Water booster pump for house

6pack

6pack

ex-Mod
I'm getting very low water pressure from my overhead water tank. I think it's less than 5 liters per minute. There is only one tank for the entire house. Even the toilet just below the tank gets very low pressure. It's so low that the hand shower is just a trickle of water. Not enough force in it to clean butt. (⁠╯⁠︵⁠╰⁠,⁠)

The water flow to the washing machine is just very low that the machine just gives up and shows error. So I need to fit a booster pump at the exit of the tank. The exit has a NRV valve or something like that to stop water coming into the tank from the outlet when there is mains water. There is like 2 ft x 3ft space available next to the tank so I can fit a small pump next to it.

What hp pump should i get? I searched Amazon and the small 0.5 hp pumps only give max of 1 bar pressure. There are some dc pumps that run on AC adaptor and even those say less than 1 bar pressure only. Anyone with knowledge on this subject? Please don't suggest that groundfos model. It's 90k which is out of my budget of max 5k. The water tank itself cost like 4k with installation.

Forgot to mention. Everything is concealed plumbing. Even the lines that go to the tank are concealed. Not concealed next to the tank. So pipes are 1/2 inch. Can't change anything inside the walls.
 
Last edited:
Have you checked that pipes are not clogged by salts mainly present in borewell water. Also is 1/2 inch pipe fitted inside whole house? And what's the height of overhead tank?
 

I bought this pressure pump three years back especially for my previous Bosch WM which was very finicky when the pressure is even little low. Since I changed the WM to LG I do not have the pressure problem for WM now. It is still 0.5HP pump and it comes with a pump controller and I have now connected this with the overhead tank. The pressure is very good for 3 taps when opened simultaneously. Only con it will not auto cutoff when there is any leak in the line or if any tap is not closed properly. This is OOS in amazon now but there are other models with same capacity and even 1 HP model should be within your budget.
 
6pack said:
I'm getting very low water pressure from my overhead water tank. I think it's less than 5 liters per minute.
Click to expand...
First problem, 5 liters/minute is too low even for half inch line. By any chance you aren't using cPVC lines, right?

Anyway, either you have clogged lines or you are using high pressure taps. Most of the high branded taps are like that. They have aerators on them and these are supposed to be used in apartments or with booster pump in case of standalone home. Aeroters need pressure to operate. Get the cheaper taps which don't have aerators and you'll get good water flow. If you do have aerators then make sure to clean them regularly.

6pack said:
What hp pump should i get? I searched Amazon and the small 0.5 hp pumps only give max of 1 bar pressure.
Click to expand...
That's not correct. Half HP pumps can give you 5+ bars of pressure. You are probably looking in the wrong place.
 
lockhrt999 said:
By any chance you aren't using cPVC lines, right?
Click to expand...
Everything inside the walls are cPVC. I cleaned the aerators of all the taps. Saw some sand etc and removed those. I ran water through the pipes and they are clean. Just no pressure. I think it's because there's too many bends and ups and downs in the pipes when they run it through walls.

So looking at replies even a 0.5hp pump is enough for my usage.
lockhrt999 said:
You are probably looking in the wrong place.
Click to expand...
It was this 0.16hp pump.
DMAKS® Lucky Home Pressure Booster Pump WRS20/9-Z-X LBP 120 https://amzn.eu/d/a3fCjYh
 
6pack said:
Everything inside the walls are cPVC. I cleaned the aerators of all the taps. Saw some sand etc and removed those. I ran water through the pipes and they are clean. Just no pressure. I think it's because there's too many bends and ups and downs in the pipes when they run it through walls.
Click to expand...
Oh buddy. 1/2 inch cPVC are practically 1/4 inch. I dunno who wrote cPVC standards but they were not awake. Half inch uPVC and GI pipes are doubly thick compared to half inch cPVC. They sure can carry twice as much water compared to cPVC.

When we give plumbers plumbing work with material they use 1/2 inch cPVC to save some money. That's why we should buy material ourselves and provide it to plumbers.

6pack said:
So looking at replies even a 0.5hp pump is enough for my usage.
Click to expand...
Right. It's the upper limit for your plumbing. 1 HP motor are better used with 1 inch or above uPVC pipes.
 
I saw the internal diameter of a cPVC and uPVC pipe I had and understand what you said. No wonder water pressure is so low. If i have to rip up the bathroom next time, I'll use 3/4 inch or 1inch cPVC. Can't help it now.
 
6pack said:
I saw the internal diameter of a cPVC and uPVC pipe I had and understand what you said. No wonder water pressure is so low. If i have to rip up the bathroom next time, I'll use 3/4 inch or 1inch cPVC. Can't help it now.
Click to expand...
You didn't know. It happens.

Here's one thing that might make you feel better. I have 1.5 inch uPVC plumbing for the main pipe and using 1 inch or 3/4 inch elsewhere. My tank is 5-6 meters up and I'm still thinking about installing a booster pump. Fatter pipes will increase the water flow but not the pressure. And all modern fancy sanitaryware need pressure to operate optimally. In your case too, you would have needed booster pump regardless the diameter of the pipes.
 
6pack said:
Forgot to mention. Everything is concealed plumbing. Even the lines that go to the tank are concealed. Not concealed next to the tank. So pipes are 1/2 inch. Can't change anything inside the walls.
Click to expand...
Do you have a valve outside at the ground level? My pipes are also concealed but I have gate valves on the outer wall for each bathroom and kitchen.

I had this problem in one of the bathrooms couple of months back and the plumber opened the valve and cleared out the silt in it. The pressure was fine afterwards.
 
Back
Top