Water pressure

[Inderpland]

The pressure in the water mains is too weak to supply my tank and will remain so in the foreseeable future and paying 300 Baht for muddy water every 5 days is an inconvenient and unappealing option.

I wonder about using and air driven ejector to suck the water from the mains into my tank and would like to ask if anyone has tried this possible(?) solution?

Edited April 14, 2020 by Inderpland

[bankruatsteve]

You don't want to do that.  It is most likely illegal even in Thailand and nasty things could happen.  If the pressure is too low to fill your tank there is probably not going to be anything to suck anyway.  You shouldn't have to buy muddy water though.  What do your neighbors do?  Does your village head offer any solution?

[metempsychotic]

Install a tank and a pump. 

 

Every house I have lived in in thailand has had this set up.

 

Have the tank filled once and have mains feed keep tank full with a ball valve.

[lopburi3]

It most surely is illegal to pump from mains (was often done 30 years ago - a lot of soapy water to drink as other homes had hose in wash tubs).  He said mains will not fill his tank so only real alternative other than buying would be to have tank underground so filling at ground level.  An alternative would be making a sump and using a small pump to get into tank.

[Crossy]

4 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

An alternative would be making a sump and using a small pump to get into tank.

 

Plastic wash tub or waste bin at (or even below if the pressure is that awful) ground level, filling from the mains, small submersible with a float switch to fill the main tank.

 

Tub fills slowly from mains, level gets high enough submersible starts and runs until the wash tub is empty. 

Repeat.

 

[Fruit Trader]

21 minutes ago, metempsychotic said:

Install a tank and a pump. 

 

Every house I have lived in in thailand has had this set up.

 

Have the tank filled once and have mains feed keep tank full with a ball valve.

Then he will have two tanks.

[Inderpland]

30 minutes ago, metempsychotic said:

Install a tank and a pump. 

 

Every house I have lived in in thailand has had this set up.

 

Have the tank filled once and have mains feed keep tank full with a ball valve.

I have that already, that's why I said "The pressure in the water mains is too weak to supply my tank".

[Inderpland]

24 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

It most surely is illegal to pump from mains (was often done 30 years ago - a lot of soapy water to drink as other homes had hose in wash tubs).  He said mains will not fill his tank so only real alternative other than buying would be to have tank underground so filling at ground level.  An alternative would be making a sump and using a small pump to get into tank.

I used to have two composite/plastic(?) tanks buried underground but they both cracked so had to get an overground one again. The underground tanks were a much better solution as water flowed a lot more easily and often.

 

As the ejector ideas apparently is illegal I'll modify the gutter to utilize what little rain there is to replenish the tank.

[sometimewoodworker]

43 minutes ago, bankruatsteve said:

You don't want to do that.  It is most likely illegal even in Thailand and nasty things could happen.

It is absolutely illegal here, though sometimes people do it. The dangers are numerous, one being contamination of (or more) everyone’s water supply.

[metempsychotic]

20 minutes ago, Fruit Trader said:

Then he will have two tanks.

Well it may well be what he needs to keep enough water on hand to satisfy demand. 

 

Harvesring rain water is a good option, but he also needs to check consumption, low flow toilets and showers etc.

 

Ultimately if there isnt enough water coming in he will need to import.

 

Sucking water straight out of the mains could lead to a world of hurt for both him and his neighbors.

[Yellowtail]

On 4/14/2020 at 12:04 AM, Crossy said:

 

Plastic wash tub or waste bin at (or even below if the pressure is that awful) ground level, filling from the mains, small submersible with a float switch to fill the main tank.

 

Tub fills slowly from mains, level gets high enough submersible starts and runs until the wash tub is empty. 

Repeat.

 

 

This seems like a great solution to me...

[vogie]

On 4/14/2020 at 2:20 PM, Inderpland said:

I have that already, that's why I said "The pressure in the water mains is too weak to supply my tank".

How big is your tank? I had a similar problem, I had a 1.5k litre tank and I was getting black dirty water, bought another 1000k litre tank and fit it. Drained the big tank and pressure washed it, full of algae. Then started buying water from the water bowser trucks, 2000L at a time. The only downside is that 2,500L was only lasting me about 6 or 7 days, but at only about 150baht for a load so it wasn't killing the bank.

Edited April 19, 2020 by vogie