Pipe diameter and pump size for water distribution

Even adding a small inverter 800va for example with a nice lithium battery to run this pump at night, will be way cheaper than the tank stand and can be used for other stuff like powering a few lights and communication or what ever in the future.

I kind of like the idea of the tank stand giving me 1 bar of pressure already no mess, no fuss, no matter what, but ja R35k is a lot of money for a stand so I’ll look at it again.

I doubt the pipe diameter will change and that I’ll be able to save on piping cost, 40mm to 50mm is probably still the way to go, but I’ll look at the inverter option again.

Edit
The quick and easy way will be a Easysolar 24/1600 with a 2.4 kW Pylon then I’m at R35k.
Add 1 - 1.5 kW of panels and Bob meats his aunty, call it R45k.

Probably inverter overkill but will give me plenty spare capacity for future expansion.

Ok so I’ve been thinking, what if skipping the stand, putting tanks on the ground and running a pressure pump.

The typical 0.37 kW pressure pump I looked at Jojo’s specs, supplies 34 l/min at 3.8 bar, so from what I’ve learned so far, this size pump will work just fine for my setup even with multiple showers running at the same time. @Phil.g00 is this thinking correct?

Then for the electricity side I was thinking to go 48V and not 24V as previously stated, since 48V is much more common.
So Multi 48/1600, I was thinking to go Multi rather than Phoenix so I can easily charge the battery using a mobile generator if really needed. The 1600 Multi is overkill for a 0.35 kW pump, but this will give me plenty spare capacity at the site for future expansion.

Now my next question, will only one Pylon US2000 series battery be fine to use with a 1600 Multi? The Victron and Pylon compatibility chart doesn’t list the 1600 Multi, it only lists the 1200 and 3000. I actually know it will be fine unless of course I push it past 1.2 kW, but what about the warranties? @JacoDeJongh
If I ever put more load on the system I’ll add another battery as well, but for a start, for only running that 1 pump, a 2.4 kWh battery will be more than enough.
Then for the rest a MPPT 150/35 should be enough, I’ll probably start out with only 1 kW of PV and expand from there if needed.
Then of course a GX, probably Cerbo.

For a large distributed plumbing system, and single leaky cistern and that pump will run every two minutes 24/7.
How will that bode for your electrical storage setup?

48V is superior to 24V for electrical/economic reasons.

Your power supply must be capable of supplying starting current which is multiples of normal running current. 1600W isn’t overkill, it may not even be capable.
( I notice there is no reference to a borehole pump?)

1600W (which is only 1200W continuous at 25C) won’t boil a kettle, nevermind run a camp.

Sorry, to burst a bubble, but:
I think you are massively underestimating your electrical power and storage requirements. I also think 100l H2O pppd is not enough. In a household setting, I estimate usage about 150 - 300l pppd.

I’m looking at VSD pumps as well which is more expensive, but better for electricity usage and start up current, you get them in similar sizes, but at 3 even 4x the cost.

For now the borehole isn’t part of my calculations, for now I’m only working on tank to campsite.

For permanent residents in a domestic environment 150 to 200l per person is the average depending who you ask, the same figure gets used for hotels and other holiday places with a bath in every room.
For non permanent residence, hotels, holiday places etc. with a shower only, the average is 100l, again depends who you ask, I’ve even seen lower figures quoted.
I’ll double check this again, I know a guy who designs septic systems for a living, I’ll call him up.

If this turns out to be too expensive, I’ll go back to the tank stand solution.

Now I am really confused.
Are you assuming you’ll hit water, good water and enough of it after this campsite is built?
If you don’t have a decent water source, there will be no campsite.

It is practically step 1 of the critical path.

Sorry should have said this from the beginning, there are already 2 boreholes on the property giving good water. Depending on placement of the eventual campsite, either borehole will be around 100m from the tank I’ll be installing. The one borehole currently pumps to the house tanks 100m in the opposite direction. The house also have tank stands for its 2 tanks, they are only 5m high though.

1 Like

I have one of these supplying my house during water outages, and it is adequate, but that’s the best I can say for it. It is not what I would describe as excellent. The reason I’m using this one, is because I had a spare one off a previous project, so why buy one if you have one that is “adequate” already :slight_smile:

I would double up on this at least, especially if there is the possibility of multiple campers using water at the same time, for example one taking a shower while another flushes a toilet and a third is doing dishes. That is, I’d be looking in the 750W to 850W range. You can start one of those easily enough with a 1600VA inverter (I’ve done it many times at my previous house), but no more than one I would say.

Do you intend providing the campers with electricity? I assume not. If you do, something I’ve done for my AirBnBs is fit a Sonoff POW that is programmed to switch off if you exceed 250W. This allows watching some television, charging a cell phone, running a laptop, or a CPAP machine (which can be the difference between sleeping and no sleeping), a fan in the summer months (again, sleep vs no sleep), and some lights so people don’t fall and get hurt. But without any real risk of someone overloading your system.

1 Like

Thanks, yes I’ll spec the inverter system for a 0.75 kW pump, the possibility that a 0.35 kW won’t be enough is in the back of my mind. I tested this morning and a 0.4 kW can start on a 1200 Multi, so a 0.75 kW should work on a 1600 Multi, even more so if it’s a VSD pump.

No for now I don’t plan to supply electricity to the campsite at all. Each bathroom will get a 12V light on the inside and one on the outside, but apart from lights, nothing else.

Why not just reporpuse these tanks to work for the house and campsites? 100m extra pipe is going to be cheap compared to anything else.
5m stand plus the 2m tank height should give you close to 2bar pressure which should be fine to start and you can upgrade from there as the site get busier and your need requires it.

1 Like

Also, if the camp site is slightly downhill from the main house… never underestimate the watter pressure you can get from a 2-inch column of water running up a hill… :slight_smile: You might be able to get away with doing nothing at all :slight_smile:

1 Like