I hope you guys can give me some advice b/c I’m finding it difficult to get the straight dope on my problem on the web.

The situation:
I have low water volume coming into my home. Believe it or not, my 35 year old home was constructed with a HALF INCH water main. I couldn’t believe it either. The city has just finished replacing the mains in the street, and so I saw it from the curb box out. They wanted $5,000 to trench about 30 feet and replace the existing main. I simply did not have that kind of dough to put up.

What I want to do is increase the water volume to the house.

The static pressure is 50 PSI and the current flow rate (I measured using a bucket at the source) is 3 GPM.

The house is piped out in ½”. I can repipe to ¾ or even 1” PEX with no problem, but my problem is the low flow.

Initially I was just going to get an Amtrol pressure pump system, but when I checked the specs online, they need a minimum of 10GPM for their device to work. Argh.

So here’s my plan:
I’ll get a 40-50 Gal tank to use as a holding tank and put a pressure booster pump inline to get the pressure up to about 65 PSI. Yeah, 50 PSI’s okay, but 60-70 feels sooo good! LOL

My questions:
1. Is this a proper fix for the problem? Replacing the main isn’t feasible financially.
2. I intend the schematic to be Main Inlet >>Holding Tank --> Pressure pump --> household supply

Thanks for your advice!

Jim

Maybe you should get a price from someone who is NOT your municipal water supplier, because a larger line is the ONLY permanent solution. Everything else is just putting a BandAid on a broken leg.



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Are you saying they left 1/2" from the street main to your water meter?

Sorry, my bad: the answer is yeah: from the street to my meter's a half inch. It's either 3/4 K or 1" from the main to the curb box.

Now, if someone could give me advice on my plan, or if not tell me where I went wrong I'd appreciate it.



Edited 1 times.

Only 30 ft. from meter to house?- I'd have had it hand dug by now and be done with it. Unless you're near the arctic circle and it's buried 10 ft. deep.

I think I would have the utilities marked and have another company come replace the line. Get bids from 2 sources at least unless you already have someone qualified and capable able to do the work. I think the utility company is awfully high compared to prices around here.

If I could get $5K for a water service, I wouldn't bother doing anything else.

Like the guy said, "You won't replace many at that price", to which he replied, " I don't need to replace MANY, I just need to replace one".