I have a well with an iron problem and I have bought some equipment to take care of this. Unfortunately I bought the wrong configuration. I bought and cannot return it now so I need to make it work.

Here is the problem

• The well comes into my building where the pressure tanks and switches are and I distribute to the other 2 buildings which are not owned by me so I will not filter their water.
• The iron removal system requires air injection device which causes the iron to turn to rust in the system. The filter then removes this rust.
• They recommend that the air injector be installed before the pressure switch. If I do this then with the current set up where the pressure switch is I inject air into the water for all buildings which means I will send them all rusty water. Not a good thing I am sure.
• They say installing air injector after the pressure switch might cause rapid pump cycling. Not a good thing either.
• The pressure switch is on the tee which goes to one of the pressure tanks.
• The water tees off to the other buildings a couple of feet later.

The question. Can I move the pressure switch to the down the line a bit as per the picture you will find here or will I get water hammer and cycling issues. BTW. The air injector is 1" mip with 2 -1/4 inch holes drilled through to create a venturi

Larger view....https://i.imgur.com/GcS8zHF.png




I think it should not make much difference but this is not my area of expertise.

Hopefully this is clear enough

Thanks, Colin

 

Welcome to the forums.

I added the pics in from your link. I also added a red X in the current setup diagram.

I'm not the expert either but the pressure switch needs to be where the pump joins the pressure tanks. I'm thinking if you installed a check valve where I put the red X.... that would keep the air from coming back into the system and traveling to your neighbors systems.

 

Thanks Pete. I could not figure out how to get a decent picture in the post. It always looked pretty bad.



I don't show the air injector in the original system although I show the filter. The manual for the filter says that if you put the air injector after the pressure switch it can cause rapid pump cycling. I assume because of the venturi in the air injector reducing flow .. again not my area of expertise. If I simply put the air injector where you indicate with the red x would not allow the air or rust into the other side regardless. It is the pump chatter I am worried about.



I am a plumber / fitter so I do know something of piping systems and it would seem to me that right at, after or 3 ft away would not make much difference but again I am not sure. I guess I could install some of this stuff and check but again not sure. This is still a very small chance I could return.. . not likely but slim so I don't want to install anything right now.



Expert advice from a well/pump pro is needed at this point...

 

My thought was adding a check valve where I put the red X and then install your equipment on your side of that valve.

 

I'm not an expert by any means, but I agree with Pete. I think you need a check valve in the system to isolate your part of the system from the rest of the system. In your proposed diagram (without a check valve), the air injected into the water system will travel in both directions: to the "right" to your system, and to the "left" to the other buildings. The check valve will prevent the air injected into your system from reaching the other part of the system. I think that leaving the pressure switch where it is, adding a check valve where the red X is, and putting the air injector to the right of the check valve (lower diagram) would likely work fine.

 

The pressure in the line is the same so the location of the switch is not critical.

Usually they have it at the tank using a manifold that holds the switch, a gauge, and hose bib.

 

The only reason for the question in the first place is that air injector needs to be up stream of the pressure switch to stop rapid pump cycling. So the pressure switch needs to be moved to use the equipment I have and avoid contaminating the other water with rust.

The air injected into the system is via a venturi system. The manufacturer calls it air injection but in fact the air is sucked in by the water flow. The air is only on the down stream side of the venturi ( air injector )

I have to move the switch to stop the pump cycling but If I move the switch and install a check valve on my side before the air injector then I will create a situation where if the other buildings draw water there will be no pressure drop so they get whats in the pressure tank and that's it. So a check valve is there is not going to work.

So in an effort to ensure that no air or rust can get to the other buildings I propose this new drawing. I have also adjusted the picture of the current set up which should not have had the CAFE948 in it. that is actually the equipment along with the air injector that I am adding.

The new system takes of the water to the other building in between the 2 pressure tanks to get it away from the air injector. In addition I can go up a foot quit easily on my side system which would make sure no air could come back since air rises.

So questions. Is there anything wrong with the proposed set up

1. taking the water for the other buildings in between the 2 tanks rather than after ( I think it will make no difference
2. having the pressure valve 36 inches down stream from the pressure tank.

I think that as Marq1 said that the pressure will be seen regardless. If it was 50 feet away it would be a problem but its pretty close at 36 inches. Common sense says this. BUT that does not mean its so. Any experts ever put anything like this together?

 

I’m no expert but his may help one of the experts when they hopefully come along. From page 4 of -

http://rainfresh.ca/wp/wp-content/up...H_Feb-2016.pdf

(my red)It seems to me the system is designed so that the injector input sees the pump flow rate –which it would if placed between the pump and pressure tank as recommended above. But if the injector is downstream from the tank, then won’t it on average see a much lower flow rate? If so will it work properly?

Could be all wrong about that because I honestly to this day still don’t have a really good handle on pressure vs. flow etc. - but just wanted to throw out the above recommendation for the experts to see.

 

The OP doesn't want his system to treat his neighbors water so he has to connect after them.

 

Right Pete.

The implication of what I was saying is that if correct (big if) - the CAFE948 idea just won't work. In other words, the injector system HAS to treat it ALL or NOTHING because downstream from the pump-tank the injector just won't work correctly.

But if the injector is placed before the tank it would treat all the water - which as you say - is unacceptable.

So the conclusion would be it just won't work at all.

But as I said that would depend on whether the low flow rate into the injector downstream would cause the injector to not function properly. I'm certainly not sure about that, just a thought.

 

Here is an excerpt from the link below. It really does look like the injector has to precede the pressure tank. Bummer!!


https://www.thewaterclinic.com/products-inject.php

Would it be that much more costly to just treat all the water? Might not be that much more expensive in absolute dollars for the extra filter media used, and you would think the other buildings wouldn’t care but instead would probably like it. Just a thought.