Grundfos SQflex 200 and TWO TANKS?

pabloesguapo
pabloesguapo Solar Expert Posts: 116 ✭✭
Not sure if this is possible with the equipment I currently have. I have a grundfos deep well submersible pump (can't remember the model # at present) controlled by a SQflex CU 200. Currently, it supplies water to a bladder pressure tank, which supplies water to the house.

I would like to start irrigating my property, trees, LARGE garden and some pasture. I would like to get a large cistern/tank (5,000 gallons maybe?) for the agricultural side, running automated valves and pumps.

I'm wondering what is the best way to expand on my current system? Can I get my well pump to supply each of the two independent systems, with the CU 200 doing the switching for both tanks? Do I need to run two pumps, two controllers, two tanks? Do I use the current equipment to fill the cistern, then have that supply both house and agriculture? (Worried about water cleanliness in that configuration)

Ideas?
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Comments

  • vtmaps
    vtmaps Solar Expert Posts: 3,741 ✭✭✭✭
    Simple is good.  How about filling the cistern from your house system?  Just run a line from the house system to the cistern and have a float valve at the cistern to shut off the flow when the cistern is full. 

    Depending upon the location of your cistern, you may need another pump to irrigate the garden, but maybe you can locate the cistern high enough to irrigate by gravity.

    --vtMaps
    4 X 235watt Samsung, Midnite ePanel, Outback VFX3524 FM60 & mate, 4 Interstate L16, trimetric, Honda eu2000i
  • Dave Angelini
    Dave Angelini Solar Expert Posts: 6,728 ✭✭✭✭✭✭
    The other way to do this is close the input to the pressure tank ( not use water in the house) and direct pump the second tank until full.
    This will stop the pump from cycling as the bladder fills and empties. The pump is loaded less as it is not trying to maintain pressure and is just filling the 2'nd tank,  all you need is a tee and valve.  The previous post is alot simpler but depending on other variables some combination might be useful.
    If you are in the hills, gravity is the best!
    "we go where power lines don't" Sierra Nevada mountain area
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  • inetdog
    inetdog Solar Expert Posts: 3,123 ✭✭✭✭
    If the recharge rate of your well is less than the pump output into an atmospheric tank, you will have to use either a throttling valve (reducing the power the pump uses at the same time) or some sort of timer so that you do not pump the water level all the way down to the pump. (A typical 4" well casing stores one gallon of water per vertical foot.)
    Typically the pump will have protection against dry running, but it is not good for the pump to do that repeatedly and there will be a period where the pump stays cycled off and you cannot use it to build pressure.
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  • Dave Angelini
    Dave Angelini Solar Expert Posts: 6,728 ✭✭✭✭✭✭
    The SQ pumps are protected against dry runs but this is a good point if you need pressure for the house and you have pumped your well dry filling the second tank. With a good well this is not an issue but here in California with the drought, we are very sensitive to this. Good point!
    "we go where power lines don't" Sierra Nevada mountain area
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  • inetdog
    inetdog Solar Expert Posts: 3,123 ✭✭✭✭
    The SQ pumps are protected against dry runs but this is a good point if you need pressure for the house and you have pumped your well dry filling the second tank. With a good well this is not an issue but here in California with the drought, we are very sensitive to this. Good point!
    I had this pointed home to me the hard way when I lived in a home with a 300 foot well that produced only 1.5 gallons per minute and a pump that drew 10GPM. Fortunately there was 80 feet (= 80 gallons) of water above the pump most of the time.
    The first time I tried watering down the brush around the house I ran the well dry in ten minutes.
    SMA SB 3000, old BP panels.
  • Dave Angelini
    Dave Angelini Solar Expert Posts: 6,728 ✭✭✭✭✭✭
    Yea the stories of wells in fire season. Our county requires a 2,500 gallon tank now to keep that from happening in fire season.
    I hope you did not loose the old house. I watched a C-130 from the ridge above me drop retardant on my place and it was a big gulp
    of relief.
    "we go where power lines don't" Sierra Nevada mountain area
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  • inetdog
    inetdog Solar Expert Posts: 3,123 ✭✭✭✭
    Fortunately there was no fire in the area when I ran out of water about 5 years ago. I had just moved in and was testing preparations.
    SMA SB 3000, old BP panels.
  • mike95490
    mike95490 Solar Expert Posts: 9,583 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Yea the stories of wells in fire season. Our county requires a 2,500 gallon tank now to keep that from happening in fire season.
    I hope you did not loose the old house. I watched a C-130 from the ridge above me drop retardant on my place and it was a big gulp
    of relief.
    Last year, they did water drops from a chopper, across the street and when the water slammed into the brush and trees, I could hear limbs cracking off 900' away..  If that hit a house, it would knock it off it's foundation like a tidal wave would.  Or crush it flat.
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  • Dave Angelini
    Dave Angelini Solar Expert Posts: 6,728 ✭✭✭✭✭✭
    You must have some pretty big choppers or pretty weak houses up there. Even a Sky Crane can drop a full spray load on a house if it has to.
    "we go where power lines don't" Sierra Nevada mountain area
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