upgrading from 'well water' to 'municipal water'

[mustangcoupe]

Think I'll look into a storage tank and pump to run my sprinklers ...

To heck with the sprinklers, fill up that tank at a trickle, and use it in the house, just keep topping it off at night, and only pay for water when you start to run low... use the real feed. I bet that would get the inspectors/ water department looking at where your water usage went :lol:... oh and don't turn off your flow from the metered ckt. totally one night to do this either I'm sure they would see a sudden stop and wonder if you connected below the meter

 

[electron]

What size water line do you guys have coming into the house? I just received my 3/4" valve, but also received this letter from the town about my options:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/231214/water.jpg

The ELK valve is 1", the water meter is 3/4". I like the idea of a 1" water line, since I want to put sprinklers in next year, but the minimum consumption / bill has me worried (need to call them to find out what this means)

 

[apostolakisl]

What size water line do you guys have coming into the house? I just received my 3/4" valve, but also received this letter from the town about my options:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/231214/water.jpg

The ELK valve is 1", the water meter is 3/4". I like the idea of a 1" water line, since I want to put sprinklers in next year, but the minimum consumption / bill has me worried (need to call them to find out what this means)

My water company has almost the exact same thing but with slightly different numbers. We have a 5/8 meter but the yardline is 1 in so as to avoid pressure loss to the house at higher flow rates. We have a well for irrigation. It seems a little counter to all of the environmentalists to have the cost per gallon drop the more you use. It is opposite to our electric bill which almost gives away the 1000kwh.

 

[scorp133]

Based on the wording I have a feeling the minimum consumption means you could use 0 gallons of water and those prices would be how much you still have to pay. Thus you pay for the first 1,500 gallons regardless of whether or not you use them. On my bill its listed as a 'convenience fee' for water and sewer that comes out to about $10/mo. Before I moved into my house I was paying $34 a quarter just for the priviledge of being hooked up to the city's water.

 

[electron]

Yep, I called and that's what it is. This basically encourages someone to waste water. Looks like I'll stick with 3/4" since I already received the water meter from watermeters.com (great shopping experience!), since that seems to be above average for most houses.

 

[electron]

FYI, I went with the 3/4" and the ELK Water Valve (that thing is huge!):

 

[pete_c]

Dan, then you are using the Elk water valve just for a shutoff to the sprinkler main distribution manifold?

Are you doing this just to have an alternate electronic means of shutting the flow off?

 

[electron]

I don't have a sprinkler system yet, The ELK valve allows me to shut off the main water line in case of a leak.

 

[IndyMike]

FYI, I went with the 3/4" and the ELK Water Valve (that thing is huge!)

Dan,

Nice job sweating the joints. Those look like real elbows and unions (not the "cheater" pre-solder filled).

Even remembered the support - can't tell you how many plumbing jobs I've seen supported by bricks/2-by's.

You wouldn't happen to be a plumber in your "other" life would you?

 

[mustangcoupe]

Nice job Dan, interesting setup also, my main comes into the house through the floor, and then goes Vertical to the basement ceiling joists, with my water meter 1/2 way up, then just below the joists it 90's and works it way to back across the house branching off for the kitchen bathroom and then to the furnace. It looks as if yours is on the floor

 

[electron]

Thanks for the positive comments. I actually hired a plumber to do this for me, since there were some issues I had to keep in mind when doing this kind of stuff (or the water authority will refuse to install the meter). I told him what it is I am trying to accomplish, asked if he could do it, watched him do it, while learning from his work. He did a very nice job for sure.

mustangcoupe: mine is relatively close to the basement floor, it's in a 'crawl space', with easy access. The official water meter has to be horizontal, and be within a certain distance from the house perimiter (for their exterior RF antenna I guess), hence the weird path. I'll post more pictures soon.

 

[WayneW]

The official water meter has to be horizontal, and be within a certain distance from the house perimiter (for their exterior RF antenna I guess), hence the weird path. I'll post more pictures soon.

Is that "your" HA meter or the official city meter?

 

[sda]

I actually hired a plumber to do this for me

Looks like he connected copper to a galvanized reducer on the left side of the ELK valve. If so, that's not good.

 

[electron]

This is my HA water meter. The city one will be installed later this month.

sda: the water line is 3/4", ELK valve is 1". Can you give me more details as to why this is bad? Thanks!

 

[sda]

sda: the water line is 3/4", ELK valve is 1". Can you give me more details as to why this is bad? Thanks!

When two dissimilar metals (copper and steel) are joined together, electrolysis (love that built in spell checker!) may occur and cause premature failure of the connection. Depending on a lot of factors such as the quality of the materials, the water chemistry, and the electrical current passing through the pipe; failure may occur in a couple of years, or take 10,20,30 years, or never happen in your lifetime.

Normally, you'd use a dielectric union or a brass fitting or even a PVC fitting to isolate the copper from the steel.

The right side has brass from the meter to galvanized, and that's OK.

I would have put a union on the left side so the ELK valve could be gracefully removed if testing/service/replacement is ever needed.

Unions are expensive as fittings go, but they're great for service and repair. For example, each valve on my sprinkler manifolds can be removed by unscrewing two PVC unions. Came in handy a couple of weeks ago when I had a seeping valve and needed to remove it, pull it apart, and clean it out.