Stupid water pressure question

I have well water, and my pressure is pretty pathetic.

When I was pricing out an irrigation system last year, I also had to include the cost of upgrading my well pump and tank. However, the plumber explained to me that these upgrades didn't have anything to do with *pressure*. They were required so that the pump would run longer, instead of lots of cycling off and on, which would wear it out the pump.

I tested my gpm at an outdoor faucet: 5 gpm! Terrible.

My problem is, I want to get more radius out of my traveling sprinkler (haven't commited to the cost of irrigation yet).

So I'm confused about pressure versus flow rate. Will using a larger diameter hose do anything for me?

Reply to
Mitch
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I don't think a larger diameter hose would do much for your situation. One thing you might consider is buying a separate pump for your irrigation system. Assuming your well could support two submerged pumps, you could buy a separate pump for your irrigation system and drop it down the same well hole. I have a rain bird controller and it has a provision for turning on an irrigation pump right before the system cycles on. For this setup, I wouldn't think you would need a separate pressure tank. The irrigation pump should be able to feed the irrigation system directly since it will be on while the irrigation system is running, but you would probably need a filter.

Reply to
RoyDMercer

RoyDMercer posted this a few weeks back. I've hung on to it so I'll have the info when I put in my sprinkler system. Hope it helps, and thanks Roy!

Reply to
Charles

Get a better plumber.

What kind of well - artisian ? - driven ? - deep or shallow?

Based on his "run longer instead of cycle" I would *guess* your present tank is "water logged" - therefore requiring less volume of water to get the pressure up from the turn on point to the turn off point. If so you might be able to pump air into the tank (not always the case)

What shape is your pressure switch (electrical) in ? What is it set at ? (most are adjustable)

You probably cannot get a second pump in your deep well.

Yes - larger diameter hose will help (a little)

Reply to
Srgnt Bilko

For an indoor faucet, that's not extremely bad. Indoor plumbing often involves long runs of small-diameter pipe. Even with decent pressure, you rarely (if ever) get enough water out of the indoor plumbing system to run a sprinkling system.

It depends on the length of the hose and flow rate. If your hose is small enough in diameter, long enough in length, and you're trying to run a decent amount of water through it, then the answer would be YES: The pressure loss over a long, thin hose might be enough that a substantically larger hose will help. However, if you're hooking the hose up to a spigot connected to the indoor plumbing, then the answer is probably NO: The indoor plumbing system probably wouldn't let enough water through anyway.

You could always test by using a short, fat hose and see if it makes a difference....

steve

Reply to
Steve Wolfe

Thanks, everyone. Lots to digest.

My next door neighbor gets about twice the coverage from a sprinkler that I get. I asked him, but he doesn't know what would be different about his plumbing.

Reply to
Mitch

Reply to
J.Caldwell

By any chance, are the lines from your pressure tank to the spigot badly scaled? If you have very hard water, they can get to the point where the effective diameter is 1/4 inch...or less. Most outside faucets are pre-softener, so that you aren't paying to soften water you are dumping on the ground. That means those pipes can scale much more easily than those in the rest of the house.

Austin

Reply to
AustinMN

Your water system needs both pressure and flow working together to appropriately give you water. Your piping should be sized to give you anywhere from 8 to 20 GPM at approximately 35 PSI. If the piping, pump or tank is not sized right you can run pressure below 35 psi while flow is desired or you may have pressure but not enough volume (GPM) Your plumber may have found your pump short cycling because of an undersized pressure tank, and is suggesting a larger one to give you more "cushin or volume" when demand is high. It is better for your pump to cycle on longer and less frequent calls for water than short constant calls for water.

Getting more radius will require more pressure, but make sure you have the volume to run more than one head at a time also.

Reply to
Donald Guzzetta

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