Municipal back up water install

Many say 7 days for concrete like that is fine, but personally I also like to leave it longer.
The last concrete block I casted I did in the beginning of a December a week before going away on holiday because I knew I won’t be able to resist the itch. In the end I only got to it in mid January, so it stood for over a month.
Just placing the empty tank on it after 7 days will be fine though, empty those tanks weigh nothing.

If you are disciplined and keep it wet for 7+ days, that makes it even stronger.

The eagle has landed
Base is super hard already but I’m continuing to water it, hopefully this weekend it will be plumbed up and then next weekend will fill it up.

And then Murphy’s law we won’t have any municipal water problems for a while.

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So it’s been completed and it’s running well didn’t even have to change any settings, might up the pressure slightly in the future but will see how it goes.
@mariusm did yours also make a strange noise when it primes before each time it pumps, almost like a squeeke sound.

Still to do is add plug point nearby and then complete the shed.


Looking good.

I don’t remember a specific noise, but I don’t see a non-return valve in your intake, so it could just be the normal priming noise.

Ideally you’d have a NRV either just after the tap at the tank, or just before/after your upwards right-angle towards the pump so that it doesn’t have to prime every time. Gravity will do the work for you if the tank is full, but as soon as the water level goes under the pump intake it’ll have to prime every time. Skip that with the non-return valve which keeps the intake pipe filled. This pump is supposed to immediately and transparently supply water – if you’re waiting for it you could’ve bought a much cheaper pump! :slight_smile:

Another thing which may or may not be relevant… I can’t remember how well that pump pulls water. Most pumps don’t pull very well (no pun intended), so you want to make it very easy for them with thicker pipes from the tank to the intake. Your setup looks okay, if maybe a bit high, but if you’re not getting your proper pressure or it starts too slowly, you might consider a thicker horizontal piece from the tank to your upward 90º. Mine was 50mm and then 25mm.

I never fiddled with my pressure setting since you actually need to adjust the air pressure in the bladder when you do that, which seemed like too much trouble.

Lastly, consider a smart switch for its power supply… Our pump was just outside our bedroom window and when you inevitably have leaks in your irrigation it will cycle a bit to keep pressure up in the pipe, though it does better than other pumps since it has leak detection with back-off. It would have been extremely useful to turn it off with a phone at 02:00 and then go leak-hunting the next day (or on the weekend). Since it’s inverter-driven you don’t even need a big one, but the CBI Astute’s work well (they’re Tuya).

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Thanks for the feedback @mariusm

The picture is a bit deceiving. The intake pipe is only 700mm above the tank outlet so it has about ±1,3m of water above the pump so yeah if the tank goes too low then it will need a NRV which i will see if i can get sometime.

So far the pressure is instant , you just get consistent flow, everything is actually working much better. We would start losing municipal water pressure when more taps are opened but this pump just powers up and lets rip.

Regarding the noise, I agree this thing can hum quite a lot but thankfully its on our garage wall so don’t hear a thing. It seems the squeak sound has sort of gone but I think it was just the pump priming noise and might have had some air in the system.

Regarding the piping I used 32mm everywhere. The pump in and outlet is 1inch thread which is basically a 32mm OD pipe size. The pipe to the house that I connected too is also a 32mm and it was easier just to use two lengths of 32mm. I think because the tank is full most times the pump will have about 1,5 bar at its inlet so should help.

So today no water on the farm, Mogale municipality trying to sort out the problem.
It feels like the first time there was load shedding and we had solar.
Our tank should last minimum a week+ if we don’t change our normal usage.

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I thought the same thing when I first installed my 2 x 2500l water tanks. What a wakeup call when they were both empty after a week.

Problem is my family still thinks that the water tanks will supply an endless amount of water…lol

Like with power, till you switch it off, claiming you don’t know what is going on.

Sometimes one has to be hard to be kind. :slight_smile:

Me, rather learn of the “danger” whilst it is under control than find out when it is too late.

Filtration has arrived, hopefully can get it in soon