Overflowing Spring into Sunken Tank, to Storage Tank with Pressure Shut Off

Low producing springs (A) are useful sources of water, but might need a little help collecting enough to pump. If your spring spills out onto the ground, flowing away downhill, we suggest burying a tank next to the well (B). The tank will collect water at night, meaning you’ll have a large store of water in the morning. Our helical submersible pumps (RPS 200, 400, 400N, 600 and 800), and even our Pro Series Deep systems, pump nice and slow so you won’t have to worry about cycling. A motor speed dial in the helical rotor charge controller allows you to easily adjust the rate of pumping. 

You can then pump water to a variety of next steps like a stock tank, pressure tank, direct to drip lines, hoses, even unique setups like waterslides or fish cleaning stations. In this example, water is pumped to a faraway storage tank. Usually, we use a wet/dry tank full sensor wired directly to the control box. And there is a wet/dry sensor acting as a low water sensor just above the pump (B). But since the tank is a few hundred feet away, and no one want to trench wire that far, a pressure shut off system is used. Pressure shut off systems are comprised of the following three plumbing pieces….

1) A one way check valve to help build pressure in the line and prevent backflow. Attached directly off the pump and show in (B). 

2) A reverse action pressure switch  dropped into the pipeline to sense changes in pressure from the mechanical float valve. The reverse action pressure switch is still hardwired into the charge controller (shown underneath the solar panels), but is placed closer to the pump and therefore uses substantially less wire than a wet/dry sensor.  

3) A mechanical float valve (C). If the tank fills up, the float rises and closes the pipeline, spiking line pressure and the reverse action pressure switch sends a small electrical pulse to the charge controller to turn the pump off. If the tank is emptying, the mechanical float drops to open the pipeline, line pressure releases and the reverse action pressure switch turns the pump on.