Hi David, the difference in power consumption is mostly due to the power surge that most pumps use when turning on. If you have a very small pressure tank, the pump could be cycling on 20 or 30 times a day, as opposed to 2 or 3 times a day with a very large tank. So there's a bit of power savings there, plus some systems will have a noticable dip in voltage when the water pump turns on that even makes the lights blink. The less this happens, the better it is for equipment. Is the power consumption difference large? Probably not. But combined, I think the benefits make it worth investing in a larger tank if you are already in the market for one.

Hi Nick,

I stumbled on this while planning an entirely outdoor setup - a campground that school kids come to through the year, and we're currently carting dishes across the road to our on-grid building to wash and back, which is not the most efficient use of time or resources!

If I had the pressure tank and well head in an insulated enclosure, and ran the system dry before the first hard frost, do you think it would be alright when I started it up again in the spring? I don't think we'll be using it much after the end of October, and I hate to build a fully heated enclosure when I don't have any other consistent heating needs on that part of the property.

Thanks,
Mike

Hi there,

There should be no issue at all with leaving a frost free hydrant open for extended periods of time, as long as it is a time of year where there is no danger of it freezing. The 2 things to look out for with frost free hydrants are:
1 - Lots of opening and closing of the valve. Every time you close the valve (turn the hydrant off), it opens a weep hole at the bottom of the hydrant (underground) and lets all the water above weep down into the ground. If you are doing that frequently, you could saturate the ground under the hydrant and it might not be able to properly drain down. This may not be a huge problem in the summer, but could result in a frozen hydrant in the winter.
2 - Leaving a hose connected when you turn the hydrant off. Doing this makes it so that the hydrant either cannot drain down, or else it tries to drain the contents of the entire hose through it's weep hole and into the ground. Neither of those are a good situation, especially in the winter.

Hope that helps!
Nick

I have frost free hydrants with hoses around my garden to water vegetables as well as the orchard. The research that I've done is inconclusive as there is so much contradiction and differing advice. I really don't know how to proceed. I'd like to set timers to water the veggie raised beds, however I'm worried about leaving the hydrants open for hours.
Do you have some easy steps to share as well as suggestions for the devices required?
I will greatly appreciate some guidance here. THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the valuable information you have in "Sustainable Preparedness".