Well pump and septic question

[wbrooks]

Can you use two pressure tanks and switches on one well pump? We are looking at adding a modular home to the property for the in laws and wondering if I can run both off the deep well pump. The pump will have plenty of flow just wondering if the pressure will stay balanced. Anything I am overlooking?

Part two is the septic, the new location is about 10' lower than the main home's tank and bed and about 150' away, any thoughts on using an effluent pump to pump up to the main tank or perhaps a pump to just pump the liquid from a new tank, would rather not put in an another entire tank and bed system

[wrench spinner]

i wouldnt recommend piggy backing the septics at all in new york septic systerms are sized by the amount of bedrooms in coordination with the rate at which the soil takes the water. the weel you are fine with but definitly dont join the septics.... you are just asking for issues

[JCsPlumbing]

I've seen this. Been awhile. I think (and others check me on this) that you could do the 2 switch/2 tank setup with check valves but shouldn't. Due to different usages you could put the pump in a constant or erratic cycle. So, I'm inclined to recommend a larger well tank for longer drawdown with a properly sized pump & pipe supply.

The septic question. In the states any and all matters related to septic are controlled by the EPA/Health Dept. and would have to be approved for capacity & design. They would be more likely to make you install a separate system. A tank could be installed at the 2nd house to pump to the first but probably would not be approved because you also need more line (field) capacity.

In short, the local governing agency will have to be contacted for anything to be installed or changed to their specifications. Hope this helps.

J.C.

[wbrooks]

Thanks guys.
We have the health dept coming out to look, just trying to get ideas to discuss with them and minimize cost. We have extra capacity on both septic and bed as it was sized for 4 bathrooms (2 up one down and shop) currently there are only 2 installed. We are on sand here well is drilled to 160' and the well report still shows sand at that depth so soil absorption is not an issue.

J.C. are you recommending replacing the current 20 gallon pressure tank with a 40 gallon tank and feeding both dwellings from that?

[JCsPlumbing]

Thanks guys.
We have the health dept coming out to look, just trying to get ideas to discuss with them and minimize cost. We have extra capacity on both septic and bed as it was sized for 4 bathrooms (2 up one down and shop) currently there are only 2 installed. We are on sand here well is drilled to 160' and the well report still shows sand at that depth so soil absorption is not an issue.

J.C. are you recommending replacing the current 20 gallon pressure tank with a 40 gallon tank and feeding both dwellings from that?

Yes. Larger tank, one pressure switch, larger pump (maybe). The pump and well must be able to meet demand for both houses while also completing the cycle to its cutoff pressure.

Our health depts. have become very ridgid to "discussions" to minimize cost. Pretty much they want to draw it and you do it. I hope yours is different in that you might have a different and better idea than they do!

Good luck.

J.C.

[Gene Bickford]

I have a freeze up customer that feeds his home and two trailers that are 400' away. Not sure of the submersible pump size but he just has one 40 gal tank feeding the whole system. Other than freezing twice that one year he has had no problems.

Re: septic.
Just the in laws? No loser sister in law with 3 kids that won't leave the nest?
If your confidant the system can handle 2 more people but the health dept turns it down because of the amount of fixtures, just start removing them.
My buddy tore down his dump of a house and moved in a trailer. The inspector called him on the amount of fixtures so he took some out and told him he was going to use that area for storage. The inspector signed off and he put them back in.
I don't understand why they base it on the amount of fixtures and not the amount of people. 4 people will use the same amount of water with 8 fixtures as they will with 100 fixtures.

[cpw]

Re: septic.
Just the in laws? No loser sister in law with 3 kids that won't leave the nest?
If your confidant the system can handle 2 more people but the health dept turns it down because of the amount of fixtures, just start removing them.
My buddy tore down his dump of a house and moved in a trailer. The inspector called him on the amount of fixtures so he took some out and told him he was going to use that area for storage. The inspector signed off and he put them back in.
I don't understand why they base it on the amount of fixtures and not the amount of people. 4 people will use the same amount of water with 8 fixtures as they will with 100 fixtures.
I had my tank pumped yesterday and the guy said that the code size is based on bedrooms. 1000 for the first 3, and then 250 for each additional. So for my four bedroom house there is a 1250 tank (+ a 1000 gallon pump pit + a 1250 overflow).

Of course you can always build a room w/o a closet and it doesn't count as a bedroom. :)

[BHD]

All you need is one pressure switch, and in theory could probly have as many tanks as you want, to build capacity, or draw down volume, the larger the draw down the easier it is on your pump on the start and stop cycle, an if one tank does fail and water log then the other tank/ tanks can keep the system going and if you valve each tank you can change it out with out disrupting the water system. Both need to precharged the same, to work efficiency, and in theory you could add the tank nearly any were along the system. even tho it is normal to have them near the pump or the pumps control system,

the only way I could see the need for two pressure switches if you check valve the line before going into the pressure tank, (and the feed each house independently from the two tanks) and have the pump on the front side of the check valve, on both pressure tanks, but unless there is a reason for the checks in that location I see no reason for two switches, and even at that it still should work with the pressure switch before the checks but I would not think there is a reason to set it up that way.

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I can gravity feed water ea sly 1/2 mile here, (it is flat here as one may figure, my storage tank is only 20' tall) and when the pressure tanks are on you can push water for miles and miles, if your piped correctly (diameter of pipe), I have a couple of 1/2+ mile line for the cattle, and you can not tell the difference at the well house or out in the pasture, (and the cattle use way more water than we use in a day).

as far as that goes, I have a windmill pumping water, 165' up and then about 3000' (thousand feet) horizontally, and then up another 30 or so feet. and there is very little special in that system,

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the only time you will more than likely have a pressure problem is if some one is flowing more capacity than the well can pump,

example: some one watering garden or lawn, it is possible that you may not have enough flow to keep the pressure at your desired want. we have had problems like that in the past when we had full flow on the cattle tanks and it would be flowing a full 3/4" line into the tanks, and my SIL has some of that problem with there in laws and there garden watering, (but setting the pressure switch up will not help any as it is a flow problem not a pressure problem,

the only way I know how to work around that type of issue is to either restrict the flow (like I did on the tanks) or get an agreement on when to water, (I had a lawn at one time with a sprinkler system and when it was on and the cattle were drinking nothing had any pressure, the cure was to water before the cattle came up to drink or wait until after they left), so we watered in the very early morning before the cattle came up,

IN that case it is a management problem.

(finally gave up on the lawn with the drought we had the last 9 years, it was not worth the money on pumping water for a green look, and I could not pump enough to keep up any way hardly, I figured that 13,000 gallons a day for a lawn was not worth it),

[Woussko]

BHD

Great post as usual

If anyone read what I posted here, after reviewing it, I removed it. My wording was a big mess. If I get it right then I'll post it here, but if not then it's best that it not be here.

[NHMaster3015]

BHD, very nice, thanks.