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thefu
New Member
UT
4 Posts |
 Posted - Jul 15 2010 : 12:01:14 PM
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I live in Utah and we have a high-volume, low pressure secondary water source for our homes. It comes in on 1.25" pipe from the canal and then goes through a .050 mesh cone type filter before entering my pump and then out to the sprinkler valves.
Since I am pretty handy and there was no cost of install, for years I have run it basically giving in to the fact that I will just buy another $300 pump every three years and my cost was $100/year. The reason for ultimate failure over 11 years ranged from freeze damage (oops) to meltdown due to canal company shutting off water or too many people taking water from the main pipe.
It is this last issue that I once tried to remedy with a pressure switch I purchased from HD. I tried it on both sides of the pump with no success (it would oscillate or i could not get it properly adjusted).
Can someone here tell me what the "proper" set up needs to be from the secondary water source pipe to the valves?
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speedbump
admin
Riverview
Florida
6244 Posts |
Posted - Jul 15 2010 : 12:14:40 PM
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You can't install a pressure switch without a tank. If you have a centrifugal pump (which I think you do) a pressure switch is not compatible with that pump anyway. What you need is a temperature sensing device that will turn off the pump when it runs out of water. When a pump keeps churning in the same water, the temp goes up and the thermostat can save the entire pump and plumbing by shutting it off. I used to sell them, but the pricing got out of hand, they wanted me to buy far too many at once so I quit.
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thefu
New Member
UT
4 Posts |
Posted - Jul 15 2010 : 12:20:03 PM
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Can you give me a link to what you are talking about?
Also, what about those devices that sense current?
How would you configure my situation if starting from scratch?
quote:
Originally posted by speedbump
You can't install a pressure switch without a tank. If you have a centrifugal pump (which I think you do) a pressure switch is not compatible with that pump anyway. What you need is a temperature sensing device that will turn off the pump when it runs out of water. When a pump keeps churning in the same water, the temp goes up and the thermostat can save the entire pump and plumbing by shutting it off. I used to sell them, but the pricing got out of hand, they wanted me to buy far too many at once so I quit.
Products and Pricing
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speedbump
admin
Riverview
Florida
6244 Posts |
Posted - Jul 15 2010 : 12:33:51 PM
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I did some Googling and all I found was my old cached page from back when I sold them.
Can you tell me how many gallons per minute you need for your sprinklers? I'm thinking maybe a jet pump would be a better pump for the job. They come with pressure switches and you could add a tank if you want it to be automatic.
There is another company who makes a similar thermostat. Let me see if I can find that guys address and phone #.
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speedbump
admin
Riverview
Florida
6244 Posts |
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thefu
New Member
UT
4 Posts |
Posted - Jul 15 2010 : 12:42:48 PM
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The pump I have is a Water Ace R20L. I just ordered a new impeller and diffuser for it to fix the fused pair that have currently made it inop.
At this time I don't want to replace the pump as I can fix it for just $38
I don't know how much pressure I need but I run standard sprinklers on it and the farthest run is about at 8-10' of head from the pump. The biggest set of sprinklers has 5 Orbit sprayers that spray out about 20-25'
I even thought of a float switch in a bucket with a couple of holes in it below the switch. Have a small line from the source drizzle feed the bucket, when the source went dry, the bucket would drain below the switch and the switch would turn off a relay to the pump. Ghetto, but it would work. :) |
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thefu
New Member
UT
4 Posts |
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speedbump
admin
Riverview
Florida
6244 Posts |
Posted - Jul 15 2010 : 1:11:00 PM
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The pump you bought will always be a problem no matter what. But it's not designed for a pressure switch, so the best thing is the temperature sensor.
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Shutoff switch when no pressure
