I apologize in advance because this is as basic as it gets but I’m just trying to fully understand.
Say you have a 35 gallon buffer tank and are using a 5.5 GPM machine.
Now, say you only get 4.5 GPM from the house water supply. Therefore, every minute 4.5 gallons are going into the buffer tank, while 5.5 gallons are coming out.
Doesn’t that mean you are losing 1 gallon every minute, and that after 35 minutes, your buffer tank would be empty?
I know this is likely a dumb question and someone’s going explain it and I’m going to say “ugh, sorry”, but it’s really bothering me that I can’t quite wrap my head around it.
Yes. Keep in mind that’s 35 minutes of trigger time. Every time you take your hand off the trigger you start building surplus water. So if you move a hose and it take 1 minutes you just bought yourself 4.5 minutes more
That seems to be the case. From what I have read, most residential “non-well” situations do not really “need” the buffer tank… it is insurance for those times you might and it helps with being able to run the bypass so you don’t have to keep squeezing the trigger every minute or so, or shut off the PW so it doesn’t overheat while you are moving something, etc.
Are you routinely seeing 4.5 gpm or is that just an example?
Most house spigots on city water will put out at least 4gpm…sometimes more. There was one house on city water where the front spigot didn’t work and the back spigot leaked badly…so probably putting out 3gpm. Having a buffer tank is security. I have a 5.6gpm pump and had it hooked to a 50 gallon tank. I ended up getting a 65 gallon instead for peace of mind. I didn’t put th float valve through the lid like some the 50 was full at 37 and the 65 is full at 55. It’s just peace of mind for me in case I have a large driveway where I’m on the trigger a lot. Depending on your city house spigots You’ll need as much of the 35 gallon tank as possible.
