DSTV head office in Randburg is a very shiny building, and on a hot afternoon, when the sun is starting to drop and shines directly on the street facing aspect of the building, you can feel the heat as you walk past.
Which is why I asked about all that stuff I was about to stick on my roof. Though when I think about the angles, if there were a reflection problem then it is more likely that a hadeda would be dazzled than my neighbour get a light through his window.
So once again the trigger has been pulled. I was warned of a delay because tanks are a hot item right now and there can be a delayed delivery, but the tank (ECO, 2500 l) arrived yesterday. It is larger than I imagined, but there was no rational basis to my imaginings.
I’ve opted for the vari speed type pump because of the lower draw. Also the system will be installed with a bypass to switch back to the municipal feed, in which case the pump won’t run at all.
The plumber tells me that he mostly has his set to municipal feed, but the recommendation is that you must get fresh water through the system every 2 weeks, so every second weekend he switches over to the tank and pump. Otherwise he switches over only when there’s an actual outage.
The pump comes with a built in filter (the type you can take out and wash), and he fits a strainer on the inlet to the tank.
The pump he uses also comes with an enclosing cover to further reduce noise and to provide protection from the elements. He says several customers throw the cover away the moment his back is turned. I don’t get this - the pump is outside, exposed to the elements, all other considerations aside, why would you not want the extra layer of protection that you’ve already paid for?
I know from the logs that I keep that we can go a month on less than 6000 l (this is the free allocationt that the city gives), so 2500l is going to give us better than a week’s backup if we just have a little discipline.
This is a local plumber with a good reputation. I have a local electrician putting in the connection (has to be in a waterproof box etc). The two of them work together a lot, and the sparkie tells me he installs at least one such connection every day.
OK… so the job is done.
Tank took roughly 4 hours to fill once the feed was turned on.
I am running the pump via my kill-a-watt at the moment. Today is a good test day with washing machine in use.
System has a bypass so that I can switch over to municipal water - in which case the pump will not run.
There is also a new “garden” tap, half way along the driveway. This is in the municipal line, before the tank. This is to be used for sprinklers/garden hoses or for filling the pool so it does not deplete the tank nor run the pump.
The pump is worryingly noisy. It is JoJo’s own brand (I assume this is badge engineered). Specs I had seen for some other brand suggested 60db for the variable speed pump. I thought "that’s not so bad, heat pump is rated at 55 and that’s not bothering anybody). But how much louder is 5db. I don’t know really.
Anyway, the spec sheet for this pump says nothing about noise. It is high pitched (more like a drill than the low tone of the heat pump’s fan) and noticably louder than the heat pump. There is a cover, but it is there for heavy rain and, anyways, has cooling holes. Makes no real difference to the noise.
So maybe I am going to look at some sound proofing.
We don’t plan to run it all the time. The installer (and the tank manufacturer) said that you need to get fresh water running through the tank every two weeks maximum. They don’t say cycle the whole tank, but clearly they want some amount to flow through it. I’m going to turn it on when our housekeeper is here, run it in bypass otherwise. And those are the days when I will gather data using the kill-a-watt. Currently it is showing a peak draw of just under 750W. It’s a 750W pump, so clearly spinning up to full power instead of a big spike at turn on (like the heatpump does). In fact you can hear it spinning up when you flush the loo at 23:00.
Hmmm… manual recommends that the pump runs at least once a day to avoid damage to the bearings. You can program a run time so that it will turn over once a day if (for EG) you are on holiday. Is it OK to do that when there’s no demand for water? IDK.
Lots I don’t know.
If there’s water in the line you can program it to run once a day, but not when it’s dry.
I know exactly what high pitch whine with the Jojo pumps you are referring to, I don’t have one myself, but have some friends with Jojo pumps. I read somewhere in the past someone opened up the pump and fiddled around with the screws holding it together, ensuring a better tighter fit, think they actually used different screws, which made some difference.
Oh and technically, a increase of only 3 dB is double the sound pressure / volume, so 55 to 60 dB is actually a hell of a lot louder. But as you said yourself with the sound of the heat pump vs the higher whine of the Jojo, it’s not that simple, it all depends on the frequency as well.
You would be fine listening to a 30 Hz tone at 80 dB for a hour, however you would want to wrip your ears off after seconds if it is a 1 kHz tone at the same 80 dB volume.
I know. Or I do now.
I’ve been to some live shows that have been downright painful. Not in big venues either.
Then recently I watched a YouTube video featuring the guy who does live sound for the Rolling Stones. He said two things I found very interesting.
The first was that his job is not to make whichever artist hires him sound good. His job is to take whatever sound & performance they produce and make it loud.
The second was right at the end where he showed how he EQs the sound. Bass? Yes you can push that a bit. Tops? Yes crank that a bit as well if you must. But 1k to 2k he sets flat on the graphic EQ, maybe even cuts them a bit, but never more than flat. Because that’s what hurts people’e ears.
So as long as there’s water on the input side, even if it can’t push it anywhere?
I’m also not impressed with the JoJo branded pump because this allegedly 750W pump hit a maximum of 840W today.
If the water has nowhere to go then it won’t switch on, I don’t know the specific pump, but I’m pretty sure the pressure switch would override your programmed timer anyway, so it would have to be a open line for it to switch on.
I haven’t made much progress on the noise suppression*. I just turn the pump off in the evening.
But now another problem looms. Next week Rand Water are going to commence work on the Eikenhof pump that supplies most of Johannesburg and Randbug.
Now, on day 5 of the promised 3 day outage I would like to know how much water remains in the tank.
Ideally this would be an easy to read analog dial atop the tank. Nice and easy to read. Digital is not a no-go, but analog is simpler (if less accurate) and usually cheaper.
But how to calibrate it now the tank is full?
Any suggestions?
@Bobster have you considered lining the housing with 20mm polystyrene sheets?
Actually no. The windows would be the weak point. But I am concerned that it troubles my neighbour more than it troubles me. The pump sits in the driveway, and can’t be heard from most rooms in our house.
I presume the tank is cylindrical and is standing vertically?
When the tank is overflowing it is 100% full and when empty it’s 0% (Am I missing something??)
Correct.
Yes, but I don’t know if the outlet is right at the bottom, so there may be a few liters we can never get at without tipping the tank over.
But I think the problem is solvable. I attach a s̶i̶n̶n̶e̶r̶ sinker to the float & find bottom, or close enough, that way. Then I pull it back up, remove the sinner, and I now have the full level.
I was going to ask if you are part of some hybrid Catholic church mafia…maybe we shall refer to you as Don Bobsterione now 
btw, there is still a sinner to pull up and remove…
Product-Specific-Leaflet-Tank-Gauge.pdf (250.8 KB)
Check this level gauge. Quite neat regarding the ‘programming’ of the full and empty levels
Thanks Richard. That is the gauge I have on order, and the method is similar to what I had come up with. Actually fitting the gauge is simple, and so I will know when to start panicking.