Larger pipe from the well house to support the chlorine contact tanks?

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Sid Post

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This may be a crazy idea and thought but, what I was considering doing since I need to dig up and replace substandard wiring from the main panel to well pump and the water line to the house was to use larger diameter waterline.

The well house will continue to be on 1 1/4" pipe (internally) from the wellhead through the various tanks, and filters. I have about 300' of water line to work with, so if I went with 2" or 4" line, the larger water volume in the line should add some contact time to the tanks I will have in the well house. I could always buy a second contact tank though.

Right now I believe my system is a 1HP 5GPM well. If I ever pull the well pump out, it will go back with at least a 3HP well pump and possibly 5HP with a desired flow in the high teens to low 20's.

With PVC being relatively cheap, my initial thought is this is a good idea. However, is it even practical to increase the 'stored gallons' for additional contact time with the chlorine system?

TIA,
Sid
 

Reach4

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If the PVC is serving as a contact tank, what happens to the stuff that precipitates out? I think you would like things to settle where they can be emptied out more readily.

Maybe you can make flushing out that PVC possible, in which case it would work great to give contact time. I had thought of having some 2 or 3 inch PVC do a zig-zag on a basement wall, but to have a drain valve at the low spot.

I am not a pro.
 

LLigetfa

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IMHO if the contact time is to precipitate out iron, that iron will coat the inside of the pipe and not really settle out for easy draining. A larger pipe means that it will take much longer before the ID constricts enough to add friction loss.

I would put a couple of Tees on one end from where you could jet out the pipe periodically.
 

Boycedrilling

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This is a common practice if you are chlorinating for bacteriological control. Many standards call for 20 minute contact time for the chlorine to be effective. Contact time and chlorine level can be interchanged. The lower the chlorine level, The longer the contact time needs to be for the same effect. Of course if the choline level is too high, it has to be reduced before being used. Nobody wants to drink water that tastes of chlorine.

One project I worked on was for a church. Design flow was 20 gpm. 150 ft of 2” hdpe from the pump house to the church. That only gives about 75 seconds of contact time. Even a 120 gallon retention tank would only give 6 minutes of retention. Would take 4 retention tanks. 68 feet of 12” pipe would do the job. Fortunately chlorination was not needed. If it was needed in the future, a section of 2” pipe will be replaced with 10” or 12” pipe to achieve the needed chlorine contact time.
 

Sid Post

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If the PVC is serving as a contact tank, what happens to the stuff that precipitates out? I think you would like things to settle where they can be emptied out more readily.

Maybe you can make flushing out that PVC possible, in which case it would work great to give contact time. I had thought of having some 2 or 3 inch PVC do a zig-zag on a basement wall, but to have a drain valve at the low spot.

I am not a pro.

I will be running a filter (Clack Filter-Ag Plus Sediment Filter System) to catch larger debris so, PVC pipe, faucets, shower heads, etc. should be fairly free of build up. My water has very low iron so, that's not a big concern.

My main concern is the large number of commercial chicken farms raising huge numbers of chickens for slaughter. Hence my consideration of chlorination for my household well water.

Any PVC pipe water storage would be in addition to at least one contact tank, possibly two. I'm thinking slightly lower chlorination rates with much longer contact times as I'm not really a fan of chlorination in drinking water personally. I'm not a chlorination or fluoridation skeptic but, I also want less of it in my water whether for drinking, cooking, or general household uses.
 
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Sid Post

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This is a common practice if you are chlorinating for bacteriological control. Many standards call for 20 minute contact time for the chlorine to be effective. Contact time and chlorine level can be interchanged. The lower the chlorine level, The longer the contact time needs to be for the same effect. Of course if the choline level is too high, it has to be reduced before being used. Nobody wants to drink water that tastes of chlorine.

One project I worked on was for a church. Design flow was 20 gpm. 150 ft of 2” hdpe from the pump house to the church. That only gives about 75 seconds of contact time. Even a 120 gallon retention tank would only give 6 minutes of retention. Would take 4 retention tanks. 68 feet of 12” pipe would do the job. Fortunately chlorination was not needed. If it was needed in the future, a section of 2” pipe will be replaced with 10” or 12” pipe to achieve the needed chlorine contact time.

Thanks! While my flow rates will be significantly less, this confirms what I was thinking.
 
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