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Experiences Using Water Pump without Pressure Tank?


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Has anyone used one of these pumps that deliver water from the aljibe to the house that does not use a separate pressure tank?

The premise is that the pump has a small amount of water in its own little tank and when someone in the house turns on a faucet, the pump turns on delivering steady pressure until the faucet is closed.

With a pressure tank the pump starts when the tank pressure drops below 20 and then stops when the tank pressure reaches 40. Using the booster pump the pump runs only when water is being used. In theory the pump run times should be the same when using the same amount of water.

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I've had mine for 2 years. Replaced my tank. Works much better for my on demand water heater because the pressure is constant, but the pump runs every time, even if you only want a few seconds of water. Haven't seen any rise in the elect. bill. I love it!

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We have a submersible pump in the aljibe, which feeds a pressure tank, as well as a back-up tinaco on the roof. As such, we always have water, but the pressure does vary a bit because of the 20-40 psi range of the tank. However, that does not affect our hot water temperatures, since we have a solar hot water heater with a 160 Liter tank. Once the mix is established, the temperature is stable without regard to pressure variations. It is the best of both worlds.

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Ginger: Some of us have both, specially those of us who live on very steep hills. My underground Aljibe is located at a higher elevation (on the back hill) which is higher than the second floor of the house.

When the power goes out I have relatively low pressure but usable water for flushing the toilet, taking showers etc. And when the pump is working there is sufficient pressure for watering even higher up the hill and to run my reverse osmoses water purifier. That way I don't need to buy bottled water.

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My (Canadian) neighbor doesn't like Tinacos on the roof so he has a standard well pump (1HP I think) out of his cistern. He also didn't want to spring for a well so he can run dry.

2 problems are we don't always have street water or electricity. Last time we had no street water he climbed up to my Tinaco with a hose and drained it for himself. His excuse was I have 2 Tinacos, a cistern and a well and am set for water ..... duh !!!!!

Submersible pumps are nice, quiet but may like the ON/OFF less than an above ground. Size I don't remember but was about 1500 pesos and 500 more for a proper submersible cable installed correctly

............ maybe $2500 on that sub-pump?? but it works like a charm

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Yes Ginger say I frowning :), but those solar panels are expensive. But the payoff for those panels for you new investors is getting shorter and shorter as the prices of the photovoltaic systems drop and the cost of electricity increases.

The only thing really good about me buying my system in 2007-8 when it was more expensive than today, was that I sold more of my stock portfolio before the big crash. I remember being upset that the stock market had dropped by maybe 5% and I at first thought I should have waited until the market recovered.

Little did I know we were about to have a big crash. I'm darn lucky I sold lot of stocks for the remodel (solar included) right before the crash

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Good for you Ginger. You are able to keep out of DAC. Sadly much of my bill is for pumping water up from one street below mine, to my first Aljibe and then again to the second one much higher than even my house and then to run the sprinkler system pump. Sure I like living at the edge of town where land is cheap. Sadly watering same during the dry season creates both a large electrical bill (DAC) before my solar panels and a large Simapa (water) bill.

I'm starting to drill a well for water Monday, to lower my water bill. [Only kidding :)]

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  • 2 years later...
On 7/23/2014 at 6:59 AM, hensley said:

I would never live in a house with a pressure pump, gravity feed is the best, we have water when the electricity goes out, when others don't.

How high up is your holding tank and how much pressure do you have?

I currently use a well pump with pressure tank which cycles on/off at 40 & 60lbs respectively.

In order to equal that PSI in my system I would have to elevate my tank 140 feet above the level of my shower heads in the house. That's some serious height and expensive construction for a water tower....simply to avoid having an electric pump. Especially when there are solar power options, battery backup options, etc.

Drip irrigation is great for my garden, but I don't think I would enjoy a drip irrigation shower. Just sayin

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On 7/23/2014 at 3:36 PM, johanson said:

When the power goes out I have relatively low pressure but usable water for flushing the toilet, taking showers etc. And when the pump is working there is sufficient pressure for watering even higher up the hill and to run my reverse osmoses water purifier. That way I don't need to buy bottled water.

Johanson,

I've run my well dry a few times in the past year. Mainly from trying to keep my garden alive during the heat of summer. So I installed a 1500 gallon cistern with a 1/2hp shallow well pump and a 120 gallon pressure tank at the cistern. After getting the cistern full and making sure everything was working properly, I installed a gate valve at the top of my well before it enters the 120 gallon pressure tank for the well pump. I then throttled my well pump from 10g pm down to 2 gpm.

Although we may use a lot of water from the cistern washing clothes, showering, toilets, dishes and watering the garden....the well pump comes on and refills the cistern at the much reduced rate of 2 gpm over a longer period of time than if it were pumping 10 gpm. The longer pumping times should increase the life of my well pump. And not draining my well dry repeatedly should extend the life of the well also.

The well pump requires 240 volt. And since I don't have a generator at the moment it can't work if the power is out. However, I do have a 120 volt invertor for my vehicle and I plan to use it to power the 120 volt shallow well pump at the cistern, if needed.

So far everything is working as planned. I hope I don't ever have to test the invertor method though.

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