Spring System Design

[Theeokie]

I am helping some friends increase their storage on a farm fed by a spring system, they recently added 400' of high tunnels with a mister setup and need make sure they have adequate storage/pressure for drip irrigation and their other utility needs.
Currently they have a gravity fed system to a 800 gal tank that has maybe 20' of drop from the tank to the bulk of the system. Ideally we would add a 2500 gal storage tank down stream of the 800 gal tank that is already in place. What sort of pressure system would be best? I have not measured the delivery of the spring but it varies wildly since it gets quite a bit of surface run off in the winter months. This water system also feeds one household's domestic needs.
On a side note the 800 gal tank is somewhere not reachable for AC power and it would be handy to have a float switch with some sort of alarm to notify us when that tank has been drawn down to 50% or so beacause the spring line has been disrupted somehow; bear bite, shift in the spring, failed fitting or pipe etc etc

Thank you for advice and help!

 

[Valveman]

The house will need about 5 GPM at 50 PSI. How much larger pump you need is determined by the irrigation demand. I would guess a 10-15 GPM pump would be enough. Something like a J7S jet pump would probably do the job. To make the 10-15 GPM pump run small drip zones and sprays you need a Cycle Stop Valve to vary the pumps flow rate. One of the PK1A kits has everything you need to control the pump and will let you use 15 GPM down to 1 GPM without cycling the pump to death.

You could also use a submersible pump in the storage tank. There is a 1HP, 33 GPM Hallmark that works well with the PK1A and will do everything you need. Don't know much about the quality of the pump but at 150 bucks it is worth a try.

You can also use a solar powered battery running through a "pump up" float switch and make a 12V light or alarm come on with a low level.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Theeokie]

The house will need about 5 GPM at 50 PSI. How much larger pump you need is determined by the irrigation demand. I would guess a 10-15 GPM pump would be enough. Something like a J7S jet pump would probably do the job. To make the 10-15 GPM pump run small drip zones and sprays you need a Cycle Stop Valve to vary the pumps flow rate. One of the PK1A kits has everything you need to control the pump and will let you use 15 GPM down to 1 GPM without cycling the pump to death.

You could also use a submersible pump in the storage tank. There is a 1HP, 33 GPM Hallmark that works well with the PK1A and will do everything you need. Don't know much about the quality of the pump but at 150 bucks it is worth a try.

You can also use a solar powered battery running through a "pump up" float switch and make a 12V light or alarm come on with a low level.

View attachment 60519

View attachment 60520

Thanks!