Municipal Water Backup Setup - No Electricity
The Municipal Water Backup setup allows you to create an emergency backup of water when outages or shortages occur. The municipal water backup setup uses pressurized water storage tanks to hold the water, removing the need for an electrical booster pump to supply pressure into the household. The Municipal water backup systems can store between 80 to 420 Litres of water, depending on the tank size of the pressurized storage tank you go with.
Benefits
- No Electricity is needed, as the pressure tank does not require a booster pump to push water to the household
- Space-saving, pressure tanks tend to take up less room than traditional plastic storage tanks with booster pumps
Keep in mind
- The pressure tank volume ratings refer to the whole internal volume of the tank however, keep in mind that a portion of the volume inside of the tank will be taken up by the pressurized air. So for example a 100 Litre Pressure tank, while likely only holding 60 to 80 litres of water depending on the incoming water pressure, and the rest of the tank's internal volume would be taken up by the compressed air.
- While relatively small in size, the pressure tanks can be heavy, especially the larger unit, so keep in mind that two people may be needed to move the tank. You will also not want to fill the tank with water, until it is in its final position, as this will make it even harder to move.
How does the backup setup work?
When the municipal supply is working normally
During normal water flow from the municipal source, the water will fill up the tank while also flowing through to the household. Once filled the tank will continue to hold the backup water for if and when a sudden outage of the municipal supply occurs.
When the municipal supply is experiencing an outage
During an outage of the municipal supply, the pressure tank will "push" the backup water out to the household. The pressure tank will continue to supply water to the household until empty. The amount of water supplied to the household will depend on the size of the pressure tank.
During maintenance of the storage tank
When any maintenance needs to be done, such as moving the storage tank, replacing the tank, or adding an additional tank for additional storage capacity. You will want to "bypass" the tank so that no water flows to the tank, but water still continues to flow to the household directly from the municipality. To do so you will close both the "inlet" & "outlet" valves, and open the by-pass valve.
How does a Water Pressure Tank Work?
The water pressure tanks have a "diaphragm" inside, on the one side of the Diaphragm is where the water enters the tank, and on the other side of the diaphragm is air. When water starts to fill the tank, the diaphragm is "pushed" out towards the air side, compressing air against the walls of the tank, and creating pressure. The water will continue to fill the tank, until the incoming water pressure, and pressure created by compressing the air equalizes.
As long as there is pressure pushing water into the tank, the tank will remain full. However, if the incoming water pressure drops, as it would during a cut in the municipal supply, then the air pressure inside of the tank, will "push" the water out.
