Relocating my rain barrel water pump (update #2).

I had some doubts about moving my rain barrel pump to my crawlspace. I had some leaks initially, but I managed to resolved those. Now that that they are gone I'm pretty happy with the setup. The pump is barely audible inside the house.

I decided to improve things further by adding a pressure gauge. I fussed around with setting the pressure on the pump before. The gauge I used for that was attached to one of the hose bibs. I think adding a gauge closer to the pump will be better. It'll certainly be easier to make future adjustments.

I found all of the parts that I needed at Lowes.

• 0-60 psi pressure gauge (the pump is supposed to range from 30-50 psi).
• 1/2-in x 1/4-in Threaded Adapter Bushing Fitting
• 1/2-in slip x 1/2-in fpt PVC elbow (I can't find it on the web site to link to.)
• 1/2-in PVC tee

I screwed the brass bushing into the threaded side of the PVC elbow and then screwed the pressure gauge into the bushing. Then I cut and glued all of the PVC pipe and fittings to get what I have in the picture below. 

I plugged the pump back in and everything worked just as I hoped it would.

I was able to see the pump kick on when the gauge fell to 30 psi. Unfortunately it shut off just under 50 psi. I know I had it shutting off just over 50 psi previously. That was with a different gauge at a different location. I'll have to try to adjust it a little higher sometime when get a chance. For now everything seems to be working fine.

I've already used almost 300 gallons of rain water this year.

Relocating my rain barrel water pump (update #1).

I had the bright idea to relocate my rain barrel pump to my crawlspace. So far it hasn't gone as planned. The washer hoses I used to make connections wouldn't seal. I had to replace one. Then I discovered that one of the fittings on my pressure tank had cracked.

I decided to redo all of the piping. The picture below is what I came up with.

I took the pipe vertical instead of horizontal. The key thing that made this possible was a 3/4" elbow with a 1/2" pipe thread outlet. This kept my drain at the bottom. I installed the pressure relief valve further up and the PEX adapter at the top.

The picture below shows it in place in my crawlspace. Initially it worked great, but after a couple of days I noticed it dripping where the PVC pipe attached to the tank. I had to pull it out and screw it down a couple more turns. I'm hoping that will solve the issue.

Below is a picture of the old piping for reference.