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Water Sources for Spraying - water lines

4K views 11 replies 9 participants last post by  Don Boles 
#1 ·
We are currently in the process of getting a city water line into our farm. We will be using the line to feed the house (of course) but would also like to use it to set up a new water source for spraying. We already have 15000 US gallon storage capacity at our sprayer/chemical shed and planned on filling these tanks with the water line (eliminating or reducing our use of pond water). The problem is that the water line folks are saying that the gallon per minute (gpm) rate of the line may only be 1 or 2 gpm!! That's going to take a while to fill our sprayer storage tanks. They also aren't "fond" of the idea of the line being diverted to fill tanks for spraying.

So my questions to those who are set up on a water line or city water are: what is your system for holding spraying water? At what rate does it fill your storage system? how much storage capacity do you have? did you encounter similar "problems"?
 
#2 ·
Don't forget that if you are spraying any biological products (BioBoost, watered down innoculants, etc.) that the chlorine in the water will kill the micro-organisms. If they use chlorine in the water - some places don't.

But to answer your question, I don't know because we aren't on "city water". Once it is on your property though, you should be able to use it for whatever you want. I'd be VERY careful however about any kind of contamination from your sprayer getting back into the storage tanks and from there into the water lines. Maybe check with your liability insurance provider???

Andrew
 
#3 ·
But to answer your question, I don't know because we aren't on "city water". Once it is on your property though, you should be able to use it for whatever you want. I'd be VERY careful however about any kind of contamination from your sprayer getting back into the storage tanks and from there into the water lines. Maybe check with your liability insurance provider???

Andrew[/QUOTE]

We aren't too worried about contamination. The plan is to (slowly) fill our tanks with the water line. There will be a float on the top of the tank to automatically shut off the water once the system is full. We will use this supply to transfer the water into our water truck via a 3" Honda pump. The truck has a Chem handler and a pump to transfer water/chemical into the sprayer.
The perfect situation would be that the city water line has enough capacity to fill the water tanks over night, and the water tanks would then hold enough water for a good day of spraying. We can also use the pond if the system won't keep up to the sprayer.
I know there are farms out there with this type of system.
 
#4 ·
What area are you from?

we have city water and it comes in at 1 - 3 gallons per minute. we keep the water running to the tanks all the time. Its sure nice spraying with clean water.

Ours trickles from the city line into a tank. from there we have to have a pressure system to feed the house and sprayer tanks. just don't run the house tanks empty because the wife goes NUTS with no water!!!!!
 
#5 ·
TJB if you can up size the piping, valves, back flow valves, hydrants etc. on your property after it leaves the curb shut off valve from the city line it will help your flow. You should talk to the guy putting it in to see if he can put in a little larger plumbing from the main line to your curb shut off valve.
 
#6 ·
Most of the time these municipal systems are designed to only meet household needs 0.5-2 at most gpm and at that you still need a house hold holding tank and pressure system. Also they often have an orifice or flow restricter so larger plumbing won't be beneficial.
 
#7 ·
I would set up the float valve so that water falls into your bulk tank, and that the tank overflows before it reaches the height of the water outlet.

This would prove beyond any doubt that you can not contaminate the cities water supply. Just in case someone ever does contaminate and they start knocking on doors.

You could do this by simply mounting the float valve above tank overflow level and making a custom/long rod to the float.
 
#10 ·
We have a 200 gallon poly tank in the basement of our house. Under our contract we need a 8" gap between water flow and reservoir water. A float controls the level. We then run a small electric pump on float control from the house tank to the 12,000 gallon in ground storage tank out in the yard. There is a float in that tank as well to make sure we maintain another air gap to prevent back flow. With this system we never run out of water in the house, since a float shuts off flow to the big tank when the house tank gets down in level. with having a stream of water flowing into each tank, the turbulence with surface water helps release the chlorine. Between my storage tanks, water tanker and water truck, I store 24,000 gallons of water and run a 4500 acre farm. So I rarely need to hit up the local water plant for water. Just remember, never run the boss out of water in the house.
 
#11 ·
The main way you would contaminate the city water line system is if the system depressurizes and water from your farm starts syphoning back into the system. That is why most of these systems have a back flow valve where the water comes into the farm. It may be wise to have a back flow valve at your house so you could never syphon water from your tanks back into the house. If you are always filling clean bulk tanks and not directly into your sprayer the risk is low.
 
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