Well Water Pump Woes

[Handyman]

I have a water pump in my basement which is hooked up to an artesian well. We have had a streak of unusually hot weather here (90+ degrees with v. high humidity), which has caused the water pump to sweat so much that condensation drips off of the holding tank, pipes and fittings. So much water condenses that it creates large pools of water in my basement. Is there anything that I can do about this? Is there something wrong in the setup of my tank that causes this? I have been chalking it up to the fact that the extremely cold water (50 degrees or so out of the ground) condenses when it hits the walls of the tank. Has anyone encountered this problem? How might I address it in a way where I can eliminate the water gathering on my basement floor -I'd like to finish the basement some day.

[Pete C.]

Insulate the tank, pipes and pump as much as possible. If the warm moist air can't reach the cold surfaces the moisture in the air can't condense out.

Pete C.

[nicksanspam]

That may just push the condensation downstream, with dripping pipes after the insulation. OTOH, he might build an airtight plastic film box around the tank and pump. The box might have a gutter around the lower edge. How large would it have to be to prevent condensation?

Nick

[Lawrence]

If you place fan pointed toward the wet area it may keep it dry during those times.

[Doug Miller]

Buy a dehumidifier.

[Michael Strickland]

You are correct, it is caused by the cold water in the tank and lines and the warm, moist surrounding air - very similar to the sweating a glass of ice water does.

The best solution I've found is to insulate the tank and pipes wherever they are above ground. Dehumidifying the air will also probably work (possibly not

100% though), but is much more expensive. I'd recommend going with insulation, and then, when you're ready to finish the basement, consider the dehumidifier if humidity levels are too high.

I built a box from the 1" foam board that goes on the exterior of a house beneath the siding, double thickness, that drops over the tank and put foam pipe insulation on the pipes (this insulation extends through and mostly fills the pipe hole in the insulation box). Has worked very well for me.

Make sure to dry everything off well to prevent mold growth beneath the insulation. I did mine in winter when there wasn't a condensation problem, but washed all the pipes and tank with a mild bleach solution just to be on the safe side. That required draining the system so I could disconnect and move the tank out to get behind it and wipe down the back side. Bit of a PITA, but no more condensation...

I think that having a fan blowing across the area, as suggested by another poster, will be counter productive as it'll cause more warm moist air to pass across the cold surfaces.

Later, Mike (substitute strickland in the obvious location to reply directly)

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[nicksanspam]

Sounds like airsealing the basement would help. A fan on the pump will make more condensation, and dehumidifiers use lots of energy and make unwelcome heat on 90 F days.

If the pump and tank have Ap ft^2 of surface at temp Tp and the basement air has dry bulb temp Tb and dew point Tdp, you might build an airtight plastic film box with Ab ft^2 of surface around the tank and pump and avoid any condensation if the box wall temp is greater than Tdp, like this, viewed in a fixed font like Courier:

R2/3 Tdp R4/3 Rp = ---- | Rb = ---- Ap | Ab | Tp ---www----------------www-------- Tb