plumbing ?

GetDeviceInfo

Joined Jun 7, 2009
2,192
There is much information about flow losses in piping, unfortunately, it's not quite as simple as ohm's law. Bends, area changes, valves, etc, have certain restrictive qualities, as does surface characteristics and speed of flow.

Your building codes dictate choice of materials/sizes/practices.

I've done tons of hydraulic work over the years and the hydraulic/electrical relationship has interesting similarities, but that's about it.
 

Deleted member 166695

Joined Dec 31, 1969
0
Okay, I'm trying again:
The plumbing analogy is way over used, and can get complicated quickly if we start to get away from simple resistance, water flow, and pressure. i.e., in electronics, resistance, current flow, and voltage. It does not help us much with inductance, capacitance, magnetics, electrostatics, etc. If you look in another section of this web site, you will see the comparison of just these three definitions for hydraulics and electronics. Stick to these, and from there, just learn the real electronics. Some people use light as an analogy, where light intensity at the source is equivalent to voltage, the opacity or aperture size in the light path is the resistance, and the amount of light passing through the system is the current. However, this analogy gets misleading the instant you get past stating what's in this previous sentence. Want to learn electronics? Well, think of voltage as being greater as the number of volts increases; think of current flow as the number of coulombs per second that pass a point in the circuit per second; and think of resistance as resistance to the flow of current, where the larger the resistance, the less the current. The simple formula I=E/R, placed in it's three forms, is all you need to solve any "simple static DC circuit". It even works for AC circuits in many cases. A good example where this formula works in either DC or AC is with a voltage source like a battery or your ac wall socket, a resistance like an incandescent light bulb, and the resulting current through the lightbulb. It's a lot easier to forget the pipes and pressure, and just focus on the simplicities of electronics - a lot more fun too. i.e., I have been doing electronics for 55 years, and I want to do it every day. Just wait until you get into operational amplifiers - things get simplified and with a circuit in a tiny package you can do an unlimited number of projects in electronics. Some people go from the simple electronics, directly to operational amplifiers, skipping transistors. Of course the tiny one chip computers can occupy your time for the next 50 years, and it is now cheap and easy to get into them. The more you learn about electronics, the easier it gets, and the enjoyment is exponential... trust me, I have been there.
 

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
The water pressure at my house is 40 PSI, but the water tower is more than 1&1/2 miles away, so that explains the low pressure. I did an experiment in which the water guys were changing the meter and I had them let it blow out of the meter for one minute. 28 gallons per minute at the curb and the jet of water was over 50 feet, horizontal. By the time it gets to the house, in a rusty old 1/2" iron pipe, it's down to 7 GPM! (Must use better pipe if I ever replace that.)

I tried to convert the piping system into electrical terms, but there's something about velocity squared or velocity cubed so it doesn't convert except for an approximation at low velocities. Anyway, I did come up with some good ideas and they pretty much conform to standard practice. As follows:

In order to keep from getting scalded when somebody flushes the toilet,

Nice slick 3/4 inch or 1 inch PVC from the street to the water heater, and branch off from there with a generous cold pipe (like 3/4 inch) and run 3/8th branches to the sinks, showers, and toilets. Thus, any load on the cold supply will be reflected as reduced pressure at the hot water tank. (There are also "balancing" valves to do this job.)

The standard method for hot piping is a 1/2 inch "main" with 3/8ths branches to the loads but running a separate 3/8th line from the heater to each load will minimize the amount of water you waste every time you turn on a faucet and wait for the water to get hot. In my house, that's only 3 runs of 3/8 hot pipe. In a larger house, the price and extra complication can get ridiculous.

Do not pipe softened water to the toilet, it leaches the porcelain.
You can drink hard water or softened, but either way, I recommend a cheap charcoal filter to supply a gooseneck dispenser in the kitchen and the ice maker (if you have one). The day I looked at a glass of water and couldn't identify what was swirling around in it was the day I installed a carbon filter.

I hope you got an idea or two from this.
 

mcgyvr

Joined Oct 15, 2009
5,394
Typical pressure is 35-75psi.. All piping has a rated pressure in the "datasheet" Most states have laws dictating max pressure and most states (if not all) require a pressure regulator near where the water enters the house. (Usually a bell shaped device with a bolt on the top)
For my saltwater fish tank I have a RO/DI water system and they typically require 50psi min for proper operation.. When I hooked it up I had 35-38 PSI.. A simple trip into the crawlspace (basement) and a few turns on the pressure regulator now I have 55-60 PSI all the time. The bonus is the wife loves the extra pressure in the shower and has "thanked" me for it.
 

maxpower097

Joined Feb 20, 2009
816
The water pressure at my house is 40 PSI, but the water tower is more than 1&1/2 miles away, so that explains the low pressure. I did an experiment in which the water guys were changing the meter and I had them let it blow out of the meter for one minute. 28 gallons per minute at the curb and the jet of water was over 50 feet, horizontal. By the time it gets to the house, in a rusty old 1/2" iron pipe, it's down to 7 GPM! (Must use better pipe if I ever replace that.)
.
I don't think that matters 12. I think all the water towers now are just used for emergency storage till they are dismantled. We pipe water from Port Richey into St Pete into Tampa. Hills County uses 40% of Pasco's water supply. Its all done by underground piping now. Their in the process of tearing down all the water towers but everyones giving protesting scrapping them. Theres a company in PA that has all the contracts to scrap em but the historical society is fighting every one they want. I think your tank your refferring to is not being torn down cause its like 1 of 3 towers with spiral staircase. Cresent Lake on 5th?
 
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