4 Reasons to Add a Water Storage Tank to Your Well
Tap Water — Clean Water Supply in Reno, NV
Many residential water wells rely on pressure tanks to maintain a steady flow through all the taps, but not all wells have a storage tank system. Storage tanks are an optional upgrade that can help you make the most of a well, regardless of the size of your home or how many gallons your family uses per day.
If you’re on the fence about a water storage tank due to the cost or the installation process, these four benefits of a system may help convince you that a water storage tank is well worth the effort.
1. Steady Supply
The primary reason most storage tank owners choose to install a system is due to a low or fluctuating yield from their well. If a well only provides a gallon per minute but you need more than that for showering and washing dishes, a storage tank is the best solution.
Your well pump can run periodically throughout the night and during other times of low use to refill the tank, providing you with thousands of gallons ready on demand. This can make the difference between relying on water deliveries or using your well during drought conditions or seasonal fluctuations of the water table.
2. Better Flavor and Odor
A sulfur or rotten egg odor is very common with even the healthiest wells due to the presence of iron-eating bacteria that are perfectly safe to drink. However, unpleasant odors, flavors, and colors are still bothersome when you want to enjoy a glass of water or a hot shower.
Storage tanks are great for dissipating sulfur odors as long as they’re vented. Since the sulfur odor naturally goes away just by leaving a pitcher or glass of water open to the air for 30 minutes or so, the tank can accomplish the same effect. Adding an aerator that introduces oxygen into the stored water increases the odor dissipation even more.
Holding water in a large storage tank before using it also gives sediment plenty of time to settle to the bottom, leaving you with clear and colorless water. If you need to treat or shock your well due to a bacterial issue, you can drain and refill your storage tank with a delivery of clean water to supply you until the treatment is complete.
3. Emergency Use
Storage tanks give you a lot of peace of mind regarding well emergencies. If your well suddenly dries up or the power goes out, you can still rely on what’s inside the tank for at least a few days of normal usage. A hand pump at the tank allows you to get drinking and washing water in a power outage.
For even more emergency assistance, go with an aboveground tank that is located higher than your home. This allows gravity to draw the water down, eliminating the need to even pump by hand when you have no electricity.
4. Reduced Pump Wear
When you only have a well pump and a small pressure tank, the pump must run every few minutes during use to keep water flowing. This creates a lot of wear and tear on the pump, causing the equipment to burn out after only a few years of daily use.
Storage tanks are the best way to make well pumps last longer. Since the water is pumped around the clock but only periodically, the pump gets a chance to cool down completely between uses. The booster pump that moves the water from the storage tank to your home is smaller and much less expensive to repair or replace than the well pump.
If you’ve invested in a specialty pump due to the configuration of your well, the cost of a storage tank system will likely pay for itself over the years in reduced repairs for the pump.
Request more information from us here at Bruce MacKay Pump & Well Service, Inc., if you think a water storage tank system might help make your well more reliable.
