Can anyone suggest a wway to boost water pressure for a house on a well. We have a ozone water treatment system for the whole house which removes all the iron from the water. This is a commercial size unit and is capable of treating 20 gpm and is also used to treat our sprinkler water. It does seem to decrease the water pressure and I was looking for a way to increase it. Thanks.

Tom

labman

Home water systems often start with lower pressure than city water. Well water usually has minerals in it that can build up and reduce flow. If that is true, you get good flow the instant you open a faucet, but quickly diminish. You may have even knocked deposits loose when you installed the ozone unit. If you have any galvanized fittings or pipes, I would start with them checking for clogged pipes.

How does the unit work? To remove the iron, it must precipitate out and be filtered off. The unit must have something in the way of a filter. Does it back flush down the drain? The filter may need cleaned or replaced.

What is the pressure at the pump? I think the standard setting is on at 30 and off at 60 psi. You could try adjusting the pressure switch. Turning it up increases the load on your pump.

tebutts

Labman,

Thanks for replying. The water is constant pressure, not terribly low, just lower than I would like. I have had other houses with wells before, with better pressure. The ozone system was installed with the well, it was new construction 8 years ago. The pressure has not changed since the beginning. The system works by injecting O3 (ozone) into the water as it enters the house and then enters an off-gasing tank. The iron oxidizes and precipitates out and the water is passed to very large carbon filters (about 50in by 12in each). The filters backwash nightly into the septic field. I was told that the filters need to be rebedded about every 7 years and I had it done 2 years ago at 6 years of use. No change before or after.

The pressure gauge at the resevoir tank reads 50 psi. I guess that the filters are just going to cause a pressure drop that I have to live with. Would the water pressure boosters that I have seen would help?

Tom

speedball1

Good morning Tom,
At 50 PSI at your pressure tank you are within normal limits, (45 to 50 PSI) What are your pressure readings AFTER the fiter system? In other words, what is your house pressure now and what would you like to raise it to?However if you wish to raise your pressure at the pump and before it enters the filtering system let me show you how.
Your pump has a pressure control. As a rule this will be a Square D (small bluish gray box the wires go into). I'm going to assume that you have a "square D pumptrol and that it has a 30 PSI cut in and a 50 PSI cut off setting. First turnoff the power at the breaker box, then pull the cover off the pressure switch and you will see two spring loaded bolts secured with nylon nuts. One tall, one short. To increase the cut in pressure, turn the nut on the tall bolt down. To increase the cut out pressure,(that's the one that will give you more pressure) turn the nut on the short bolt down. This should give you the additional pressure you desire. Good luck, another Tom

tebutts

Thanks Speedball. I'll try and ffigure out how to check the pressure after the filters. I was told that you have to be careful with the pressure due to the possibility of exceeding the wells output ability. I'm going to try and find my original well specs and//or call the well company. Thanks again.

Tom