water well pressure tank

[busybee870]

Im finally getting a well!!! heres my question, regarding the pressure tank/holding tank. how do i know what size i need? and.. I have a vertical tank with a jet pump on top that i use for right now, to get water from my 1500 gallon tank, if i took off the jet pump would that tank work???? this is all new to me, and i dont want to spend more money if i dont have to.

[Old Vet]

Yes and no. You can use the tank for a while if it is a large one. If it is too samal the pump will pump it full and shut off and start up again. To get the size you need you need to have the pump runing a long time and wait for the presure to get to the start up point in about 1 minuit.

[rambler]

Just had to replace the pressure tank for my deep well last week. They looked up the gal/minute of my pump and used that to size the tank, basically the smallest you can go.

Bigger is generally better in this application tho. Hard to go too big, you don't want to go too small or it makes the pump stop & start too much. Starting up is what kills pumps over their lifetime.

--->Paul

[agmantoo]

Buy the largest bladder tank that your budget will permit. Have the installer to use unions so that when the well has to be service the plumbing can be disconnected and set aside to be reused without having to replumb everything. It certainly makes life simpler when problems do arise.

[farminghandyman]

If you want to you can put a float switch on the large tank and jsut fill it with the well, and then use the jet pump system you have hooked up now jsut as is,

or you can get a pressure bladder tank and have the deep well cycle on and off for the demand,


using the large tank you have 1500 gallon of emergency water, (fire, power outage etc), with the pressure tank you have about 10 gallons, and by the time you realize you have a problem you have none.

I have a windmill with a electric submersible under the windmill pump and it pumps into a 9000 gallon tank that is then re pressurized for the farm needs, but it gives me a min of 4500 gallons of water (as that is where the electric pump will kick on if it gets down that low, and up to 2/3 or about 6000, if the windmill is not keeping up with demand, and it will also gravity feed to the house and barn and even to a hydrant a 1/2 mile away, and the elevation is less than 20 feet, so I have emergency water for the livestock and if the well does go down for some reason I have a few days to get it repaired not hours for the cattle, water needs,