Well water pressure fluctuations and CM, WTF!!!!!!!!!

[BrewinBrian44]

Hi Guys,

I may be regretting moving to this house.... Long story short, my water pressure fluctuates up and down with my well system between 30-50 psi "what it reads at the gauge." Anticipating issues with my CM still, I did a little research on here and bought an in-line garden hose pressure regulator. It's supposed to hold 25 PSI rock solid.... well, it doesn't. FINALLY after fiddling with the knobs, I was able to dial everything in to a steady balance of take off and reflux, then I hear the relay click on the water pressure tank and boom, head temps drop like a rock and output comes to a drip.

This is the product I bought, recommended by some members on here https://www.dripdepot.com/item/senninge ... psi-15-psi . I ended up going with the 25 PSI since I'm running the defleg/PC from a splitter on my wash tub tap, both independently controlled with needle valves. I put the regulator on the tap BEFORE the splitter. I'm wondering if if would even help to un-split my water and only run the defleg from the wash tub and the PC from a different hose.

I have a 4 plater with a defleg for reflux and used city tap water before. Had this puppy dialed at the old house! I REALLY don't want to set up big barrels with pumps/radiators as my stillin space is already VERY small. Have any of you guys remedied this issue and have a product suggestion? I'm extremely bummed out.

[Hambone]

I use a adjustable pressure regulator used to keep RVs from blowing pipes. Not rock solid but good, works fine.

[shadylane]

I use a adjustable pressure regulator used to keep RVs from blowing pipes. Not rock solid but good, works fine.

A friend uses something like this. He adjusts it for 25psi.

[Stonecutter]

This is an older thread but there are tons more if you search “water pressure” in the Google search.
https://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtop ... 87&t=63249

[Hambone]

I use a adjustable pressure regulator used to keep RVs from blowing pipes. Not rock solid but good, works fine.

A friend uses something like this. He adjusts it for 25psi.

That’s the one! Works a treat…

[BrewinBrian44]

You guys are awesome! Thanks for the link, gonna have to give that one a try. I like that it has a pressure gauge too!

[Deplorable]

You guys are awesome! Thanks for the link, gonna have to give that one a try. I like that it has a pressure gauge too!

I've used the ones without a gage, and they suck. I have two very similar to the ones Shady posted. One for the RV, and one for my cooling water manifold. I set the one on the water manifold to 20 PSI, and the one for the RV is set to 45 PSI. They are rock solid. As long as you set it lower than the lowest pressure your well pump tank drops to, you should be fine. What's the pressure on your well tank?

[Chucker]

I was having some minor fluctuations with mine that would lead to stalled flows from time to time. I eventually just settled on throttling the end of the garden hose a bit and have up.
But what I tried that I thought would make it a lot better, but just didn’t, was to put a float valve on a bucket to maintain the incoming water level. In the bucket I put a small submersible pump to supply the system. I didn’t do any recirculation. It turned out that still gave me more surging than I cared for but I sure thought it would help out.
I may also have had issues with my drain hose periodically pooling enough to cause some vacuum in that line, but I’m just guessing. It really wasn’t so severe that it really hurt anything.
But if the pressure regulation doesn’t work out maybe a steady pump will be better for you. The setup wasn’t very elaborate or space hungry.

[CopperFiend]

I am in exactly the same situation as you (bore hole water) and I got one of these. Still fluctuates like a mofo unless I throttle it as low as it will go (1bar) which is lower than I want but manageable.

Copper

[NZChris]

If you have enough height, gravity feed from a header tank with a ball valve will be very stable.

[Yummyrum]

If you have enough height, gravity feed from a header tank with a ball valve will be very stable.

+1 NZChris
I did it that way for a while . Just feed the deflag , the Product condenser was fine on the fluctuating supply .

[Saltbush Bill]

If you have enough height, gravity feed from a header tank with a ball valve will be very stable.

+1 NZChris
I did it that way for a while . Just feed the deflag , the Product condenser was fine on the fluctuating supply .

Cooling Management stills never do well with fluctuations of water pressure, constant even pressure fed to the defleg is critical for smooth operation.
T500s are another example of this, they run a coil type condenser that takes care of what gets to the product condenser and what is returned as reflux, new owners often have trouble with these, something as small as a tap being turned on in the same house or a toilet being flushed will upset them.
As the posters above have said , a gravity feed from a header tank or water fed from an independent pump with its own water supply will solve the problem.

[BrewinBrian44]

I think I solved this! After giving up and shutting her down last night, I started thinking about the water splitter.... When I was running both the reflux/PC through the pressure regulator on one tap, it was using almost all the water the tap could provide, leaving not much resistance. Out of curiosity, I ended up only running the defleg with the pressure regulator tap and the PC I hooked up to a garden hose that comes off my raw water supply. My defleg is so efficient, the water flow is almost nothing, meaning lots of resistance, so fluctuations of house pressure shouldn't have as much of an effect. This wild hair up my ass yielded a pretty late night for me, but my theory seemed to work! Once I had everything dialed in, the head temp stayed solid even when the pressure in the house kept cycling and take off rate really didn't fluctuate much.

@Saltbush Bill: Yeah man, they sure run great when everything is constant temp/flow. I got very steady pressure on my old city tap, until my wife decided to take a shower. I ended up mastering the slight knob adjustment when I heard the shower come on and off haha!

Thanks everyone for your responses. I'd have no idea how to do this hobby without this forum.

[S-Cackalacky]

I'm on well water with a pressure tank. There's a faucet at the tank that I use with a garden hose to feed the PC on my pot still. The pressure tank also feeds the water conditioning system which in turn, feeds all the faucets in the house.

One day I heard the shower running upstairs and soon after saw steam coming out the end of the PC. I had to shut down until the shower was shut off.

Anyway, my attempted remedy will be to plumb in a second pressure tank after the faucet I use for my cooling water. I picked up a used tank from FB Marketplace for $70 (USD). Hopefully it will provide enough reserve water and pressure to take care of the problem.

[BrewinBrian44]

Great idea on the stillin pressure tank!

[NZChris]

If you have enough height, gravity feed from a header tank with a ball valve will be very stable.

I messed up there. What I meant is called a ballcock in NZ. You might have other names for them. They are a float control valve used in toilet cisterns and cattle troughs to maintain the water level.

Any trick that holds a header tank at the same level will give you even pressure and flow through your control valve.

[shadylane]

I messed up there. What I meant is called a ballcock in NZ. You might have other names for them.

Ballcock?
In my neck of the woods, folks in the plumbing store would think your off your rocker if you asked for a ballcock.

[NZChris]

What would they call them? It's such a simple water level control that I can't believe you don't have them by some other name.

[The Baker]

I messed up there. What I meant is called a ballcock in NZ. You might have other names for them.

Ballcock?
In my neck of the woods, folks in the plumbing store would think your off your rocker if you asked for a ballcock.

Simple.
A cock can be a tap or faucet or valve, whatever.
The ball is the spherical flotation thingy that regulates the cock, tells it when to turn off or on according to the level of the liquid.
Hence, a ballcock.
What else would you call it??

Geoff

[NZChris]

I messed up there. What I meant is called a ballcock in NZ. You might have other names for them.

Ballcock?
In my neck of the woods, folks in the plumbing store would think your off your rocker if you asked for a ballcock.

Simple.
A cock can be a tap or faucet or valve, whatever.
The ball is the spherical flotation thingy that regulates the cock, tells it when to turn off or on according to the level of the liquid.
Hence, a ballcock.
What else would you call it??

Geoff

Float valve?

[Saltbush Bill]

Called the same here , I use one every time I distill anything, it regulates the flow of water from my rainwater tank to the sump that my sump pump sits in, in turn that pumps water to my condensers.
ballcock (ˈbɔːlkɒk ) noun. a device for regulating the flow of a liquid into a tank, cistern, etc, consisting of a floating ball mounted at one end of an arm and a valve on the other end that opens and closes as the ball falls and rises with the water level in the cistern. Collins English Dictionary.

[BrewinBrian44]

Reviving the thread.

Still having some variability on my CM runs. Take off rate seems to cycle a bit, even with the in line 25psi regulator.

I bought the unit from Amazon with the gauge and noticed it drifts quite a bit as the pressure tank kicks on and off. Looks like 3.5psi of total variation, even when I set it to a pressure below my lower limit on the well system.

To try and remedy this, I ran the 25psi regulator before the adjustable regulator and set it to 20psi, so a bit lower than the rating on the in line regulator. With this, I’m still getting a bit of variation, but it only looks like 1psi total. You guys think this level of variation will effect a CM run?

[CopperFiend]

Probably will affect it but not sure if it will be really noticeable. I have since put a reservoir in the loft with a ball cock from the mains so it just stays topped up while I run and I get stable 1bar water for the defleg.

[Yummyrum]

Probably will affect it but not sure if it will be really noticeable. I have since put a reservoir in the loft with a ball cock from the mains so it just stays topped up while I run and I get stable 1bar water for the defleg.

Thats an Awesome solution CF . So long as it can fill faster than it drains , its a good system .A lot of ball cocks have pretty low flow rates , but if you’re on town pressure , sounds perfect .

[Yummyrum]

OK a bit off topic , but the gravity feed reminded me of my trip to Vietnam . The utilities water pressure is so low that every house has a big water tank that is filled 24/7 …. Thats those big tanks above the buildings .

Most are just gravity feed inside the building .

My Sisters place was fancy , they had a pressure pump on their tank .

Check out the wiring

[Sulaiman]

I have siphoned water from the ballcock-controlled cistern of my upstairs toilet to use as cooling water for my condensers.
VERY constant pressure.

[BrewinBrian44]

Well… I’m definitely not it a position to put a tank on the roof.

[juana_b]

I messed up there. What I meant is called a ballcock in NZ. You might have other names for them.

Ballcock?
In my neck of the woods, folks in the plumbing store would think your off your rocker if you asked for a ballcock.

Simple.
A cock can be a tap or faucet or valve, whatever.
The ball is the spherical flotation thingy that regulates the cock, tells it when to turn off or on according to the level of the liquid.
Hence, a ballcock.
What else would you call it??

Geoff

Float valve?

Yes. Float valve is the "common" term over on this side.

[juana_b]

I messed up there. What I meant is called a ballcock in NZ. You might have other names for them.

Ballcock?
In my neck of the woods, folks in the plumbing store would think your off your rocker if you asked for a ballcock.

Yeah, I got laughs and sideways stares at the commercial plumbing supply once from saying "I just need someone to help me with a 4 inch cock and some dope".

[bitter]

I went LM just because of this issue. It has less effect. Glad I did!!! It like running outside.. wind blows and changes things.

B