electric water pump and storage tank schematic diagram

[BillH52]

ban1216 ... here is the solution I think you were searching for in your initial post. Diagram included.

I live 3km W of Muean Buriram bus station on the outskirts of town.

My home has a 1000 litre water tank that feeds the house via a 240v Mitsubishi pump on the outlet side. This gives beaut constant water pressure anywhere in the house.

The 1000 litre tank is filled direct from the mains via mains pressure. Trouble is, the mains pressure is often too low to refill my tank. At best, it occasionally dribbles in overnight, but the reliability was pathetic, and many times my 1000 litre tank almost ran dry, to the point where my neighbours became my best friends for showers !!

The solution was easy in the end. Just after the water meter, I ran a new pipe bypassing the 1000 litre tank, to near the electric pump. Shut a few valves, then turned the pump on, and now it sucks the water direct from the mains and into my 1000 litre tank via a common garden hose.

Does not matter now how low the mains pressure is, as the pumping is sucking. Just got to make sure the meter is spinning furiously, otherwise you could run the pump dry and seize it. If there is water coming through the garden hose, then all is well.

Takes about 1hr to fill 900 litres via this method. When my tank is full, I shut off the garden hose, reopen a few valves, and go back to relying on mains pressure to hopefully refill my tank next time.

I have also fitted nice new plastic guttering around my carport roof, attached a fitting for garden hose and run it direct via gravity into my tank in the carport. You would be amazed how much rainwater comes off your roof and goes to waste.

One decent downpour will add 300-400 litres of clean rainwater into my tank. Little bit of dirt comes off the roof initially, so I connect the hose after first couple minutes of rainfall.

Hope the above has been helpful. Certainly, connecting the pump to suck out of the mains, rather than rely on mains pressure has made all the difference. I now have an assured water supply.

 

Have read similar solutions in BKK posts; according to those posts, trade off here is your neighbors may be scratching their heads as to why they have zero water pressure at all while you are filling your tank.
As for roof or carport drainage, once the roof is cleaned by the first couple hours of rain, we capture every drop until ALL rainwater tanks are full (approx 50,000 Liters worth).  Once settled in tanks, it is completely safe to drink, but some may be used for other purposes.

[smoooth2]

Hi BillH52 ... 50000 lt of water storeage is impressive    you must have a nice garden ?

Certainly, collecting rainwater off the roof is a fantastic top up, and it does surprise me that so many homes have no gutters to utilise this free resource. My neighbours had a bit of a watching me erect the guttering on my carport. I'm sure they were thinking "weird Aussie guy living next door..."

They regularly have the "red fire truck water tanker" delivering water to their place. No gutters on their roof.

With regards to zero mains pressure for my neighbours whilst I fill my tank ... interesting theory ... but I suppose it depends on how big the mains pipe is outside my house. I assume the mains is always full of water, albeit with very low pressure, so I'm not sure that me drawing 10-15 lt per min for 1hr should make THAT much of a difference.

Surely a mains pipe can cope with that ??

I dunno ... I'm not an hydraulic engineer. Perhaps another member can offer expert info on this matter ?

[ban1216]

Thank you smooth 2 that was just the information i wanted andvery clear