No Water

Reminds me of when the water went off in OSJ for over a month. What hell it was trying to work there without any plumbing.

I had that same issue not long ago for 2 days and it was miserable. Best thing to do with that low was fill up tub with water for baths and wash dishes outside. For some odd reason the garden hose had enough pressure to wash those dishes so no getting out of that! Lol

We had a few occasions with no water  -- it is a royal PITA! 

You can buy drinking water at the store, but when you need to flush, well...you get the point.   And a shower, that becomes a wishful idea...

I think it would be a good idea to store several gallons of clean water in jugs to have avaiable for emergencies  --  say, is that why I see all the houses with tanks on the roof when we drive around the island?

Sitka wrote:

We had a few occasions with no water  -- it is a royal PITA! 

You can buy drinking water at the store, but when you need to flush, well...you get the point.   And a shower, that becomes a wishful idea...

I think it would be a good idea to store several gallons of clean water in jugs to have avaiable for emergencies  --  say, is that why I see all the houses with tanks on the roof when we drive around the island?

Correct, they want to be able to drink, take showers cook and flush the toilet. It is a common problem but does have an easy solution.

Some people have been real stupid about it, one guy in Santurce installed one in his wooden house last year and filled it, the weight wes too much for the tin roof and came crashing down, unfortunately it killed his mother.

Our condo has a water tank in the storage area by the patio and we were told to use it in case of outage.  I had no idea it needed to be filled or refilled or even how.  Color me clueless lol! I guess I better get down there and figure this out sooner than later.

Depends on the way it was connected, it may fill automatically of not. Yes check so you become familiar in case you need it.

The reason a lot of people put it on the roof is so they do not need electricity to run a pump like they do when it is at ground level.

We just had to replace a water tank. The one we replaced it with is giant. It looks like something you'd land on the moon with. After going through the whole process and not questioning it I came to the realization that I didn't even know what the heck it was for. Now I do.

richvide0 wrote:

I came to the realization that I didn't even know what the heck it was for. Now I do.

Next thing you'll do is buying a gen-set (read about your power outage.
Welcome to PR!

FWIW I have 4 water tanks, 2 (like 200 gallon each) on the roof that will work even without power (for the pump) and 2 big ones (1,000 and 1,200) in the basement. A well pump and bladder tank deliver enough pressure to shower, flush, do dishes etc.
We don't drink water from those tanks, filtered or bought water in 5 gallon bottles that fit in the cooler are for that.

Many "professionals" installing water tanks and pumps don't really know how to do that which results in the pump circulating water to the tanks and not enough pressure in the system. You gotta think a little and have check valves in the right spots.

interesting, I'd like to learn more about the proper way to install storage tanks, I'll be doing that in the near future.   

When I have a little time I'll make a schematic drawing, it's no rocket science.

Gary wrote:

When I have a little time I'll make a schematic drawing, it's no rocket science.

Don't forget back-flushing. For mud in the lines

I am on municiple water from the street, recently had a whole house filtration system installed.   The house is two story cement structure, so a roof top tank would provide pressure to the system.   

Is the water in the storage tank part of the household circulation or is it just stored for emergency?

Sitka wrote:

Is the water in the storage tank part of the household circulation or is it just stored for emergency?

The latter. If I haven't used a tank for 3, 4 months I close the main water valve and use that tank until it's empty.
Once a year or so I clean every tank --without having to get nervous when there' s no "agua de la calle" when I'm doing that because there's three more filled tanks.

Sitka wrote:

I am on municiple water from the street, recently had a whole house filtration system installed.   The house is two story cement structure, so a roof top tank would provide pressure to the system.

Enough pressure to wash your hands and do dishes maybe but most likely not for a shower. I'd add a pump for that.

You wouldn't have more than 20' height difference between a faucet and the water level in the tank. that would give you something like 9 psi water pressure. Normal household water pressure is 40-45 psi.

ok, sounds like a pump is needed too, where is the pump best located? & how big a pump?

Sitka wrote:

ok, sounds like a pump is needed too, where is the pump best located? & how big a pump?

For the best efficiency the pump should be on the roof close to the tank(s). The disadvantage would be that you need to have something build to protect the pump from rain and sun. Even weatherproof pumps deteriorate faster without protection.
How big depends on what you want to be able to use simultaneously. If it's only two people in the house you could use a smaller pump if you make some simple rules like "don't flush when someone is taking a shower".
We have a 3/4hp 16gpm pump and it works OK for the two of us. If you want a little more power look at a 1 hp pump that can pump like 25 gpm.

Also, especially since this is an emergency system I'd recommend a non-ferrous pump. Iron rusts and when you need the pump after a couple of months it might not start. Plastic (cheap) or stainless steel (expensive) would be the right choices. I have a simple plastic pump that has been working great for more than 8 years now.

For the pressure tank there's a simple rule: Bigger is better. Get at least a 20 gallon tank for a normal house