How to connect a water pump to my house ?

[Alfa]

Hi Everybody. I live in Nakhonsithammarat, we have a house and garden with my tgf, everything works well as far as we do it or repair it ourselves. One problem is the water pressure from the government water pipe. That's why I WANT TO CONNECT WATER PUMP WITH A WATER TANK. There are Mitsubishi or Hitachi water pumps , but nobody knows anything about them not even the salesmen. I even talked to a German owner to a big store in Hua Hin, his answer was """ we just sell them , we do not know anything about them, people come and buy, nobody ask anything. This is Thailand """" But he tried to contact the companies in Bangkok and asked about the pumps , WITHOUT ANY RESULT. They even can not answer the questions like, """" What is the difference between the Mitsubishi Models, 85Q2 and 85Q3 and 85QS ?? How many dB noise they have when the pumps work ?? Shall I fill the water container up to 65 % water before I connect the pump and start it ?? .... I've heard many things about the pumps, many people has problem with them, and it looks like nobody really knows why these problems start. Some say the pump works with air, but normally works with water ,if you don't fill it with water or if it is leaking , it doesn't pump but it works until it gets hot and stop.

Now I bought a water tank , it is only a 200 liter tank. I didn't purchased the pump yet, maybe a Mitsubishi 80 watt, or a Hitachi 100 watt, because we do have a small house , and there is only a toilet upstairs and 4 taps downstairs and only for 2 people.

I want to connect to the water system myself. Have you done it before? Could you help me with the difficult parts. I am an civil engineer in electro technics and particle physics . I HAVE DONE ALL THE PLUMMING IN THE HOUSE ,BECAUSE THE PLUMMERS WE TRUSTED AT THE BEGINNING COULD NOT FIX IT , EVEN PLUMMING IS THEIR OCCUPATION. That was first and the last time in my life, but I did a very good job, nothing leaking any more.

I shall be grateful if I get any help at the forum.

Thanks a lot.

[Crossy]

Hook it up like this:-

Use maintenance couplers at the pump so you can remove it when it goes wrong.

If you don't have a shower upstairs one of the little 150 Watt pumps will you just fine.

[Alfa]

Thank you very much Crossy. It helped very much. You connect the tank to the water-meter before the pump. I was thinking to connect the pump to the water-meter before the tank and close over the tank 100 %. I don't know what happens. Will the air in the tank push the water away first and the water come back again and go on filling the tank, I don't know.. The government water has often a good pressure but sometimes no pressure at all because there are some high buildings in town which has direct-connected-pump without a tank , I think. Then maybe I don't need a pump if I do like this, until the water pressure normal again we can use the tank-water with its own pressure because I hang the tank 3 meters up. I can easily take down the tank to clean it, because it's very light. I hope it works.

[Crossy]

Don't pump directly from the mains (it's illegal anyway) you may suck all sorts of carp into your (and other people's) pipe.

If the pressure is good most of the time just leave the pump power off, the non-return valve will let city pressure through so everything will be fine.

If the city water goes off, turn on pump power and you will draw water from the tank and all will be fine again. No need to change any valves or anything, fully automatic

Trying to seal a regular tank to create a pressure tank is a bad idea, you are creating a bomb! Even at 3 Bar which most small pumps are quite capable of that could be very dangerous.

A 3m tower is pretty minimal for water storage, if you've not already built it I wouldn't bother, put the tank on the ground, put the pump next to it.

Don't forget your 'very light' tank will weigh nearly a quarter of a ton when full.

[Alfa]

Thanks a lot Crossy for the warning. No I didn't build any tower. Ok. best to have the tank on the ground next to the pump. Pump ? Mitsubishi or Hitachi , minimum 150 watt effect ? Thanks again.

[Crossy]

We have a cheap and cheerful LuckPro 150W pump that is now used to water Wifeys veggies.

It's the smallest of their automatic pumps and has been infinitely reliable at a very reasonable cost.

Since you won't be using it all the time it's worth looking at.

[Alfa]

Hi Crossy, LuckyPro pump is interesting. Does this pump has a non-return valve or do I have to buy it separately ? We stay in Nakhonsithammarat. Where shall I go to find this pump or can they send it from Bangkok ? And we also need something to stop the government water ( floating ball ) over the water-tank after the tank is full. ( like a toilet flash ). Thousand Thanks.

Edited May 3, 2014 by ALP

[lopburi3]

Lucky-Pro is a local brand name for Chinese pumps (of good quality) and sold by almost all outlets. They make all kinds of pumps from sump to water. You should have a float valve at tops of tank where water enters to turn it off when float it up - any hardware or pump store will have for sale.

[Crossy]

Yes, the baby pump does have a NR valve (it's also self-priming).

You'll need to buy a NR valve for the bypass line (at the bottom of my diagram).

[Alfa]

You have been very help full. Thank you very much.