Residential water pressure booster operation & reliability

Question

We live on the top of a hill and thus have fairly low city water pressure (35psi) arriving at our house. I have a chance of saving quite a bit of money on my water bill by potentially reducing this pressure a bit further (see How can I determine what size main water meter is required?).

To compensate, I might have to consider getting a residential pressure booster pump (like this one) as suggested by @virtualxtc in an answer to the question mentioned above. Before deciding to do so, I have a couple of general questions about these pumps:

• If such a pump breaks, what happens to the water supply to the house? Does it simply go back to the pressure it had before installation of the pump? Or is the pressure now much lower? Or, worse, would this shut off water to the house entirely? (Let's only consider things like motor failures, since I would expect these to be much more common than tank or pipe ruptures)
• How long can I expect these pumps to last before an expensive repair or replacement?
• Do these pumps use a "noticeable" amount of electricity?
• I guess, if anyone knows it, the most useful thing to know would be a rough idea of the total annual cost of ownership that I would need to expect.

Thanks

Answer 1

Supply

• I'm not sure about that specific model, but it's not built in, you can add a 1-way bypass line so that you will always have some water.

Life Span

• Lifespan should be in the 10-25 year range. Warranties are usually for 3-5 years.

Power Draw

• It like other pumps in your house will increase in electricity cost. I haven't checked actual the rating, but can imagine it will be comparable to a modern refrigerator.

Cost of Ownership

• These should be maintenance free, so electricity is your main concern for CoO.

_{According to Stack Exchange guidlines I really shouldn't provide any numbers here anyways I don't know what you pay per Kw, nor is that price likely to be static.}