Water pressure pump?

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SecondMonkey

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Unfortunately my new shop is about 200 yards from the water meter and most of that is 1/2" plumbing. I get almost 80 PSI pressure from the hose bib, but when turned on full blast I only get about 150 gallons/hour. That is pathetic. I can pee faster than that. My hose at home is around 800gal/hour. I can't even hook my pressure washer up to that at the shop. (3GPM)

I can get a clean, food grade 330 gallon "tote tank" for pretty cheap, and hook it up with a float valve so it fills itself like a toilet. Then, with an electric pump, I can draw much more than 150GPH. Kind of like an air reservoir.

My question is what kind of pump do I need? I'll basically consider my tank to be a "shallow well". Will a pump like this work?
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=2955
I've never had a well before, so I'm not quite sure what the 5 gallon tank does? Would this provide me a continuous 800+ GPH out of my hose?

Then there's this pump, but I think it's designed to work with input pressure, not gravity feed. Am I wrong? It's on sale for only $99 at the local store. Maybe I wouldn't need the tank with this kind of pump?
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=96719

Then again I could go gas powered, I wonder how many PSI this thing can put out?
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=66585
 
What elevation changes do you have from where the tote will be to your pump & then to the output? What is the total pipe/hose length on the suction side of the pump & on the discharge? What size pipe/hose? I assume you will be using the connection at the bottom of the tote? That would be best for a flooded pump suction.

Only city water? Will this be used for drinking water as well in the shop or only pressure washer, washing car, etc. type stuff?

I think you would probably want to look at booster pumps. We have a Sta-Rite to boost the pressure in our house. It is connected to a pressurized reservoir. 40 psi is the low limit & 70 psi is the high limit.

What size water meter?
 
Originally Posted By: benjamming
What elevation changes do you have from where the tote will be to your pump & then to the output? What is the total pipe/hose length on the suction side of the pump & on the discharge? What size pipe/hose? I assume you will be using the connection at the bottom of the tote? That would be best for a flooded pump suction.

Only city water? Will this be used for drinking water as well in the shop or only pressure washer, washing car, etc. type stuff?

I would most likely hook the pump up to the discharge from the bottom of the tank, and only maybe 50' of good 3/4" hose after that. Not for drinking, just shop stuff. And all the water I can use is included in my rent.
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Originally Posted By: benjamming
I think you would probably want to look at booster pumps. We have a Sta-Rite to boost the pressure in our house. It is connected to a pressurized reservoir. 40 psi is the low limit & 70 psi is the high limit.

What size water meter?

Yeah...I'm trying to avoid one of those water heater sized pressure reservoirs. Too expensive.
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I don't know what size the meter is, but I used to have 5x as much water in my old shop, in the same building, but it was a lot closer to the meter. Now I'm in a seperate building out in the corner and I'm willing to bet the plumbing that goes over there does not meet any codes. I may talk to the landlord about running a new pipe...
 
If you're looking at pumps, you a DIY'er, right?

Ask the landlord to rent you a trencher and buy you 1" or 1 1/4" inch waterline. Run it all the way to the meter.

You're going to have a hard time sucking more water with a pump than you can get out of the hose bib. The resorvoir should work, but I think it'd be a hassle keeping the float working, etc. I'd be a little suspicious of the HF pumps holding up.

A large pressure tank would give you great flow for a short period of time. With 80 psi static, you probably wouldn't need a pump. For example, here's a 85 gallon tank that would give you a 26 gallons as fast as you want it. If that's enough for what you're wanting, that should be a reliable solution.
 
Originally Posted By: ksJoe
Ask the landlord to rent you a trencher and buy you 1" or 1 1/4" inch waterline. Run it all the way to the meter.

I wish I could, but it's concrete and blacktop all the way.
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I was thinking I could run a line along the top of a brick wall that leads from the first building to mine, but I forgot about the issue of freezing. I don't think a pressure tank will hold enough water for me, I want enough hose to squirt off a muddy old truck or something.

However an advantage of a large "tote tank" water reservoir is that it would act like a road block beside my building where the theives like to get in an out...(with razor wire on top
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The water reservoir will freeze too. Or were you thinking of draining it in the winter? If you're only wanting it for summer usage, the water line run along the fence would work fine too. Hook it up to an air compressor and blow it out in the fall.
 
Northern Tools have a selection of booster pumps Look them up and get an idea what there is on the market. Usually a pressure washers use no more than 5 gallons per minute for the highest power ones.
 
Originally Posted By: ksJoe
The water reservoir will freeze too. Or were you thinking of draining it in the winter? If you're only wanting it for summer usage, the water line run along the fence would work fine too. Hook it up to an air compressor and blow it out in the fall.

I might install a small heating element just to keep it above freezing. Or I might put it in the shed which will probably stay above freezing. We have relatively mild winters.

I do have underground sprinklers in a flower bed which are part of a larger sprinkler system for the whole place. I'm wondering if there might be an extra pipe I could tap somewhere from that. I know it's not hooked up to my building. Probably nothing that would work without the sprinklers being on though...

I do have a pressure washer but often I prefer more flow, lower pressure, than the opposite. Rinsing vs cleaning I guess.
 
Well, a two liter bottle will hold over a 100 PSI, then take multiple hits from a slingshot before it thunders apart (ahhh, high school memories).

But I wouldn't pressurize anything that large, especially with it being square shaped. The tank you linked to is around 2,500 square inches per side. At 10 PSI, that's over a ton of force on each side...
 
Hmm, maybe even just 1-5 PSI would work and be better than gravity feed alone. It does have the metal cage around the sides. I know they put all kinds of hazardous chemicals in these things that must outgas to some degree, much like gas in a can. I'll see what the MFG's have to say about it.

I would really like to use this pump that I linked earlier with the big tank:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=96719
though I'm not sure it will draw water without much pressure coming in? I think I'm going to buy one for $99 before they go off sale, and if it doesn't work I'll take it back.
 
It will run fine with a flooded suction especially with water at room temperature. There's no way that thing will cavitate unless you start vortexing in the tank. Then just install a simple vortex breaker.
 
SecondMonkey,

I don't know if this is relevant, but here is a link to a "similar" booster pump that shows a set up exactly like you desire. Click on the installation manual at the page bottom and go to page 7: according to this site, you need no incoming pressure...other than gravity pressure

http://www.pressurebooster.com/

Be aware of algae growing in your supply tank and make sure the suction/supply pipe is non collapsible.

After you get this going, please follow up with your results. I am curious how well the pressure regulator works vs. a bladder tank system.

Good luck!
 
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Probably. The tote tank I was going to get is no longer available so I've decided to use four 55 gallon drums plumbed together, probably stacked on top of eachother for more pressure.
 
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