Water Tank and pressure pump bypass

[Muzza]

Hi...
I'm building a home in the Phillipines and hooking up a 2000L water tank together with a 60L bladder type pressure tank. My wife was just informed that when the power is out (quite often - brownouts) we will have no water. Needless to say she is upset. Sometimes after a Typhoon there is no power for several days. I'm thinking that I could run a separate bypass between the tank and the pipe leading into the house. Besides needing a check valve and cut off valve how do I do this if it is possible at all. Thank You

 

[Valveman]

If the 2000L tank is elevated, you won't need a bypass. Water will just flow through the pump, past the 60L pressure tank, and then to the house. However, you will only have 1 PSI for every 2.31' the 2000L tank is elevated above the taps. 23' of elevation will get you 10 PSI in the house.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Muzza]

The tank is a horizontal type and will be elevated only 1 meter (3 feet) above ground. The house is only one story however. So from your calculation I will get a bit over 1PSI. Better then nothing I suppose. We just began digging the footer holes for the support posts for the platform.

 

[Valveman]

That would be 1 PSI at the floor. Not going to come out of the sink if the sink is higher than the water level in the storage tank. You can use a 12V RV pump, a 12V car battery, and a little solar charger, teed in before and after a check valve. The RV pump should have a lower pressure setting than the 30/50 on the booster pump for the house, which means the RV pump will only come on if the main pump goes off.

 

[Muzza]

A solar pump would be nice but I'm really needing a simple solution. Is it not possible to go from the water inlet of the main tank to "B" just using a cutoff valve and check valve? This would bypass the entire pump/pressure tank system. The main tank is supplied by "city" water but can be unreliable at random times. It has a decent flow when operating normally.

 

[Valveman]

You should not have to bypass the pump. As long as the height of water in the storage tank is higher than the sink faucet, water will flow right through the pump. If it flows fast enough it will even spin the pump. There is more restriction in the spring of a check valve than a centrifugal pump.