Gravity Assisted Water Backup System

[Polymathic]

The house is below road level, and there's a flat bit of driveway that's 8m from the house roughly 2-3m higher in altitude than the base of the house, (single story). I've been quoted R12k for installation of backup water system with pump system (excluding tank) at the back of the house, that's the only place where 5kl can fit next to the house but there's no plumbing there so all that will be needed to be done through the ceiling, the problem with this that this system is not going to work without power.

I've noticed that when the water goes out in our area, we usually still have water for another hour at low pressure and the toilet cistern is still able to fill up for a couple hours after that, be it getting slower and slower each time.

At the very least I would want just enough pressure for the water to fill up in the toilet without the need of the pump.

Can this work?

also:

Does the water pump have to be near the tank in this situation or can it be the near the house?

 

[ToxicBunny]

The house is below road level, and there's a flat bit of driveway that's 8m from the house roughly 2-3m higher in altitude than the base of the house, (single story). I've been quoted R12k for installation of backup water system with pump system (excluding tank) at the back of the house, that's the only place where 5kl can fit next to the house but there's no plumbing there so all that will be needed to be done through the ceiling, the problem with this that this system is not going to work without power.

I've noticed that when the water goes out in our area, we usually still have water for another hour at low pressure and the toilet cistern is still able to fill up for a couple hours after that, be it getting slower and slower each time.

At the very least I would want just enough pressure for the water to fill up in the toilet without the need of the pump.

Can this work?

also:

Does the water pump have to be near the tank in this situation or can it be the near the house?

So from my understanding, the gravity solution would theoretically work for a shortish period, but not very long... You could put the tank on your raised flat bit of the property, but I'd still have a pump on it to provide pressure to the house then you'll get more use out of the water stored in the tank.

I don't see why the pump would need to be near the tank, so long as all the piping from the tank to the pump is "downhill" so that the pump can draw the water from the tank properly.

 

[rh1]

The house is below road level, and there's a flat bit of driveway that's 8m from the house roughly 2-3m higher in altitude than the base of the house, (single story). I've been quoted R12k for installation of backup water system with pump system (excluding tank) at the back of the house, that's the only place where 5kl can fit next to the house but there's no plumbing there so all that will be needed to be done through the ceiling, the problem with this that this system is not going to work without power.

I've noticed that when the water goes out in our area, we usually still have water for another hour at low pressure and the toilet cistern is still able to fill up for a couple hours after that, be it getting slower and slower each time.

At the very least I would want just enough pressure for the water to fill up in the toilet without the need of the pump.

Can this work?

also:

Does the water pump have to be near the tank in this situation or can it be the near the house?

A pressure tank will give you water pressure even when the pump is offline i.e. during load shedding.

 

[soulie]

Does the water pump have to be near the tank in this situation or can it be the near the house?

you get 2 to 4 main types of impeller pumps ,one is like a pool pump which can be a few metres from the pool but just cavitates if supply is not enough or backpressure is to high .a water supply pump must be as close to the tank as possible otherwise it tends to pulse and automatically turn off ,you also get recirculation if too far on the small cheap houshold pumps ,you would need to get a distance and phone a pump supplier ,a standard impeller centrifugal pump will be ok at distance if the supply pipe is big to allow lots of input ,on standard 25 mm pipe it will struggle if too far ,one of the appies says 5 metre if supply is good with a peripheral pump ,they the cheapest ,small impeller ,high output pressure .a small 370 watt peripheral with a controller should work quite fine for you