Mains Water Can't Reach House Up Hill, Boosting Solutions?

tates1979

Hi all - i put this post up a few weeks ago on a different site, trying here for some advice also. To update, our plumber has headed across the water for work so isn't able to help me and besides, he says he hasn't encountered the issue before! I'm aware that some houses in the South may have a similar situation, so any advice would be appreciated. I want to get as much information as possible and potential solutions before i decide on a course of action - if anyone can offer specifics as to pump models / tank sizes etc that would be excellent. Thanks all.

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We have built a new house, but the problem is the mains water doesn't reach that far up the hill. We are on a relatively steep site, we had mains water guy advise us it wouldn't reach. House is elevated about 200m back from the road, probably 35/40m elevation. We tested from a fire hydrant (as advised by NI Water) - the water reached within 15m from the house, possibly needed another 3-4m of elevation (0.4bar pressure)? we tested with a 25mm pipe.

Anyway, we sank a well to a natural spring and this fed a large booster tank in the garage (blue tank/pedrollo pump/presflo controller), and the water is pressurised and pumped into the house. The water has tested fine for drinking and health and safety, but there is an amount of manganese/iron in it - means that bath water etc has a reddish tinge to it.

To cut a long story short, the missus wants to see if we can get mains up to the house. There is no issue with land/cutting through/ digging etc as the surrounding area is owened by family.

What i need is:

1) Water to reach the garage. Weak pressure at that point isn't a problem (as long as the flow rate is okay). From then on it can be pressurised for the whole house (large house, 3000ft give or take).
2) Some form of pump that will enable this to happen. In regards to this, what would you advise? Obviously we will have to take armored cable down to power it.
3) Advice on where pump should be sited - bearing in mind that it's 40m elevation from road to house. As i said, the water was trickling with about another 4m of elevation to go. Should this be sited closer to the road or halfway down the hill.
4) Advice on how to protect the pump. In rural NI the temperature can drop below freezing most of the winter - would i be best to build some form of insulated shed/outhouse to protect against the elements? Or are there pumps that will operate in subzero temp[eratures (although sheltered of course).

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks folks!

Tates

K.Flyer

The problem can be solved, but may be costly to do right.
I would look at siting a pump station somewhere between the road and the house at a point where the mains is still delivering a reasonable flow rate.
With a purpose build shed, install a minimum of 1000 litre break tank to feed a fully automatic twin set pump unit with variable speed control and duty rotation. You will also need a thermostatically controlled room heater to keep the place warm during the colder weather.
Depending on what your current well set up is, you can pump to this point and fill the tank located there or link in to by-pass your current set up and let the new set up (once the pumps are sized correctly) to deliver to the house and leave the well out of it.
Thats a simplified explanation, but it is going to cost a fair chunk of money to do properly.
Hope that helps to some degree.

Calahonda52

As outlined, serious mula needed here.
What about full water softening/RO on the well supply?

sky6

How old is the Well ?. Manganese and Iron are quite common in new Wells. It can subside with age of the Well but should be dealt with as Manganese and Iron can cause problems down the road. It can attack Copper pipes causing pitting and eventually leaking.
The suggestion offered will work. I once had to install a similar system in a building which had a large requirement for Water but the Roof wasn't strong enough to support the weight. I used a 6 th gallon tank on the ground floor feeding up to the Roof Tank.
A float switch in the Roof Tank controlled the pump. Still working today.

Stephenc66

Maybe look to filtration for your current system first, it may be a more cost effective way of solving your problem especially as you have already made the investment in the well.

Manganese and Iron seem to be quite a common problem in wells and there are a number of companies out there with filtration solutions.

I might be biased to the well water I was brought up on it and have a dislike of mains supplies I always think you can smell or taste the chemicals.