Where should a pressure tank be placed on a well?

The pressure tank is just a reservoir of water to ensure stable pressure as the pump is not a constant pressure pump.

The situation without a pressure tank.

Let's say you open a tap at .5 gallons per minute, pressure will immediately drop and when the pump comes on at the low event let's say 60 psi pumping 5 gallons per minute. 10 times the demand, the pump will verify quickly reach the high event, we'll say 80psi and shut off. Back down to 60 on back up to 80 off. So on and off continuously and frequently. Maybe 15 times in a minute.

With a pressure tank

All things being equal, at 60psi the pump cuts in but the excess flow gets bufferd into the pressure tank. Once it reaches 80 psi and cuts out there is a reserve of water stored in the tank. The pump can remain of longer and once the low pressure event is reached and it cuts in it can stay on longer. Longer cycles are better.

All that being said, the actual volume of water transferring in and out of the tank isn't all that much. It's the water compressing air that gives you the buffer. But water does transfer in and out. If it's piped in far downstream where there is a pipe reduction or sidewall restriction due to length there will be a lag in the flow causing fluctuations in pressure. Depending on the specifics of how it's piped in, it's possible to have hot and cold water stacking due to cold water being pumped into the hot side of the system.

So in reality it not absolutely critical to have the tank first but it is conventional and more sensible. Even if you had a leak it's problematic. Let's say you have a bad leak in your 1st fixture before its shutoff. Which valve downstairs do you close? The one just upstream of the pump? Where is the pressure device? Can the pressure drop from the leak now cause the pump to dead head into a closed isolation valve? You still need to isolation the tank from the other side of fixture number 1. Are these things you want to be thinking about when you have a big leak happening?

CNGsaves said:

Problem with having All-Electric in Florida is you could be without power for long time if hurrricane or bad storm takes out electric lines. Guesing that is why you made comment of wanting to have a generator.

However, your terminology is incorrect as CNG is Compressed Natural Gas . . . which is totally different than having a Natural Gas line to your house. If your particular housing development does not have natural gas nearby that you can connect to, then backup fuel for a generator would be LPG (liquid propane gas . . . . ie Propane). In Florida, you'd likely need to have the tank buried in back yard so that potential flooding would not wash tank away.

Lots of threads on GJ that go over all the benefits of tankless hot water units.

Click to expand...

Corrected error in fuel type as the rental was natural gas (NG), thanks. We do have a small (100lbs) LPG tank for our fire place, it is above ground though and kinda hokey. I'd like to replace it with an underground unit and of course a sacrificial anode, for both tidiness and safety.

Spot on about your assumption, sadly we are a ways away from getting a generator, and given the properties configuration, I'll likely be seeking a diesel unit when the time comes. I missed out on a nice 'smaller' CAT unit from my work two years ago (as we weren't planning to buy anything then) that would of only cost shipping and of course the time of a skilled electrician to integrate it. Would have been overkill for sure, but we would have been able to operate 'as normal' if power was out for a few days.

Dancing closer to the original topic, slightly;I'm pretty sure I'll be stuck with the traditional heater for now until it forces our hand to change it. If it starts to fail or show wear, I can broach the subject again. I really like the look of the Stiebel Eltron heat pump and some of the benefits of it, but I'm not fond of the price! The Stiebel Eltron Tempura tankless system at least offers a space savings and should do at least as well as the aging A.O. Smith traditional element unit we have presently. I've never had a tankless system though to know how well they work -- it seems very popular in Europe and they have picked up speed here, leading me to believe most of the 'kinks' had been worked out. My waiting a bit longer might not be so bad after all if there are more advancements to be made in the tech.

Anyone ever temporarily remove their water heater? I'm having the floors epoxied next month (one day install) and the heater (and water treatment system) are in the way. The guy said he could go around them if all else fails but I'd prefer to have the WHOLE floor epoxied since time/money in the future will hopefully allow for more changes in those systems. Ours is soldered copper from the wall into threaded fittings. I'd like to cut it back (cap it), remove the heater from the garage for the day and insert brass isolating valves on each side before re-installation. Reality sometimes falls further from the idea than I like though, so we will see.

Corrected error in fuel type as the rental was natural gas (NG), thanks. We do have a small (100lbs) LPG tank for our fire place, it is above ground though and kinda hokey. I'd like to replace it with an underground unit and of course a sacrificial anode, for both tidiness and safety.Spot on about your assumption, sadly we are a ways away from getting a generator, and given the properties configuration, I'll likely be seeking a diesel unit when the time comes. I missed out on a nice 'smaller' CAT unit from my work two years ago (as we weren't planning to buy anything then) that would of only cost shipping and of course the time of a skilled electrician to integrate it.Would have been overkill for sure, but we would have been able to operate 'as normal' if power was out for a few days.Dancing closer to the original topic, slightly;I'm pretty sure I'll be stuck with the traditional heater for now until it forces our hand to change it. If it starts to fail or show wear, I can broach the subject again. I really like the look of the Stiebel Eltron heat pump and some of the benefits of it, but I'm not fond of the price! The Stiebel Eltron Tempura tankless system at least offers a space savings and should do at least as well as the aging A.O. Smith traditional element unit we have presently. I've never had a tankless system though to know how well they work -- it seems very popular in Europe and they have picked up speed here, leading me to believe most of the 'kinks' had been worked out. My waiting a bit longer might not be so bad after all if there are more advancements to be made in the tech.Anyone ever temporarily remove their water heater? I'm having the floors epoxied next month (one day install) and the heater (and water treatment system) are in the way. The guy said he could go around them if all else fails but I'd prefer to have the WHOLE floor epoxied since time/money in the future will hopefully allow for more changes in those systems. Ours is soldered copper from the wall into threaded fittings. I'd like to cut it back (cap it), remove the heater from the garage for the day and insert brass isolating valves on each side before re-installation. Reality sometimes falls further from the idea than I like though, so we will see.