Well system in general???

[6pack]

How is pump size determined in a well system?? How is a pressure tank sized/(if so?) What is meant by the bladder? what is it and its function. What are the proper settings on pressure, would this have any bearing on the amount of pipe volume throughout house, or will pump just run longer to accomodate, if say 2 baths being used at same time? Is there any set time for pump to kick in(length) or out, what all governs this? TY

[Wgoodrich]

YOU SAID;
How is pump size determined in a well system?? How is a pressure tank sized/(if so?)

REPLY;
Pump motors are sized per depth of well and distance water needs to be pushed to house and size of feeder water pipe.

Pressure tank is more or less uniform on residential. Pressure tanks are not for volume but rather used to maintain a level water pressure and length of time between start and stops of pump to maintian even pressure. Without a pressure tank your water coming out of your faucet would speed up and slow down as the pump turns on and off and the pressure goes up and down rather rapidly. See explaination of bladder to follow;

YOU SAID;
What is meant by the bladder? what is it and its function.

REPLY;
A bladder is a rubber expansion diaphragm that pushes back into the pressure tank like you would blow up a balloon. Then the reason for this is that when the water turns on at the faucet the rubber diaphragm pushes evenly the water out of the faucet until the pressure reaches a minimum set water pressure. The pump then turns on still allowing the bladder to maintain an even pressure while the pump builds the pressure back up while expanding the bladder to its full maximum pressure position still maintaining the same pressure to the faucet. This limits the speeding up and slowing down of water flow out the faucet.

YOU SAID;

What are the proper settings on pressure,

REPLY;
40 to 50 pounds are recommended pressure.

YOU SAID;
would this have any bearing on the amount of pipe volume throughout house,

REPLY;
Volume of water depends on size of your feeder pipe that feeds the branch pipes to your faucets. If you have a slow water flow you can change your feeder pipe from the pump to the house and from that pressure tank to the branches so that more water volume and less resistance is experienced much like larger feeder wires to serve more branch circuits in electrical longer distances. Same technique works in plumbing.

YOU SAID;

or will pump just run longer to accomodate, if say 2 baths being used at same time?

REPLY;
pump runs longer due to the bladder being able to expand and contract inside the pressure tank. The pump will pump up to pressure about the same amount of time whether you have 1 or 2 baths running. Teh pressure tank is used to reduce the on and off and lengthen the run time of the faster pumping water pump that pumps up faster than your water flows out of your faucet.

YOU SAID;
Is there any set time for pump to kick in(length) or out, what all governs this?

REPLY;
All this is explained above. No there is no set time for a pump to run. Depends on the size of hte pump, distance to bottom of well and size of feeder pipe to house to pressure tank and size of feeder pipes inside your house serving your branch water pipe circuits to each bathroom etc.

Hope this helps clear up some cobwebs on the subject.

Wg

[6pack]

TY SIR.