? pressure switch mounting ?

[wahzoo]

Does it really matter at what height the pressure switch is mounted?

I always see it mounted near the bottom of the pressure tank, but I'd rather have it at eye level.

My setup: a 3-wire submersible pump, a diaphram type pressure tank, a Franklin pump control box, a SquareD 9013 class pressure switch. The pump control box is wired between the pump and the presure switch. The water line is comming in near grade level to the basement and dropping down to the mechanicals.

Lastly but less important, what is a "pulsation plug"? This is mentioned as an option on the SquareD pressure switches.

--wahzoo

[Nick Hull]

Mount it at any height. The higher the height, the higher the pressure,

1/2 pound/ft

[Chris Lewis]

According to Nick Hull :

True enough. On the other hand, given that the tubing to these things isn't the toughest thing on the planet, excessive height is just adding to the risk of rupture (or plugging up).

Besides, if there's a gauge on it, I want the gauge to measure the true pressure, not be offset by some amount.

A screwdriver is a better way to adjust pressure.

[Gary Slusser]

"wahzoo" wrote

Assuming you have a submersible pump because otherwise the switch would be on you jet pump.... You say switch, why would you want the switch at eye level? You wire it up, install the cover and forget it for years. Now if you want to move something you should use fairly frequently and is difficult to see where it's usually mounted, move the pressure gauge.

Gary Quality Water Associates

Gary Slusser's Bulletin Board

[Gary Slusser]

"Nick Hull" wrote .

Actually this doesn't apply here but... the higher the height of the gauge, the LOWER the pressure, by .433#/ft. No?

Gary Quality Water Associates

Gary Slusser's Bulletin Board

[Chris Lewis]

According to Gary Slusser :

Yes.

_Both_ are true ;-)

The actual pressure at any point in the system will be .45 PSI[+] higher for every foot you raise the pressure switch.

The pressure _seen_ by the gauge will be about .45 PSI lower for every foot you raise the gauge.

It's called "frame of reference" ;-)

[+] 33 foot head of water is 15PSI. One foot of head is 15/33 = .45 PSI.

[wahzoo]

While looking into other things about my well system I found Gould's pump installation guide

that says if you don't set your pressure switch close enough to the tank you could get "chatter". So I'm just going to mount it down there.

Off topic, but I also found this extremely well done illustration of a submersible pump setup.

Just looking at this cleared up a lot of my questions.

Never found out what a "pulsation plug" is though.

--wahzoo