Ever wonder if a storage tank system is right for you? Jim Blair, President of Bee Cave Drilling explains several advantages of how this system can save you! www.beecavedril... Be sure to subscribe!
Everything this guy said is on point. I also work in the water industry and I always try to tell people with a well supplying their house they should use this exact setup.
Great video content! Sorry for chiming in, I would appreciate your thoughts. Have you researched - Proutklarton Protecting Aqua Plan (should be on google have a look)? It is a great one off guide for getting prepared for a mega drought without the headache. Ive heard some amazing things about it and my good mate called Gray after a lifetime of fighting got excellent results with it.
Excellent Video clip! Apologies for chiming in, I am interested in your opinion. Have you thought about - Proutklarton Protecting Aqua Plan (probably on Google)? It is a great one off guide for getting prepared for a mega drought minus the headache. Ive heard some amazing things about it and my mate at very last got amazing results with it.
Great video with lots of great info. I did the same setup with the following exceptions. 1. Used a beige enduraplas tank. The tank does not allow sunlight (no algae) and keeps my water cooler than my neighbors black tank. I added an overflow with bug screen that also vents heat. Our water stay really cool even in the 102 dog days of the TX heat. 2. Used a cycle stop valve in lieu of traditional bladder tank. The constant water pressure is amazing! Plus it stops it minimizes pump cycling when washing dishes, taking a shower or watering the grass. The sulfur smell is GONE from our NON filtered water. A water tank is the way to go for sure . . sucks to have a huge tank outside, but the piece of mind and high quality water makes it ok with me! 😊
@@pt8614 MIght want to provide more info? I am guessing you currently have a deep well pump AND adding a cistern? So you will want to add a jet pump? Also, how large is your house? Bathrooms? Pool? Sprinklers etc?
@@0robsatx0 live in a mobile home community. Well water service supplied by park is spotty and constantly breaking down. I own a 3/2, 1450 sq ft. Want some storage capacity for outages that last a day or so at most. Also want to have consistent water pressure. That is also a problem at times. No pool, sprinklers, etc. to worry about.
@@pt8614 The average American uses 88 gallons of water per day. So figure 88 x number of folks in house. Since not watering a lot or have a thirsty pool. I am guessing based on 3 /2 you have 4 people living in the house. So figure 350 gallons per day (you can tighten up when water is out of course). I would consider at LEAST a 1,000 gallon tank. I would add a 230V Goulds J10S if you want really good water pressure the J7S would probably be sufficient. I am NOT a plumber or well guy I just did a bunch of research. I need to put a video together showing how I connected it all. There is a lot of little moving parts to make this thing fly. I saved about $5K doing it myself over using the local well drilling companies . . but keep in mind it is a lot of work and they are charging a fair rate. I would bet I had about 150 hours of design, research and installation time. I had planned to use the water well guys, but they could not get to me for weeks! Here in Texas they are always busy. If you have the budget use a pro . . oh and for constant water pressure I used a CSV valve and a 10 gallon tank. Most people will use larger bladder tank . . but I did not like the dip in water pressure. We went from an 88 gallon bladder tank to the 10 gallon tank with a CSV valve. Could not be happier with the water pressure.
Awesome video. Very convincing info on why to get a storage tank. I get water with sediment and this system works perfectly for me because I now have a three tank system! The overflow water keeps getting cleaner as it moves from tank to tank!
I lived in this home 24 years with a 560 ft well with 400 ft pump depth. Always had water but always had some superfine silt. I added storage tank with booster pump and now I no longer have time to read a book while a horse trough fills. 30 gpm is so much better than 5-7 gpm. And that is 30 gpm @ 35 psi not 5-7 @ 15-20 psi. You know what shower massage shower head is good for with volume and pressure.
Do you have a pressure tank after the storage tank? He says something about with no power it will flow to anything down hill but I assume the booster pump fills another pressure tank so that they can have small flows of water for a kitchen faucet etc.
Thanks for the video, I’ve got a 5 ring Concrete Storage Tank that works great. I’ve been recommending above ground tanks to my neighbors in 78163 for years.
Water doesn't go "stale" over time due to just sitting. Its the introduction of sunlight to the water that can let algae grow. So, choose a dark tank that will stop the sunlight. It is rare for our customers to have water sitting in a tank that long. But, if you do, you can either add some chlorine to the tank a few hours before you consume it, or just dump the tank and start over.
I don't give out my email address on this platform. But you can go to my website www.beecavedrilling.com and fill out a service request form and it will get to me.
Is there a pressure tank after the big storage tank before it gets to the house? Otherwise how does it work if you just want a small amount (3 GPM or something) of water? It sure would be nice to have a backup of that much water.
Theres a big flaw on those float switches. If water level becomes low from the upper float then well pump starts but in the case where it cant pump water because sometimes water on aquifer level is low then the pump will just keep on running regardless of the size of the tank used. Im looking for a time based switch on my pump. The system works with that setup but it works while assumed there is water being pumped out from the well. Its totally different when pump cant pump water you might just burn energy for nothing and break the pump.
You are correct, the float switches do not protect the pump from dry run. And this is a big deal. That is why we always use a pumpsaver to protect the pump from dry run. Be careful with the use of timers. The flow you get from your well change vary depending upon recharge rates and other factors. A pumpsaver is a much wiser choice as it reacts to the pump sucking air. Check out my video on pumpsavers.
Yep! That's definitely a problem I've faced in the past. Left to work around 5 or 6 in the morning, there was still water. Neighbor, with whom I share water from my pump, told me that around 8am there was no water! I came back at night! The pump had been running dry all day long... Yes, it was a new pump deal! Not fun. :-(
Thank you Sir!!! I have a slow well (1gpm if I'm lucky) and an iron scrubber that runs me dry when it runs (100-125 gallon backflush). I was going to install a rainwater collection system, but it was getting too complex. Your solution changed my whole thinking and simplified the system. Thank you! So-- if I pump the well into a storage tank like this, the iron settles out, do I still need an iron scrubber? If I put in a Used a cycle stop valve can I eliminate the well-x-trol? I have an aquasana whole-house system (I need to install it), everything will go through that before it goes into the house. Then I would add the rain-water collection into another tank and have it jet-pump into THIS TANK. Can I hire you to help me do a design. You wouldn't have to come here, but I would pay you for your time to help me put a parts list together and a source of those parts.
The storage tank will help remove some of the iron. But, if you have a lot of iron, it may not take it all out. The tank will certainly multiply the volume of water that your well gives you so that the backflush is not robbing all your water. A cycle stop valve can help to use a smaller pressure tank, but you still have to have one. Be careful with the cycle stop valve. If you don't get it set just right, it can cause problems. I can certainly give you advice but you need to know that i am not a water treatment specialist. My specialty is in providing water so i won't be much help with the water treatment side.
@@jimblair1 I've got the safety/water/quality issue handled... is there a way I can send you a drawing with my "connections" later it for your review. Willing to pay for consultation
If you get a thick dark tank, then there won't be enough sunlight for algae growth. Any metal tank is fine. Plastic tanks that are black are always best but a dark green works too. If you get a tan or lighter color, then make sure it is really thick. If its fiberglass, you can paint it to stop the sunlight if they don't have a light blocker built into the tank. You can also control algae with chlorine. But, don't bother putting in a tank and just cleaning it occasionally. That will be a complete disaster. Been there. Done that.
This is the knowledge i am looking for....does the water tank increase the water pressure as well? What if i connect my tap water directly to the tank and the tank distribute them to the house will it increase the low water pressure that i have?
The water pressure you will get will be set by the booster pump that is installed on the tank. So, you can put whatever booster pump you want and get any pressure you want. Yes, generally, you get much better water pressure with this type of system. But that all depends on the way you install the system.
@@jimblair1 do we still need a pressure tank inside the well house then? or is the booster pump enough to send water straight to our filter systems and into the house?
@@JessicaBriarmoon Yes, you will need a pressure tank for your booster pump. The size of pressure tank will depend upon the type of booster pump. If it is a constant pressure pump then it can be fairly small. But you should check with the booster pump manufacturer to see what is recommended.
Jim- I'm in Upstate NY looking to put a similar system in the basement without the added benefit of gravity feeding (since all fixtures are one story above). Do you have any recommendations for suppliers that can provide the equipment needed to place a 200-300 gallon (needs to fit through a basement door) storage tank that can be installed between the well and pressure tank? I'm assuming I need the following: storage tank (duh), pump between storage tank to pressure tank, and a control system to shut off the well pump.Thanks for the great explanation.
I don't know any suppliers or installers in your area. Here is a great reference tool to find a reputable installer in your area. goulds.com/dealer-locator/ If you need more help, i would Google water well supply in your area. Good Luck.
Great videos! Curious, how do you protect these tanks from a freeze? Is the volume of water enough to keep that from happening? Does the water need to be treated in the tank beyond what would be needed for a standard pressure tank? Can it be supplemented w/ rain water or is it a closed system? Thx.
Ahh. One of the joys of living in Central Texas is that we have few freezing problems. Our average low in the winter is 40 degrees. With 3 days below freezing, we develop about 2" of ice on the walls. If i were in a cold climate, i would have to put the tank in basement to keep it from freezing. We do not treat the water in the tank in most situations. Yes, you can put rainwater in the tank but there are several problems. 1. when it rains the tank will just overflow unless you keep the tank fill level low. 2. Rainwater is soft but has bacteria, Well water has hard water with no bacteria. If you mix the waters, you have to treat all the water for both issues.
@@jimblair1 aahhhhh. Understood. So with that freak winter mess the other day, how have your tank systems held up across Austin, Bee Cave and Bastrop? I'm sure those icy weeks are going to be the new normal.
@@Steffonned We certainly learned some lessons in the "Blizzard of '21". We had 6" of ice in many storage tanks. Those that kept some water running did just fine. But, when the power went out, many were not able to keep the water running. If you want to build a system that will handle that kind of storm in the future, my recommendation is to put the storage tank inside the pump house. Insulate the pump house walls. And get a heater that runs on something other than electricity as a backup. i used a small propane heater that mounted on top of my 5 gallon propane bottle. Every time the power went out, i ran out there and fired it up.
Question: So if I have a sulfur (rotten eggs) have a storage tank will eliminate this or do I still need to take other steps. Currently building out by Fredericksburg (y'all did well across the street) and I want to make sure the smell does not get into the internal of house or irrigation system. Go LT!!!
This looks like a great system. What type of maintenance will be needed on the storage tank? Should it to be drained, cleaned, chlorinated, or once set up is it good to go for a specific period of time?
Cleaning is only necessary if you put dirty water in the tank. As long as the tank is dark enough to stop light from getting in, then you won't have algae growth. If you have sediment, that will fall out and will need to be cleaned out. We use a pool vacuum cleaner and just get a siphon going. That takes about 20 minutes to clean the floor of the tank. But how often you do it depends upon how dirty the water is. Most of these tanks can hold around 200 gallons of sediment before they need to be cleaned.
@@jimblair1 Question, if the booster is sitting on the floor of the tank, wouldn't it suck up the sediment? Does the booster sit up a bit so that doesn't happen?
Is there a problem with doing an in-ground tank? We have an excavator so we can bury it. I'm working on trying to make a list of supplies to get our water going. We had the well dug and of course it has a pump but thats it. Its slow so we want to do storage like this. I figured out the filter situation but I need to get all the other parts. I've watched this a few times, can you see if I got this correctly :). A storage tank, the booster pump (Goulds J15s ), the SJE-Rhombus pumpmaster plus (Checking my notes: 3 of these float switches you said, right? 1 near the top about 1/4 down so it turns on the well pump to refill as its being used, one about 3/4 way down to notify you its not refilling and to cut off the booster pump temporarily if the well gets low before the tank is empty. On that one, you flip the switch to allow usage of that last bit of water. Then the bottom one that shuts off the booster pump so it doesn't burn it up. That all correct? Thanks again for the info! its been very helpful. :)
Wow Jessica, you are taking on a big project. I hope you know how to wire up all this equipment. If you bury a tank, it can be a huge challenge. First you have to find a tank that can withstand the ground pressure. Unlike a septic tank, this tank will empty at times and the ground will crush a regular tank. Second, you have to figure out how to keep it from popping out of the ground. Cementing it in place tends to work if you are in rock. The J15s is a great booster. It needs an 85 gallon pressure tank. Like the Goulds V250 or similar. The pumpmaster plus is the correct float switch for this. You will need one "pump up" and two "pump down" models. This is a big job. You might consider working with one of your local water well professionals. They can make the job go a lot smoother.
@@jimblair1 Thanks so much for responding. Your concerns make sense, so we will go with above ground to be safe and just hide it behind some trees. Unfortunately the area well guys are terrible at communication. Took a long time just to get the well dug (many months after booking) and emails since then tend to go un-responded to. There just isn't anyone around here passionate about what they do and it shows. My husband is plumbing and wiring the whole house, so I think he will be ok doing this project if I have all the parts figured out for him. In fact I'd pay you to just make a drawing of our system and supplies so he has a blueprint to follow. I think I have most of it figured out, but even just buying him all the right size pipes etc would save him time back and forth to the hardware store. I have on order the pump and 3 floats, a 86 gal pressure tank, springwell filters, pressure gages and valves. Got a sediment filter to run through before the water fills into the tank to help keep the tank from being filled with sediment so fast. Any problem you see with doing that?
Jim, we have a 5000 gallon water storage tank connected to our well, this is the first time we've ever had a property with a well on it. Was wondering if I were to connect a hose bib at the bottom half of the storage tank if the water pressure in and of itself would be sufficient enough to combat a wild fire, as in, in the event of an electrical outage what's the best method to access the water within the tank. And if the gravity of the water by itself in your opinion is not sufficient to combat a fire , what type of gas water pump would you recommend to access the water via the manhole atop the tank? ( Question aside, excellent video. Thank you! )
The pressure you get from gravity is 43 psi for every 100' of water above the outlet. You have about 10' so the pressure will only be around 4 psi. Clearly that is not enough. You can get a trash pump from your local hardware store or tractor supply. They can build about 25 psi which in the right conditions could be useful. Or you can buy a permanent pump that is built in for that purpose. i have many customers that have me set that up with a 1.5" fire hose and fire nozzle. We wire in a switch on the side of the pump house and hang the hose on the side for quick access. Just flip the switch and start using water. But for that to work you need to add a bulkhead to the side of the tank for that pump to connect to. If you go up through the manhole, your pump will lose prime. As the fire burns your place down, you will be sitting there trying to prime the pump. If that is your plan, don't bother doing it. In my opinion, do it right or don't do it at all.
@@jimblair1 " Do it right or don't do it at all. " Amen! After inspection yesterday noticed the bulk-head is already in place as such half the battles won. Ty for the excellent advice.
The type of pump depends on the demands of your water system. For home use, i recommend a jet pump or a multistage pump. I like the Goulds J10S, J15S, 3HM06, & 5HM06. For irrigation only, i like the Goulds GT10, GT15, or GT20.
The price for one of these systems fully constructed ranges from $7000 to $10,000 depending upon how big and fancy you want and how well your system is set up for the addtional work. If you want a free estimate, just contact me and we will have a project manager come to the site to offer you a free design and estimate. jimblair@beecavedrilling.com or 512-894-4221. Thanks,
The best place to check water quality is always at your point of use. So, regardless of what equipment the water flows through, you are testing the water you will actually be using after it flows through all the equipment. You can always take the lid off and get a sample right out of the top of the tank if you want.
First of all, if this is for a water well, make sure you get a mechanical float switch rather than a mercury switch. while the mercury switch is a better product, they are not approved for drinking water applications because they have the ability to leak mercury into your drinking water. So get a mechanical switch that can handle the amp draw that your pump has. I like the SJE Pumpmaster Plus for most applications. But there are other good ones on the market.
They are in TX it looks like. That much water would never freeze in most (all?) parts of TX. I was kind of wondering about the pipes that come down the side though
Yes, as long as it is set up right and you have less than 25' of suction lift from the water level to the pump. Put a foot valve at the end of the suction pipe.
PLEASE, DO NOT use "river" water without checking/treatment! The potential for problems is way far than needed. Use common sense, before the pump! ;-) With this said, I do use "mountain" water that flows into a couple of underground tanks! In my very special and rare area. I can still use water in this condition. But this is the exception nowadays. far from being the rule! Be well.
Yes, the water is drinkable from the tank. The only two concerns are the contact with the tank material and the fact that the water is open to the atmosphere. Make sure you use a tank that is made from materials that you are happy with. Depending upon who you ask, everything causes cancer. It is also possible for your water to get bacteria from the atmosphere. If you are worried about that, you can add a chlorinator or UV light to kill bacteria. At my house, i use a poly tank and i don't have anything to kill bacteria.
@@jimblair1 Well, if you are still alive and making videos that means that the bacteria or the plastic should cause no issues, thanks due the videos and the response.
The water in dark tanks can get up around 90 degrees. If you have at least 100' of water line back to the house that will cool it back down. If you make that water line a bigger pipe, it helps even more. We also offer tan colored tanks that won't get so hot.
@@caoeric7823 Well, first of all, it helps to live in an area that doesn't get crazy cold. But you do have to get more serious about freeze protection. If i lived somewhere cold, i would probably put that storage tank inside the pump house and get some good heaters.