Which water tank and pump should I get?

[remobb]

Hi, I need a water pump and tank for a 2 story house. I will have 2 bathrooms with shower units upstairs, washing machine and toilet downstairs plus the usual kitchen sink. There will be two of us living in the house. Can you please advise the size of tank and pump recommended? Thanks in advance.

[bbko]

A 2000L tank is large enough to last you 7-10 days of normal usage, you might be able to use a 1000L tank.

As for pumps and a 2 story home, I'd go with this Mitsubishi EP205/200w or a 255/250w, anything less and your pressure could be low.

[remobb]

6 minutes ago, bbko said:

A 2000L tank is large enough to last you 7-10 days of normal usage, you might be able to use a 1000L tank.

As for pumps and a 2 story home, I'd go with this Mitsubishi EP205/200w or a 255/250w, anything less and your pressure could be low.

Appreciate your comments. Thank you.

[Dmaxdan]

Be advised that if you purchase a pump that is too higher wattage for your needs then the water coming out of the your shower or taps will pulse rather than flow smoothly. There won't be enough water flowing through the pump for it to work efficiently unless of course you turn on all your taps at the same time!

Bigger is not necessarily better when it comes to water pumps.

[Dan747]

 I would not use the Japanese built in Thailand pumps. We on our property have bought several and they only lasted a few years. Finally bought two Grundfos water pumps made in Denmark for our two wells and they have lasted over 10+ years. Cost much more but they last in "Quality!" Good Luck.

Edited March 25, 2022 by Dan747

[Will B Good]

31 minutes ago, Dmaxdan said:

Be advised that if you purchase a pump that is too higher wattage for your needs then the water coming out of the your shower or taps will pulse rather than flow smoothly. There won't be enough water flowing through the pump for it to work efficiently unless of course you turn on all your taps at the same time!

Bigger is not necessarily better when it comes to water pumps.

I'm thinking we might have bought too big!!!

 

Is it possible to just fit a restrictor to calm things down a bit?

 

Nothing has been fitted yet, but it did cross my mind at the time we might have gone over the top.

[Excel]

44 minutes ago, Dan747 said:

 I would not use the Japanese built in Thailand pumps. We on our property have bought several and they only lasted a few years. Finally bought two Grundfos water pumps made in Denmark for our two wells and they have lasted over 10+ years. Cost much more but they last in "Quality!" Good Luck.

My recommendation to.

[NanLaew]

34 minutes ago, Excel said:

1 hour ago, Dan747 said:

 I would not use the Japanese built in Thailand pumps. We on our property have bought several and they only lasted a few years. Finally bought two Grundfos water pumps made in Denmark for our two wells and they have lasted over 10+ years. Cost much more but they last in "Quality!" Good Luck.

My recommendation to.

Collectively and over approximately 35 years here, I have bought and installed a total of three Mitsubishi "Japanese built in Thailand pumps". Including the first one which was working when we sold that property over 28 years ago, they are all still working.

 

I did rent a property that had a "Chinese built in China pump" that failed. The landlord was surprised as it was less than five years old. He chose to replace with another "Chinese built in China pump". It was still working when our lease was up a year later.

[pgrahmm]

4 hours ago, bbko said:

A 2000L tank is large enough to last you 7-10 days of normal usage, you might be able to use a 1000L tank.

As for pumps and a 2 story home, I'd go with this Mitsubishi EP205/200w or a 255/250w, anything less and your pressure could be low.

We went with the Mits pump + I upsized it one size above recommended... Mitsubishi pumps are not as quiet as the other top brand but are built better from our research....

We opted for a DOS 1000L tank....

There are times I wish I'd jumped up to 1500 or 2000 liter....

We are a single level 3 bed/2bath house with 2 to 4 of us depending on school schedules.....

This system has met all needs EXCEPT when the muni water supply is stopped without forewarning & then the 1000L can empty quickly with 4 people using showers, washing machine, etc ... That's why I wished we'd gone bigger on the tank size....

If you have a large garden with daily watering take that into consideration.....

My wife drained most of the tank one time watering not realizing the muni supply had been shut down for maintenance (we do have a well & submersible pump for the garden but that pump failed & another was on order).....But that made me aware of how much was used for the gardening.....

 

Edit - no idea why it decided to go bold....

Edited March 25, 2022 by pgrahmm

[sometimewoodworker]

9 hours ago, bbko said:

A 2000L tank is large enough to last you 7-10 days of normal usage, you might be able to use a 1000L tank.

As for pumps and a 2 story home, I'd go with this Mitsubishi EP205/200w or a 255/250w, anything less and your pressure could be low.

That’s rather optimistic, the average usage per person is between 150 and 250 litres, so going midway that would get you 5 day on 2,000 litres. As to the pump size it depends, if your water pressure and house design lets you put the tank higher than the ground floor you can go for a smaller pump, if it’s a ground floor tank either of the 2 suggested will be fine.

[bbko]

19 hours ago, Dan747 said:

 I would not use the Japanese built in Thailand pumps. We on our property have bought several and they only lasted a few years. Finally bought two Grundfos water pumps made in Denmark for our two wells and they have lasted over 10+ years. Cost much more but they last in "Quality!" Good Luck.

When I first moved into my home here in LOS, my wife's grandfather gave us a "Japanese built in Thailand" pump, it must of been 20 years old and we got another 8 years use out of it before it started acting up and I replaced it with a Mitsubishi pump. I'd say getting 28 year use out of a "Japanese built in Thailand" pump is pretty good.  If' you're happy paying double the price, so be it, I'll stick with what works for me.

[remobb]

Thanks guys for all your comments. I will take them onboard before I buy.

Really appreciate it.

 

[bignbad]

22 hours ago, Will B Good said:

I'm thinking we might have bought too big!!!

 

Is it possible to just fit a restrictor to calm things down a bit?

 

Nothing has been fitted yet, but it did cross my mind at the time we might have gone over the top.

Install a pressure tank to steady the flow, better than a regulator

 

[Will B Good]

Just now, bignbad said:

Install a pressure tank to steady the flow, better than a regulator

 

Thanks for that.....is that like an accumulator of sorts???

[Guest StephenB]

3 hours ago, Will B Good said:

Thanks for that.....is that like an accumulator of sorts???

Pressure tank is like a water bottle upside down. Motor sends water into tank and squeezes the air. That way leaky taps or short uses of water don't turn the pump on/off constantly. There still is a pressure switch. IMO I think it is like a hydraulic accumulator.

[Will B Good]

2 minutes ago, StephenB said:

Pressure tank is like a water bottle upside down. Motor sends water into tank and squeezes the air. That way leaky taps or short uses of water don't turn the pump on/off constantly. There still is a pressure switch. IMO I think it is like a hydraulic accumulator.

Cheers...just watched a few videos on them.....are they quite common place here...easy to fit?

[a340bangla1]

On 3/25/2022 at 3:04 PM, Dan747 said:

 I would not use the Japanese built in Thailand pumps. We on our property have bought several and they only lasted a few years. Finally bought two Grundfos water pumps made in Denmark for our two wells and they have lasted over 10+ years. Cost much more but they last in "Quality!" Good Luck.

Concur. We have already thrown away 2 of those Thailand built pumps due to corroded pressure vessels.

 

The Grundfos pump that we have now is working very well.

 

We have 2x2000l tanks, that we switch regularly. When the mains is turned off without us noticing, we always have one full tank.

Edited March 26, 2022 by a340bangla1
Added text about tanks

[Orinoco]

Recon most problems with pumps are quality of water going through them.

[nrasmussen]

I was getting tired of the noise and on/off cycling, so a year ago I replaced a Hitachi WM-P250XS with this one: Reno RN-1WZB-20P.

 

In addition to the variable motor control ("inverter") this model also can connect to an app via WiFi that allows you to easily set the desired water pressure. After I had installed it, it told me that something was leaking and it turned out that it was one of the toilets that was leaking, but doing it so slowly that I would never had noticed it if I hadn't specifically looked for it.

[Dan747]

As an added addition-The Grundfos water pumps come with a pressure Tank where the Japanese built in Thailand do not. Again "Good Luck!"

[MrJ2U]

We've been using this pump.

 

Two story house. 

 

Three full bathrooms and western style kitchen with dishwasher.

 

I enjoy a nice shower.  We've got filtered 2000 liter tank.

 

We've a separate pump for the laundry area.

 

Guest house uses a Lucky Brand 800 pump, available at Home Pro.

 

Both pumps run about 13,000-14,000 baht.

 

Might be overkill for some but I enjoy a powerful shower and for those don't the can turn the tap down till there happy.

 

 

[NanLaew]

On 3/26/2022 at 4:57 PM, a340bangla1 said:

Concur. We have already thrown away 2 of those Thailand built pumps due to corroded pressure vessels.

 

The Grundfos pump that we have now is working very well.

 

We have 2x2000l tanks, that we switch regularly. When the mains is turned off without us noticing, we always have one full tank.

Maybe minerals in your water?

 

On 3/26/2022 at 7:49 PM, Dan747 said:

As an added addition-The Grundfos water pumps come with a pressure Tank where the Japanese built in Thailand do not. Again "Good Luck!"

 

We had a corrosion pinhole leak in the pressure tank of our "Japanese made in Thailand" pump that cost about 5800 baht new fifteen years ago. I bought a replacement pressure tank on lazada for 2000 baht and replaced it myself. Pump has been back in service for the past four years with no other issues. That's getting on for 20 years continuous service.

 

Grundfos do make excellent industrial/agricultural grade pumps.

[a340bangla1]

19 hours ago, NanLaew said:

Maybe minerals in your water?

 

 

We had a corrosion pinhole leak in the pressure tank of our "Japanese made in Thailand" pump that cost about 5800 baht new fifteen years ago. I bought a replacement pressure tank on lazada for 2000 baht and replaced it myself. Pump has been back in service for the past four years with no other issues. That's getting on for 20 years continuous service.

 

Grundfos do make excellent industrial/agricultural grade pumps.

Our water comes from Naam pra pha on the darkside (I think from the water works on Chayaporn Withi) and since about two years we are using a set of Stiebel filters before the pump.

 

We have replaced a pressure vessel on one of the earlier Mitsubishi pumps, did not last long very long.

 

For completeness sake: The pump that we are using now (coming up to 2 years) is a Grundfos Scala 2, which is inverter controlled and does not have a pressure vessel.

 

But I am just sharing our own experiences and not trying to influence anybody.

[digbeth]

On 3/25/2022 at 2:40 PM, Dmaxdan said:

Be advised that if you purchase a pump that is too higher wattage for your needs then the water coming out of the your shower or taps will pulse rather than flow smoothly. There won't be enough water flowing through the pump for it to work efficiently unless of course you turn on all your taps at the same time!

Bigger is not necessarily better when it comes to water pumps.

If your pump pulses along with water pressure, that means you need to drain your pumps as it has water in the air chamber, if this is a repeated problem, might need to install check valve to prevent water flowing back into the pump and causing it again.

 

Bigger separate pressure tank are also available if hearing pump turns on and off too often annoys you

[sezze]

My Hitachi small water pump is +/- 10 y old , and the small bladder tank ( it's a WM-P type) has been changed 1 time . Works flawless. I believe many times the failures are because of adding too much power , aka using a too big pump for the use . Indeed , pumps can certainly be too big for their use . Most houses do not need a 400W or more pump . Mine is a 150watt and it is plenty good enough , but i like maybe 1 model larger . This is a 1 floor house and a few taps , and the 150watt pump can handle perfectly 2 taps at once , or even 3 .