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More water at my wash station

I have a question on how to get more water to our wash station. Presently we are using well water (pump in the well) to a pressure tank in the basement then about 80 feet through 1" pipe to the barn then out to the wash station in 1.25" to 3/4" hoses. Currently we have nice pressure/flow on one of the spray stations. We would like to get that same pressure to 2-3 spray stations.

My best idea is to put a cube (1m3), jet pump and pressure tank out in the barn, and crank up the pressure in it (instead of to the whole house). Does this make sense? Other ideas?

jennajane's picture

Ok, I think this might work, I found a 3/4 hp jet pump on sale, and drew up a schematic for how it should work. The jet pump comes with electronic pressure control, which I am curious to see how it works. The idea is...

1) Under light use the pump in the house provides enough pressure that the jet pump doesn't kick in. 2) The water cube is always full because of the float valve, if the cube goes empty then the float switch cuts the power to the pump. 3) Under heavy use at the wash station, the jet pump turns on, closes the check valve and provides enough pressure at the wash station.

I am hoping to take it to my local plumber tomorrow to see what he thinks, but the veggies are starting to come in from the field and we are already beginning to feel the lack of water pressure when there are 2+ farmers washing.

jenna

jennajane's picture

Ok, so if anyone is following this I finally got it all hooked up and tested today and it works!!! I tested it out by filling a 20L bucket at one spray station with and without the pump, and the filling 2 buckets simultaneously at 2 spray stations. See attached graphic. I was able to fill one bucket 35% faster with the pumping setup than before and 2 buckets 45% faster. I was even able to fill 2 buckets with the pump faster than 1 bucket without the pump. I did, however, go a bit over my budget.

$230 - 3/4hp Shallow Well Jet Pump $140 - 250 gallon water tank $30 - electric float switch $145 - all the plumbing filltings

I hope this helps someone. I have a third spray station roughed in, but haven't set it up yet. If anyone is curious you can see some pics of the building of the wash station on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.458199554207665.117200.393205067373781&type=3

Jenna