Water Supply

[Rsteeltje]

The land that we bought came with a borewell. Previous owner took the pump though so we have to install a new one. I want to pump the water up into a storage tank. The elevation of the tank should give me enough pressure to be able to have a nice an strong shower. Furthermore, I plan to lay one pipe that runs the length of the property = 200 meter for irrigation purpose. Every 40 meters I will make a tap.The land is flat.

Questions:

What elevation for the storage tank would be needed.

What is the best pipe to lay underground. Diameter, material, brand.

Your advice will be appreciated.

Thanks

R'tje

[Pond Life]

2 meters high will give you a reasonable flow thru a 1 inch hose for watering plants slowly.

For a powerful shower I think you'll need at least 10 meters.

Experiment but basicly the higher the better.

I put 2 " black (HDPE I think, it has a coloured stripe down it) flexible pipe underground.

cost about 2000 B for 100 m I think. fittings are quite expensive.

Got it from global house but available at many ag shops, dont buy the cheap fittings.

If youre only going to be running 1 or 2 taps at a time this is sufficient.

But if you want a high flow rate you might need larger diameter pipe.

But the cost goes up a lot beyond 2"

[Foreverford]

Let's give it a try and see if I can remember my hydraulics. I believe every 2.304 feet of elevation will give you 1 pound of pressure. So would .454 pounds of pressure for a foot of elevation equate the same? (I used to know this stuff). So I know 20 psi (pounds per square inch of pressure) will give a decent shower and 30 pounds will knock your socks. HDPE is expensive and good great stuff but I would recommend blue PVC with paint on it for any exposed surfaces for your first try. Anything underground is no problem. HDPE is the best but generally a bit more difficult to use for many reasons especially the hot welds required (otherwise it is expensive with the use of gasket fittings). Rule of thumb is to reduce the size of your pipe the further you go down the line to keep the pressure loss down (flow will be restricted but pressure will remain good). I will be using 4" pipe (for storage and structural rigidity) for the exterior exposed pipe coming down from my tank house (then paint it for PVC) and then reduce it to 2" where it goes underground and eventually have it down to 1/2'' at the end of it's run about 350 meters away. The bigger the pipe in the run the less loss of pressure due to friction loss. 1000 feet of 2'' will deliver a specific flow at a higher pressure than the same in 1''. It may be as much as 13 times higher friction loss in the 1'' compared to the 2'' but i wouldn't bet on my #'s as it has been over 25 years since I ran my last fire truck but the principle is correct I believe. Flowing Fluids in Fords Forever

[Pond Life]

Hurrah for metric !

10 meters of elevation will give a pressure of 1 bar.

( for those that cant let go, 1 bar = 14.5 psi)

[Rsteeltje]

Thanks for all answers. Asked Khun Google and in the west they advice the height to be 15 to 20 meters so the pressure is enough for all machines (washing). I talked with the locals who will build the tower and when I mentioned 15 meters they did not want to do it. Too high, wind might blow structure down.

Was in Home-Pro today and looked at the pressure pumps and most will give more pressure than 15 meters of elevation will give. So more discussion with Google and have to make up my mind. Luckily it is still raining every day so we can do little on the land.