Pressurized water alternative during outages!

[Downeast]

Hi, I thought this would be fun to share for some of you...

This is for those of you who do NOT have a generator large enough to power your well pump.

I purposely opt to not run such a beast of a noise maker for a few reasons.

As many of you know gens need to be at least 4-5,000 watts to support the well pump's startup/inrush with a short burst capability.

Inverter generators typically are not available over 3500 watts. Those that are, are expensive. I like inverter gens because their output is not dependent on engine RPM. They idle down to what's needed. They are considerably more quiet and fuel efficient. BUT, to keep it under $1500 roughly, you are limited to 2-3k. Heck you can find a nice 2000 watt inverter gen second hand for 300 at the right time. Even a new generac or the like can be found new for under 700.



This is not going to be enough for the well pump however, but they are VERY QUIET, light weight, and much much much more fuel friendly over extended days of runtime. Id rather run a 2k Honda EU for 10 days than a 10KW standby generator. It fits my budget, style and convenience liking.

That being said it, I put together a 12v RV/Marine water system in my utility room that is a stand-alone system, capable of 60 psi, does not require mains power and has it's own storage tank! A 50 gallon HDPE vertical tank in my case.
Simple and practical.

As far as hot water goes, you are going to have to ditch the electric water heater for an LP on-demand.

Doing this, you will be able to ditch the 2nd 220v requirement as these water heaters use minimal 110.. and just a small quality 2kw generator will support one of these no problem. You will have to check if your sensitive equipment will be happy on a floating neutral (like many of these small suitcase units are)

So basically for short money , you can put together a tank, pump and accumulator to give your house pressure water during outages.

I have more work to do to this set up, but you get the idea.

A ball valve is installed to close the back-up system from back feeding into the pressure tank for the house. The back up system then backfeeds into the house via a spigot downstream of the main pressure tank.

These little pumps will pump this 50 gall tank dry over and over with a deep cycle battery, but as you see here, I am only using a paralleled group of 7ah SLA cheap charlies from an old electric scooter.


At lease this way your family can have working toilets and a shower or whatever.. but be mindful, like any RV or boat, dont drink the water unless you treat it (3-5 tsp bleach per 50 gallons) .. even then, just simply use it for toilets and that emergency shower.

I realize many of you may have some better Ideas, so please feel free to chime in with your suggestions.

This is simply a way for my family to be a little more comfortable, and keep it on a budget, during those outages here in the 603

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