[TheForge] OT - Water pressure problem. OT:ish

[dann at wctatel.net]

Bruce,

The link below  isn't exactly what I was looking for, but it will give you
the idea.

My  aunt had one that was almost identical to the example shown in the
Northern Tool link below...  that fed the water lines to her bath /
shower, and to her her clothes washing machine.. all with rain  water from
her cistern.

In the example below,  the pump  would draw water ( suck) from your supply
tanks into the fittings linked to the side ... where it looks like  black
cast iron.  The exiting presurized water line system would connect to the
galvanized "T" fitting on top. Note that the other water line loop goes
down to a water pressure tank that has a rubber blatter separating the air
blatter from the water reserve.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200330143_200330143

My 30 something aged son paid a total of $2 at an auction and bought a
pump, pressure switch and tank  in the same pile.  Everything worked. It
was higher capacity than this,  but it was a good working pump  with a
separate  50 gallon pressure tank ...  rather than the 8 gallon one  in
the above  "stand alone system".

Dann

> Bruce
> A pressure switch to control the pump, same style as is on your
> compressor. You will need a water level switch, like a sump pump switch,
> to disable the pump should the water level is insufficient.
>
> lynn
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> [mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Bruce Freeman
> Sent: Monday, May 16, 2011 8:30 AM
> To: Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA
> Subject: Re: [TheForge] OT - Water pressure problem. OT:ish
>
> How would the pump activate on demand?  I'd have to go to the pump,
> turn it on, then go back to the hose nozzle and water.  When watering
> gets interrupted, I'd have to either let the pump keep running with
> zero flow, or waste water, or go back and turn off the pump.  Or, I
> could run an electrical lead along the hose and put a switch at the
> nozzle (which would require me always to use the same hose).  Or I
> could come up with some non-wire remote control to turn on and off the
> pump.  These strike me as burdensome AND assume that I want to water
> at the full pump flow.
>
> If I could equip the downstream side of the pump with a pressure
> sensor, then the pump could turn on when that pressure dropped below
> some minimum.  But that still assumes I want to water at the full pump
> flow.  And with that level of complexity, I might as well add an
> accumulator tank of some sort (air-pressurized or water tower) so that
> the pump can run at its maximum efficiency and then turn off, but
> water would be available even when the pump is not running.
>
> My objectives here are (1) to pressurize the accumulated rain water
> sufficiently for use in the garden, and (2) to do this cheaper than it
> would cost me to just use city water.
>
> So far, I've spent $125 on tanks (~600 gallons total), and maybe about
> $25 on plumbing parts (I haven't checked my receipts, just guessing
> from memory).  I have a very nice pump I plan to use.  I have no
> pressure or flow sensors suitable for use with it, but I can design
> and build electronic circuits needed to control it.  I'll probably
> cannibalize an existing pump controller that takes a contact closure
> input and closes a 12V relay to control the 115V pump. I may have to
> use a transistor to close the contact, and drive that from sensor
> inputs of some sort.
>
> On Mon, May 16, 2011 at 1:32 AM, peter fels <artgawk at thegrid.net> wrote:
>> That's much too straight-forward!
>>
>> On May 15, 2011, at 8:09 PM, Lynn and Susan Lang wrote:
>>
>>> Bruce
>>> Why not just collect the water in a stock tank and when water is
> needed
>>> have a small pump to charge your garden hose.....Not knowing your
> task
>>> makes suggestions a shot in the dark...
>>>
>>> lynn
>
>
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