>Finally, when our house was built, we installed a pressure tank. The
> >purpose of the pressure tank is to improve the overall pressure of the
> >plumbing in the house and to provide a sort of pressure reserve so
> >that the pump doesn't have to turn on so frequently. I'm not sure the
> >cost of this tank and it's related controls, but I know it was over
> >$1,000. I also know that our neighbor did *NOT* install one of
> >these. My question is this... Is our neighbor benefiting from our
> >pressure tank? Besides lessening wear and tire on the pump, is it
> >also improving the pressure for our neighbor's house, too? (The tank
> >is located in our house's mechanical room.) Is this something that
> >our neighbor should be compensating us for?
>
> If the tank is just connected to the incoming line, then the neighbor is
> probably benefitting too. When he opens a valve in his house, the water
> will come from your tank, flowing back from your house to the junction
> where his water line comes off, until the pressure drops enough for the
> pump to turn on. But this isn't ideal for him (there will be a pressure
> drop through all that pipe) and certainly isn't ideal for you (you're
> providing water from your tank to his house).
>
> A partial fix for this is to put a check valve between the incoming pipe
> and your house including the pressure tank. That way, water that has
> made it into your tank stays in the tank, for your benefit, and your
> pressure doesn't drop suddenly when the other guy opens a tap.
>
> But this may make the pump run more often than is ideal. The solution
> to that is for your neighbor to add his own pressure tank, at his
> expense. If he's not willing to do this now, when it's clearly mostly
> for his own benefit, how willing will he be to pay half the cost of a
> replacement pump when it fails?
>
> Dave
Good job at inventing new problems that haven't been stated and have nothing to do with the question.