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What is this Setup Called?

AgroVenturesPeru

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We had someone set this up in Peru, and it seems to be acting up. This is the setup to pump water from our rainwater storage tank to the plumbing of the house everytime we open a tap. I don't know what it's called in English, and I'm not sure in Spanish either.

The blue pump is called a bomba hidroneumatica
I think the part with the nuts and springs is called a presostata
And I think the pressure gauge meter is called a manometro

I don't know what that blue air tank on top is called.

Most importantly, I don't know the name for the entire rig.

IMG_20220221_133621.jpg
 
That blue thing is called in Spanish "Vaso Expansor". If it is acting weird you need to drain the water in it and using a compressor fill it with around 2.5 bars of air. There is a Schrader valve on top of it, under the black plastic cap.

The entire rig may be called "Bomba de aljibe"
 
In the ozarks it's just a shallow well pump and pressure tank on top. ;) Like @100FUEGOS said the tank has probably lost its air charge and by draining it down first you can pump air back into the top through the shrader valve with either a compressor or in my case with a hand bicycle pump since my well is a fair distance from my compressor but I always carry a hand pump on my Polaris.
 
shrader valve
AKA Bicycle tire valve. It should be under the black cap on top. About 2.5bar should get you on paper, you want your pressure gauge to hit about 4-5 bar when the switch shuts off the pump motor. You can always fine tune after by running some water (to reduce the pressure) and adding more air in to get to that 4-5 bar. I usually run mine at 6b but I've got 325ft of pipe to fill so by the time it hits the cabin I'm about 4.5.
 
That blue tank is an expansion tank. Found mostly on hot water systems.
Ya, it can be used for that. But it’s installed there to maintain water pressure without pump fluctuations.

As stated it does need to be air pressurized.
it seems to be acting up
Please describe what it’s doing or not doing to evaluate a probable solution.
 
It has a rubber bladder inside . If you shut off the water pump and drain the water system the Schrader valve should have 2psi more than the pump on setting at the pressure switch. If the pressure switch is set to 35 psi for the on , then the tank should have 37 psi of air with no water in it. If the bladder has gone bad it will short cycle the pump.
 
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It has a rubber bladder inside . If you shut off the water pump and drain the water system the Schrader valve should have 2psi more than the pump on setting at the pressure switch. If the pressure switch is set to 35 psi for the on , then the tank should have 37 psi of air with no water in it. If the bladder has gone bad it will short cycle the pump.
Sorry that's backwards...2 psi lower at the tank than the pump. So the pump comes on before the tank is empty.
 
In the ozarks it's just a shallow well pump and pressure tank on top. ;) Like @100FUEGOS said the tank has probably lost its air charge and by draining it down first you can pump air back into the top through the shrader valve with either a compressor or in my case with a hand bicycle pump since my well is a fair distance from my compressor but I always carry a hand pump on my Polaris.
yep, they used a bicycle pump here.
 
That blue thing is called in Spanish "Vaso Expansor". If it is acting weird you need to drain the water in it and using a compressor fill it with around 2.5 bars of air. There is a Schrader valve on top of it, under the black plastic cap.

The entire rig may be called "Bomba de aljibe"
Do you happen to know the name in English? I'm asking so that I can go look it up and do my own research.
 
Ya, it can be used for that. But it’s installed there to maintain water pressure without pump fluctuations.

As stated it does need to be air pressurized.

Please describe what it’s doing or not doing to evaluate a probable solution.
Sure thing. Lately when we opened a faucet slightly so that it emitted a very small stream of water, the pump would kick on and off, on and off a couple times in rapid (split second) succession. It would also sometimes fire up on its own at night while we were asleep. I turned its circuit breaker off at night, and when I turned the circuit breaker back on the next day those problems seem to have somehow resolved themselves.

Generally speaking, however, the pressure tank has seemingly lost its capacity over time. We used to be able to use about 5-6 liters of water from the kitchen faucet without the pump turning on. Now I think we can only get about 1 liter or less before the pump turns on. The pressure gauge still operates in the same range it always has.

I started this thread to learn the vocabulary so I could see if there are any tutorials out there about how to adjust the presostata properly.
 
FWIW, in the US less than 20 PSI is considered unsanitary & more than 80 PSI is hard on the piping fixtures.
 
Sure thing. Lately when we opened a faucet slightly so that it emitted a very small stream of water, the pump would kick on and off, on and off a couple times in rapid (split second) succession. It would also sometimes fire up on its own at night while we were asleep. I turned its circuit breaker off at night, and when I turned the circuit breaker back on the next day those problems seem to have somehow resolved themselves.

Generally speaking, however, the pressure tank has seemingly lost its capacity over time. We used to be able to use about 5-6 liters of water from the kitchen faucet without the pump turning on. Now I think we can only get about 1 liter or less before the pump turns on. The pressure gauge still operates in the same range it always has.

I started this thread to learn the vocabulary so I could see if there are any tutorials out there about how to adjust the presostata properly.
You want this...your tank is water logged.
 
Water is a solid, the tank is supposed to have air in it so the pump can pump water filling the tank with water and compressing the air until the air pressure equals the pressure switch cut off pressure, then the pump stops. If you are using water the air pressure pushes the water out until the air pressure gets as low as the pressure switch cut on setting and pump starts. If no air is present ant tank is completely full of water the pressure switch hits the cut in minimum as soon as a tap in open. In most cases the pump moves more water than the tap can relieve and the pressure in the system jumps up quickly to the pressure switch cut out and pump stops and repeat. Most tanks have a bladder in them that separates the air and makes it more efficient ( more water capacity with a smaller tank).
 
Do you happen to know the name in English? I'm asking so that I can go look it up and do my own research.
Most commonly called Well Pressure Tank or Water Pressure Tank unless you're on a boat, then it's a Hydrophore (Although mine say Hydro-5 because I'm funny :p )

Yeah, by the sounds of it your bladder is empty. Drain it, charge it up to $pressureswitch-2PSI and you should be good to go.
 
It would also sometimes fire up on its own at night while we were asleep.

Mine used to do that. Like a very short "brr" every couple of hours or so. It's a 24V pump.
I spent weeks looking for the leak, couldn't find it, theorised that it must have been the non-return valve at the inlet, then one day I closed the little tap on the WC cistern for some maintenance, forgot it closed, and noticed the pump never started.

It doesn't leak visibly, but I guess a tiny bit of water does go down.

[EDIT] BTW, in Spain the pressure switch is called a presostato (masculine :·)
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