Author Topic: Hose bib on top of well - flow rate after installation of Cycle Stop Valve  (Read 2920 times)

JEG in Raleigh

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Well, I installed my CSV last week, and everything seems to be working well.  I installed it immediately before my pressure tank, and I also installed a tee immediately before the CSV with a separate pressure gauge so I could monitor the back-pressure created by the CSV.  Just as you said it would, my pressure before the CSV is 155-160 psi.  I have several questions to try to fully understand how the CSV works:

1.  Until I started using my water with the CSV, I did not realize that the well pipe would only be subjected to the 155 psi when water was being used.  I had mistakenly thought that the well pipe would be continuously subjected to 155 psi.  Now I'm wondering if the 1 gallon bypass permits the equalization of the pressure of the portion of the system before the CSV that is at 155 psi and the rest of the system after the CSV that is at 55 psi, and I would think that the combining of the water behind the CSV that at 155 psi is 100 psi greater than the pressure of the 55 psi water after the CSV, would cause a lot of water to be expelled through the pressure release valve that's on the pressure tank tee during that equalization process. QUESTION; Could you explain why the entire system reverts back to the pressure tank psi once the pump shuts off and there is no water coming out of the pressure release valve? 

2.  I have a 40/60 pressure switch.  You preset the CSV at 55 psi per my request.  When I first turn on the water, the water drains out the the pressure tank until the pressure hits 40 psi, at which point the pump turns on and the CSV goes into action.  The pressure behind the CSV increases to 155 psi.  The pressure in the house's piping builds to the 55 psi at which you set the CSV.  QUESTION:  Is the pressure tank slowly filling also when the CSV is activated, up to the point that the pressure tank has 55 psi in it and is equal to the pressure being regulated by the CSV?   
QUESTION:  Once the water turns off and the CSV ceases to be active, is the pressure tank just topping up the 5 psi difference between the 55 psi setting of the CSV and the 60 psi setting of the pressure switch shut-off?

3.  Today, I turned on the hose bib on a tee (the other leg of the tee supplies the house with water) on the top of the well for the first time since installing the CSV.  Prior to installing the CSV, the water would gush out of that hose bib, probably at 5-10 gpm (the pump is a 10 gpm pump).  Today, the water comes out at about 1 gpm.  Am I correct that when the pump is not running, the water coming out of the hose bib is being pushed back down the line from the pressure tank, and the check valve in the pump prevents the water from refilling the well, and when you open  the hose bib on top of the well, the water being pushed by the pressure tank is diverted out the hose bib?  And is the 1 gpm bypass in the CSV now restricting that water being pushed by the pressure tank, thereby only allowing 1 gpm to come out of the hose bib on top of the well?  Will water ever come out of that hose bib faster (like when the pump kicks in and starts running)?

Thanks

Cary Austin

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You didn't say but I am assuming you have a CSV125?  Those valves only let water go backwards at 1 GPM, but all our other valves open up fully in the reverse direction. However, you want the CSV prior to all water outlets, or they won't work properly.

The CSV cannot close completely.  So, when the pump shuts off the pressure on both sides equalizes quickly.  It only takes a drop of water to equalize the pressure as water is not compressible.

The 155 PSI is only there when the CSV is closed down to 1 GPM.  As you use more water and the CSV opens up the back pressure will decrease accordingly.  You can even use the back pressure as a flow meter.  At 155 PSI your pump can do 1 GPM.  At 100 PSI your pump is producing more water and so on.

JEG in Raleigh

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Thanks for the explanation.  Yes, I have the CSV125.  I have a 44 gallon pressure tank, so around 12 gallons of water in the tank when the pressure switch shuts off the pump.  If I turn on the hose bib on the top of the well, and I have no other water running, will the 1 gpm backwards flow rate out the hose bib last for approximately 12 minutes, until the pressure in the tank drops to point that the pump comes on, and then the pump will be pumping directly out the hose bib at 5-10 gpm?

Cary Austin

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Leave 1 GPM running from a faucet at the house and the pump will not shut off when using the hydrant at the well.   With a 40/60 switch and a 40 PSI CSV125 yes it will take 12 minutes to put 12 gallons in the tank.  With a 40/60 switch and a 50 PSI CSV125 it will only take 6 minutes to fill the tank.  The pressure switch really needs to be set at 35/55 with a 50 PSI valve so it only takes 3 minutes to fill the tank, because it will take that long every time you use water in the house as well.

JEG in Raleigh

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Great, thank you for the help Cary.

JEG in Raleigh

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I'm sorry.....when you said the fixed setting was 50 psi and I double checked my model number.  I was wrong about the model I have.  I have the CSV1A and you set the pressure at my request to 55 psi before you shipped it to me.   Could you please answer my previous questions from the standpoint of having the CSV1A?  Does everything  you said about the CSV125 hold true for the CSV1A, including the fixed 1 gpm backwards flow from the pressure tank to the hydrant,  or is the backwards flow rate of the CSV1A another amount.....or variable?  Thanks.


Cary Austin

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The CSV1A has a reverse flow bypass.   It will let water go back at the full rate of the hydrant.  Just have to make sure and use enough from that hydrant to keep the pump from cycling, or run at least 1 GPM after the CSV1A to keep the pump running.

JEG in Raleigh

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Thank you Cary.