Water pressure question

[ahahahni1]

We bought some land and a mobile home and we are on a community well. I and one other home are on our own water line out of the well. We are both having trouble with water pressure. It used to not be this bad but is now worse. I can't even run my sprinkler anymore. My garden is dying. I can barely run a soaker hose. I can take a shower, wash laundry (Have HE machine), and hand wash dishes by watering the garden is just horrible. Anyone have any ideas? I have a large garden so I doubt drip irrigation will be a cost effective choice. And no they will not do anything to fix it do to they ARE providing us water, just not as much PSI as we'd prefer.

[YuccaFlatsRanch]

By a 2500 gal tank to fill from the community water system and a shallow well jet pump and pressure tank to pump it from the tank to your house, etc.

[Yvonne's hubby]

Originally Posted by ahahahni1

We bought some land and a mobile home and we are on a community well. I and one other home are on our own water line out of the well. We are both having trouble with water pressure. It used to not be this bad but is now worse. I can't even run my sprinkler anymore. My garden is dying. I can barely run a soaker hose. I can take a shower, wash laundry (Have HE machine), and hand wash dishes by watering the garden is just horrible. Anyone have any ideas? I have a large garden so I doubt drip irrigation will be a cost effective choice. And no they will not do anything to fix it do to they ARE providing us water, just not as much PSI as we'd prefer.

It sounds like there is a good well, just poor plumbing issues. If I was in yer boots I would offer to correct the situation. It sounds like you may be dealing with pipes that are filling up with either mineral deposits, or possibly old galvanized pipe somewhere in the system that is rusting itself shut. Even if you had to put in a new pump, and run all new lines to your house, that would be much cheaper than having a new well drilled, and then still have to put a new system in. Plus you never know what you will get when you drill a new well, you can end up with lots of good water, lots of nasty unpotable water, a well with very little water, or even in a really bad scenario a very deep stack of fence post holes with no water at all and still have the driller to pay for his work.

[artificer]

Originally Posted by YuccaFlatsRanch

By a 2500 gal tank to fill from the community water system and a shallow well jet pump and pressure tank to pump it from the tank to your house, etc.

I was going to suggest something similar, but a 2500 gal tank is a bit large. I would find out how much water you use in a day,and get a tank that is around that size. It has all night to recharge and the jet pump from the tank to the houses plumbing provides the pressure boost. If you only need it for the garden, you can probably get by with one of the used 275 gallon tanks and a cheap shallow well pump.

Do you know what the pressure is? It may not be bad pressure, but low flow. When you take a shower is the spray strong, of does it just dribble? If its a decent spray, then you might be able to get by with a large precharged pressure tank. How many gallons of water would you like for your garden?

They also sell inline pressure booster pumps. Depending on how low of a flow rate the water has, it may or may not be effective without some type of storage.

Michael

[Alice In TX/MO]

You need to know what they are legally required to provide.

You need to know the well's output as it enters your line.

You need to determine where the problem is. You may have a plumbing issue that is totally unrelated to the water supply from the community well.

You have a lot of evidence gathering to do.

[Windy in Kansas]

Drip tape----6,500 feet for $130 plus shipping and the purchase of some fittings. And the loss of your garden would be?

http://www.robertmarvel.com/Drip_Irrigation.html

[ahahahni1]

That price ain't too bad Windy but I'd need instructions and a final cost wise to figure out if it is cost effective after all. Do you know if these people are good at telling you how to do something? I have never even seen a drip tape before let alone installed one.

I looked into the price of a inline pump. They have them at Lowe's for 319.00. AND you have to install to the main line!

[Beeman]

A shared water system and you're watering your garden from it? What do the others on the well think of that?

[Suburbman]

Originally Posted by Beeman

A shared water system and you're watering your garden from it? What do the others on the well think of that?

That's what I was wondering also. Did you ask if it was o.k. to use the provided water to irrigate a large garden? If you didn't... it's possible that your water pressure was intentionally reduced...

[Alice In TX/MO]

An inline pump only helps if there is adequate flow.

You still have info to gather.

[wwubben]

Have a pressure gauge at the source set at a minimum of 70 pounds.My son just had to put a new pump in their community well.The guy with the well on his property had a 40 pound pressure switch.The well man said a minimum of 70 pounds would not hurt anything.He says it works great.

[tamsam]

If your water is fine in the house but not on an outside or different facet then I would say tha the line going to said facet is partly blocked. Sam