pside-kick system - Can I Add A "Second" Pressure Tank?

[Elton Noway]

The bladder my 10 year old 125Gal Flotec let go (spraying water from the valve when I attempted to check the air pressure). When I purchased it 10 years ago, from one of those big name home improvement stores, I wasn't able to find much information on the net. Now that I know better and I won't be buying another Flotec.

Anyway, after much research it seems the pside-kick will be a near perfect solution. I say near perfect because it's just my wife and I, with normal water usage, (i.e. showers, toilet, laundry, dishwasher) but no irrigation system of any kind. I only mentioned this because (like others) I'm concerned about the pump kicking in with every gallon of water usage. I know the argument is the elimination of frequent cycles during long use times (showers and laundry) will offset the extra cycles toilet flushes, brushing teeth or shaving etc., but I can't help but think there will be more of these short periods of water usage cycles. Too many in fact, to be offset by the cycles saved during long water use periods. With that thought in mind... I was originally planning on installing a CSV1W with a Flexcon WWT-20... but... I'm 60. Although 60 I'm in great shape and can still easily wrestle the old 125Gal out and a new 20gal tank in under the house. My concern is in the future... (say 20 years from now) of having to change out the 20 gallon tank. While swapping out a 20Gal might be near impossible, I'm hoping I should still be able to replace the little 4 gal on the pside-kick. For this reason I hoping I can get by with just the pside-kick.

Which leads me to the original subject of this thread. If I install the pside-kick... then after a month or so I decide I would be better off with a 20 gal tank... can I simply install the 20Gal tank downstream of the pside-kicks 4gal tank?

In theory I'm thinking the CSV won't care there if there is more than one tank... and it will simply allow the pressure to rise in both tanks until the pressure switch shuts off the pump. NET: Can I use a second tank in conjunction with the pside-kick?

[Cary Austin]

The CSV makes the pump run continuously the entire time the shower is running or the entire time the washing machine is filling.  Without a CSV the pump could cycle several times during a shower or washing machine fill.  The 1 gallon draw down in the 4.4 gallon tank will keep the pump from starting when the ice maker fills or for rinsing a toothbrush.  Second or third toilet flushes don’t cause extra cycling because the pump is already running from the first flush.  So the question is really how many times a day do you start flushing a toilet?  Even twenty or thirty flushes a day don’t add up to much cycling.   So the 4.4 gallon tank is really all you need.

You can always add another tank to the system if you like.  And unlike systems that do not have a CSV, you can install the second tank anywhere.  Without a CSV it is not recommended to install tanks in different locations.  They will fill at different rates and times because of the friction loss between the two tanks, which is not a good thing.  However, a CSV will fill the pressure tank(s) at only 1 GPM.  At 1 GPM fill rate there is no friction loss in the system, so multiple tanks will fill at exactly the same rate, no matter how far apart they are.

I don’t think you will ever need or want the extra tank but, with the CSV, you can install another tank anywhere and anytime you like.