk]

Around here we do shore wells to get water from the lake year round. We usually use 4' diameter precast sections on the shore and use a regular submersible well pump on a pitless adapter. We tend to have a lot of limestone and usually have to blast to get deep enough and fracture the rock enough for lake water to get in.
Whatever you do, make sure you understand how much the lake level fluctuates. For a shore well, you want it deep enough to let enough water in but not so deep that you risk getting sulfur or salt from underground.
It's also feasible to insulate above the pipe if you can't quite get below the frost line although would be too expensive to do it too far. That can get tricky though based on the type of soil and ground water. And don't just wrap the pipe as you want the heat of the earth to keep it from freezing.

 

[Hulk]

You could also consider hydrofracking you current well to increase the flow rate. Although you risk hitting contaminants such as salt, iron, and sulfur that vary in how easily they're treated.

 

[AMFarms]

Around here we do shore wells to get water from the lake year round. We usually use 4' diameter precast sections on the shore and use a regular submersible well pump on a pitless adapter. We tend to have a lot of limestone and usually have to blast to get deep enough and fracture the rock enough for lake water to get in.
Whatever you do, make sure you understand how much the lake level fluctuates. For a shore well, you want it deep enough to let enough water in but not so deep that you risk getting sulfur or salt from underground.
It's also feasible to insulate above the pipe if you can't quite get below the frost line although would be too expensive to do it too far. That can get tricky though based on the type of soil and ground water. And don't just wrap the pipe as you want the heat of the earth to keep it from freezing.

Thanks for the info. I think we are going to try a holding tank on the low volume well for now, I cannot imagine our environmental regulations (BC Canada) letting us do any major digging/blasting into the shore (I do know bedrock sits high here but not really sure what the layers are).

 

[Valveman]

The larger the better but you can probably get by with a 200-300 gallon storage tank. They make some that will fit through doors.