Well tanks water pressure

Gentlemen,

What are the typical set points to set the well water tank? I'm at 30psi on & 50psi off? I have two tanks piped in parallel.
Wifey always complaining bout low water pressure? I'm on lower end to minimize water pump in well cycle time. What's typical?

I run mine at 40psi on 60psi off, also remember your tanks air pressure should be set @2psi lower than the on pressure so in your case 28psi. you'll have to turn your pump off and drain the tanks to check and set the pressure...

Typical well water system pressures are (On/Off): 20/40, 30/50, 40/60. These are the most common presets for pressure switches. A lot depends on the recovery rate of your well and the condition and capacity of your pump.

Try the 40/60 settings but, make sure that the pressure in the air side of your tank is 2 pounds less than the low setting. Measure it with a tire gauge with the pump shut off completely and all pressure bled off the water side of the system. After starting the pump again, if the system cannot reach 60 psi in a reasonable amount of time, say two minutes, then your pump isn't up to the task of a 60psi system. Usually 1/2 hp shallow well pumps are 30/50 systems.

If after doing all this your water pressure is still bad, you might check any filters on the system and change those, clean all strainers and aerators, especially the tiny pin hole jets in the white nylon part of the aerator, not just the screens. I had a customer complain about a pump I sold him. I went to the house and of course he swore all was clear in the aerators as I was taking it apart. I took a pin and cleaned the pinholes of polyethylene shards from his installation work. Great pressure and flow after that!

Good advise from u235a4. It never hurts to check the pressure in the tank occasionally. I run my tank at 40/60 also. But I have a 3/4hp pump down in my 90ft well.

I have a 30/50 pressure switch and have no complaints about pressure. It is not as much as a most city water pressure but plenty for me.

Defective wife?

Cap, don't you have a two story house??? You need more pressure to have decent water pressure in the upstairs.. When I completed my upstairs master bathroom, I had to turn up my water pressure to have a decent shower upstairs..

Stay warm.

Greg L.

U235 and Mike&Gerry gave good advise. Read 'em twice & follow directions.

I have a 3/4 HP & run 40-60.

Good advice so far. I'll just add most complaints about water pressure can be traced to "water saver" shower heads. I call them Al Gore Shower heads. Tale it off and remove the flow restrictor. See if that doesn't end the complaints.

Thanks everyone for the settings advice. I'll bump it up to 40/60 and adjust the air pressure in the tanks to 38psi.

I intentionally kept the water pressure a little low cause no one in my home knows the technique of a 5min shower. Two boys each use 20mins, impossible! Having well water, never really know but especially the dry season from May through Sept, I always wonder how much water is down there. I have no idea pump size either. I could measure amps. But I am betting 1/2hp based on original installation of wx201..

When I moved in here in 2002, only had small water tank on left in image. I bought the larger tank on right. Upon reading into it, realized I could pipe in parallel which is what i did. Works great and cuts down on pump cycle time but pressure drops off slowly & recovery can be a little slow on the up swing. But still much better than what I had with the small tank. I get 21gals total at 30/50, at 40/60 I'll see 17gals before the pump cycles on. I have the wx201 & wx250.

gambler wrote:I have a 3/4hp pump down in my 90ft well

I wish, I have a 2HP pump hanging at 500 ft. When I had the well drilled 12 years ago the driller didn't even hit a wet spot until 460 ft then at 480 he hit a gusher that had the well overflowing for a year. I agree with the Al Gore shower head, toss the restrictor.

The loss of presure for hight is .43 lbs per foot.higher that where the switch is.

flow restrictors suck,either throw them out or drill them out.

If you think you got it bad with 2 boys my wife will ask me at night if I'm done using hot water.That means she'll be taking a shower untill the water runs out.
AND I HAVE A 120 GAL. WATER HEATER !!!
DON

Steve.N wrote:

gambler wrote:I have a 3/4hp pump down in my 90ft well

I wish, I have a 2HP pump hanging at 500 ft. When I had the well drilled 12 years ago the driller didn't even hit a wet spot until 460 ft then at 480 he hit a gusher that had the well overflowing for a year. I agree with the Al Gore shower head, toss the restrictor.

When I had my well drilled they hit good water at 42ft. But the well driller said you don't want that as it may run dry on you at some point. So he cased it off and kept drilling and hit water again at 85 ft. He started hitting slate at 90 ft so that is where he stopped. He told me that if he broke through the slate he would be on top or a coal seem and the water quality would suck. He was able to bail 34 gal. a minute but could not bail my well dry.

There is usually a minimum time you want the pump to run, usually 1 minute.

I have very acid (ph = 5.7) well water. Keeping my water system reliable has been a many year learning experience. Large storage tanks are a plus because they reduce short cycles and keep the pump running much longer. I had to use all stainless pumps and fittings plus an atypical tank. My 60 gallon steel diaphragm tank has the pressure switch on the air side of the diaphragm. When you think about it all well water tanks should be like that. The air pressure and water pressure is the same, so why not put the switch on the air side? It protects the switch and gauge from water corrosion. See: http://www.statewaterheaters.com/prod/p ... -pmap.html

Yanche wrote:why not put the switch on the air side?

Oh gosh... some of the simplest ideas get over looked fo so long. How come A: this wasn't done years ago and B: they all aren't this way now?