Water Pressure

[spf8298]

We run a 3 bay self serve with 1 IBA. We live in a small town of 2300 people and are hooked up to city water. During the summer months, we experience issues with our water supply to our equipment. If someone is using one of our self serve bays and another customer uses the IBA, we will have issues with pump cavitation in the self serve bays. I've visited with the city to see if there is an issue on their end, and they are going to meet me at the wash to inspect the incoming supply. Once again, it seems we only experience this during the summer months.

Has anyone else ever had issues similar to this at their washes? Any suggested remedies? Onc conclusion that I am pondering is during the summer months when water demand is much higher in our muncipality and the water level in the water tower is fluctuating, could that effect the water supply/pressure to our wash? Any input would be appreciated.

Shaun

 

[Randy]

What size pipe is your incoming water supply? What type of pipe is your incoming water supply, steel or plastic? What is your incoming water pressure? What type of pipe are you using in the the equipment room?

 

[spf8298]

What size pipe is your incoming water supply? What type of pipe is your incoming water supply, steel or plastic? What is your incoming water pressure? What type of pipe are you using in the the equipment room?

2inch incoming line made of plastic. Incoming water pressure is 58lbs. We are using copper piping throughout the equipment room. The city came down and tested everything over the noon hour. The pressure drops about 2-4 lbs when the IBA and self serve bay is running.

 

[carwashireland]

Have you any space to add a water storage tank to take up the slack

 

[spf8298]

Have you any space to add a water storage tank to take up the slack

That has been discussed and may be the next option.....

 

[carwashireland]

You just need the biggest tank you can squeeze in with a pump that has a digital pressure switch so it can cut in and out as the pressure fluctuates! I use these all the time!

 

[Doug P.]

A 2 inch line with 50psi should be more than adequate for a 3+1. Are you running a water softener? If so it may be restricting flow.
When the resin in the softener breaks down that can substantially restrict flow.
Doug P.

 

[Earl Weiss]

I second the idea of the tank, but for the SS you may not need the pump with pressure switch if fluctuations are not really affecting the concentration of your solutions. Just have the bottom of the tank at a level above where your pump intakes are. I would expect some concrete blocks could create that platform.

 

[semocarwasher]

I have ran into this many times with smaller water supplies. As Doug said, a 2inch line at 58 psi should be more than adequate. I think there is something else going on. Do you have a pressure gauge on both sides of back flow preventor? Start there. Check pressure on outlet side of back flow. I have seen huge drops across them. After that you may have to look at overall plumbing. If you have a couple of 1 inch valves and the water softener on one 1 inch distribution line I could see it dropping down briefl

 

[OurTown]

Are you running a water softener? If so it may be restricting flow.
When the resin in the softener breaks down that can substantially restrict flow.

We are having a similar pressure fluctuation issue and now I'm wondering if the issue is the water softener. It seems like it does it one week but not the next. I'm going to try to pay attention to which resin tank it is using when it happens. Maybe one needs the resin replaced.

 

[Jimmy Wilson]

I would recommend getting a holding tank of 40 gallons to provide water to your main water source.

 

[spf8298]

Jimmy,

That is the route we are going to go. I’m thinking a cylindrical poly tank with a float valve to maintain the water level, and then we’ll
Plumb it into the pump stand. We’re gonna mount it above the pump stand. Does any float valve work?

 

[Earl Weiss]

Any float Valve works, but over time they all fail. My current favorite is this https://www.kleen-ritecorp.com/p-12901-573-hydrominder-float-valve-only-no-mounting-bracket.aspx or this if you need the bracket. I keep a spare on hand with a repair kit https://www.kleen-ritecorp.com/p-12761-hydro-10091906-diaphragm-kit.aspx. When it goes bad I swap it out for the spare and put in the repair kit. Seems like it needs to be done about once a year. As good or better than any others I have tried.

 

[MEP001]

We are having a similar pressure fluctuation issue and now I'm wondering if the issue is the water softener. It seems like it does it one week but not the next. I'm going to try to pay attention to which resin tank it is using when it happens. Maybe one needs the resin replaced.

Do you have a twin tank system? It's not uncommon for the resin in one tank to break down faster than the other and you'll only have a loss of flow when that tank is in service. I always recommend that people test their water every day and write it down, as well as which tank is in service and the gallons remaining before regeneration.

 

[OurTown]

Yes we have a twin tank system. We check our softness every day but I only pay attention to which tower if it is one drop or more. We have a two inch Main and two inch copper going in and out of the softener. There are two pressure gauges and they have different readings. One is in the restroom where we take our softened water samples is reading about 39 psi with no water usage and is dropping to 26 psi with the auto running. The other one is between the booster pump (we have never used it) and the softener and reads a fairly steady 65-70 psi.

 

[mjwalsh]

We had this cavitating low pressure situation back in late November of 1987 with brand new car wash equipment. Supposedly the city had a 2 inch line but it started out as 4 ports from the older water main about a city block away. After consulting with a local engineer & friend we decided to bring in a new 4" line from the other newer water main option. We are on a corner lot & had a newer water main option to tap into.

We were required to close off the other older 4 ported line at its source or be liable for it if anything would happen. Lo & behold ... the private contractor crew hired by me found with the trench inspector that one of the 4 ported copper tubing lines had its valve closed so there were only 3 of the ports flowing water to the 2" copper tubing. I was standing right there on top of the trench area & both overheard & saw what was happening during the closure of the old ports moment.

Long story short .... we are glad we did not go the pressure holding tank route as the solution.

 

[smuggroup]

How much water pressure do you have in your home? What if there was a problem with the psi pressure and you didn't even know it? It's important to know what your water pressure is, especially if you are on a well. You might need to call a professional to adjust the pressure or even install a new pump. Don't wait until there is a problem, find out today what your water pressure is!

 

[2Biz]

A 2" main should flow almost 300 gallons a minute at 60 psi....Can't imagine you could use that much flow so something else is causing the issue. ....Don't rule out restriction caused by galvanic corrosion. I've seen it at my wash with a 2" main...The pipe was almost closed off at the meter. They used cast iron flanges to clamp on the copper pipe to the brass meter...When I disassembled it, there was only a hole about the size of a dime left in the 2" pipe for water to flow through, right at the cast flanges. Looked like smooth bone.....Wished I would have taken a picture....Probably took 25-30 years for this to form...It was luck actually that I found it. I went from a 2" meter to a 1" meter to save on minimums....The blind squirrel found the acorn that day!

 

[mjwalsh]

A 2" main should flow almost 300 gallons a minute at 60 psi....Can't imagine you could use that much flow so something else is causing the issue. ....Don't rule out restriction caused by galvanic corrosion. I've seen it at my wash with a 2" main...The pipe was almost closed off at the meter. They used cast iron flanges to clamp on the copper pipe to the brass meter...When I disassembled it, there was only a hole about the size of a dime left in the 2" pipe for water to flow through, right at the cast flanges. Looked like smooth bone.....Wished I would have taken a picture....Probably took 25-30 years for this to form...It was luck actually that I found it. I went from a 2" meter to a 1" meter to save on minimums....The blind squirrel found the acorn that day! View attachment 4761

On your corrosion. Not sure who in other cities is responsible for putting the proper flanges on when they change out their water meter. Our flanges started to leak & the #1 responsible local city water dept was called ... they admitted to have not matched the specific flanges right. The problem was "how much fuss did they want me to create" so they would agree to correct the mismatch. They did try some tightening & it did eventually stop the seeping by itself .... but it seems like some type of principles were & are involved. Unnecessary STRESS in the direction of the owner of the property ... IMHO!