Pex Piping for Lake water system

[SIKSUKR]

No pump,no matter what size can lift(suction) water more than 33 ft.You would need something like a pump house down near the lake.

[ApS]

Originally Posted by SIKSUKR

No pump,no matter what size can lift(suction) water more than 33 ft.You would need something like a pump house down near the lake.

I was disappointed in my little utility pump's lack of performance to push lake water up far enough to prime the water pump under the house. (Located about 12 feet above the lake).

A family member closed the cottage last October, and forgot to open "my" hose bib just a foot under the lake level. 'Turns out, the black tubing survived an especially bad winter, so I put the same utility pump into a 5-gallon bucket and sent the priming water backwards down to the water pump from a hose bib installed at the rear of the cottage. (See photo—cold water valve opened first).

The water pump was primed in a few seconds, so then I opened the 30-gallon hot water heater valve, and that was filled in a very few minutes. 'Ran the water pump for a few minutes to discharge all that old priming water and was all set after about 15 minutes.

Fastest "opening" of the cottage, yet!

Even more amazing is that water heater, water pump, black tubing, utility pump, (paired) foot valves and hose bibs are still intact and working since a re-do in 1993.



Note...

Save some effort by filling the 5-gallon bucket in the Fall, and add some antifreeze. They'll tell you antifreeze "isn't to code" in a home's water system, but it makes the job go much easier than dragging 5 gallons of water from the lake.

[CaptT820]

APS-
Thanks for the detailed response. What type of pumps and/or pressure tanks are people using in their houses/camps? Just trying to get a nice detailed setup for a pump house. Thanks

[ApS]

The pump/tank combo from the 1993 re-do is labeled "Jacuzzi". It's a standard US-made iron pump with a ½-horsepower rating. The tank itself is attached to the pump, and only as big as a bread basket. After twenty years, it still looks new.

Google can't supply me with what the "Jacuzzi" looks like, but it's similar to this image:



There may be little choice today, except to buy a pump made in China.

The previous pump was a "tankless" Gould, which was about the size of a soccer ball. I liked it for its "instant-on-full-pressure" feature, but don't know what became of it.

Now that I think of it, I have five electric water pumps. (And just sold a gas-driven water pump). What I've learned from experience is that the pressure-sensor should be US-made. In other locations, I've purchased new pump/tank combos for as little as $35. (Stainless steel housings!) The pumps worked OK, but the pressure sensors were a foreign design, and not reliable from day-one. (And not Chinese).

The tank should be drained down for the winter, and it self-pressurizes itself when primed and plugged in. The supplied hose bib near the bottom of the tank makes it easy, but I should have located the valve where I could reach it!



I'll take a photo.