Due to low water pressure and lots of water interruptions from our water supplier, we installed a water system. This is how our water system works:
water supplier > water/booster pump (0.5 hp) > pressure tank (21 gal, located in 1st floor) > water tank (located on 2nd floor) > water system in the entire house
This system solves our problem caused by our water supplier. We can now "pull" water even if the pressure is low and can store water in the tank.
After using this system for a few weeks, I noticed the following:
- If the water/booster pump is off, the water pressure in our 2nd floor is low. We can't take shower properly since the water can't get out well from the shower head. I know the reason for this one is because the water tank is also located in the 2nd floor and there's not much difference between the water tank outlet and the pipe responsible for delivering water in the 2nd floor. For us to be able to take shower properly, we first need to keep the water/booster pump running. This is kind of expensive though in terms of electric bill because the pump is always running.
The question is, is it okay to place a small pressure tank after the water tank outlet to increase the water pressure in the 2nd floor? If so, what's the recommended size of the pressure tank? Is 6 gallons enough?
- There are times when the water pressure from our supplier is high and the water can go up directly to our 2nd floor even without running the pump. However, I noticed that the water from our supplier can't fill the pressure tank.
I don't know the full functionality of water/booster pump but do water/booster pumps block the passage of water when not running? If not, what could be the reason why water from our supplier (even on high pressure) cannot get into the pressure tank when the pump is not running?
EDIT: We do have a pressure switch. I'm not sure what the settings are since this was installed by a 3rd party. Anyway, when the gauge reaches the upper limit (around 40 psi), the pump turns off automatically. I think this behavior is correct. However, a slight drop in pressure (say I just simply open a tap for a few seconds), the pump starts running again. I'm not sure if my term is correct, but it seems like it's "short cycling".
This system was installed 3 weeks ago so I'm assuming there's nothing that's been broken already since the day it's installed.