Plumbing layout

[laynes69]

Within the last few months, we had our old jet pump replaced with a submersible. Our pressures shot up, and everything has been good. The current issue is we have a plumbing nightmare. Mismatched lines (1/2" main to 3/8 on hot line) and we lose pressure since everything is basically shared with 1/2" copper mains. We also will be adding a 2nd bathroom upstairs, so our plumbing will not support the usage. My plan initially was to remove all of the old copper, keep all the stubs at the fixtures and put in pex. Currently the line after the pressure tank is 3/4" pex but quickly get reduced to 1/2 " copper. I initially wanted to do 1" pex main for a trunk then go 1/2" off the main for each fixture, but then I saw inline manifolds and a home run system. If I'm thinking right, even if a 3/4 pex line entered a manifold, I still would see pressure loss if 2 or more fixtures were being used correct? I did a rough drawing of the downstairs of our home (it's a very old Victorian) to show the layout and where the water heater, pressure tank and water softener sit in the basement. At this point, I'm not sure what would be the best layout and size for our home. The 2nd bathroom would go above the den in the photo. I'm not afraid to do the plumbing (I've done 90 percent of the remodels here), but I'm not sure what would be the most efficient layout for usage (family of 5). Any help would be appreciated!

 

[zrock]

i have 4 showers, 5 sinks, 4 toilets, 4 washing machines at our RV campground. I run 3/4 mains 1 set per bathroom down the wall and then t off with 1/2 inch to each fixture. We see 0 pressure loss with this setup

 

[laynes69]

What type of plumbing are you running?

 

[zrock]

I run nothing but PEX... only way to go... our incomming pressure is only about 41psi at the moment from the city

 

[laynes69]

Our lowest pressure is 45 and it tops at 70 from the well. Theres many restrictions on the lines and the laundry and tub share both hot and cold from a 1/2 line. I suspect if the reductions are taken away, we probably wouldn't have many issues.

 

[zrock]

Only issue i found with 3/4 is our walls are only 2x4 so i have to make sure i put the steel plates over teh studs where the piping runs through so it does not get pierced by a nail or screw in the future

 

[maple1]

Our lowest pressure is 45 and it tops at 70 from the well. Theres many restrictions on the lines and the laundry and tub share both hot and cold from a 1/2 line. I suspect if the reductions are taken away, we probably wouldn't have many issues.

Our highest is lower than your lowest.

 

[laynes69]

Our highest is lower than your lowest.

We were there for a number of years! I think 35 or 40 was our highest prior. Previously, if we ran the washer, we had no water elsewhere. If I opened a faucet while the washer was running, we would lose water. Now, just a few minutes ago my son was in the shower and I was running a load in the washer.

We have an old well that was probably put in around the 50's (no well records). We had a deepwell jet pump that was producing probably no more than 4gpm at the end of it's life which was around 22 years old. We had a 3" 3/4 hp grundfos submersible installed with a new 44 gallon pressure tank. The pump produces over 10 GPM. The castiron casing was extended above ground, the underground wiring hooked up and a pitless adaptor was installed. After everything was done, the pit was filled in. Total bill around 3k, but well worth it!

 

[laynes69]

So after much debate, I decided to run 3/4 copper mains and branch off to each fixture with 1/2 inch. I'm a partial of the way done and I've noticed a difference already. Unfortunately the increased volume has been making my water cloudy and as I suspected, more gunk from the softener. While the washer was running, the dishwasher and kitchen sink, there was zero loss in pressure. Tomorrow I will replace the cold and hot mains. The cold is only 1/2 inch while the hot is 3/8. Years of multiple runs everywhere with soft copper. Things already look 100 percent better. While it's costing more upfront, it will outlast me.

 

[zrock]

Just wondering why u went copper and not pex? Pex is so much easier

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[laynes69]

Flow, and I'm a bit oldschool. The existing pex portion the well company installed was 3/4. The I'd was about 1/2 inch. Since I already have copper on the entire system, it's not too bad of a project. I bought 10 sticks of copper, and the valves and fittings total came to around $350. While I could've done the system for less with pex, I'm used to sweating copper. I just feel it will outlast me. I'm sure pex would've been fine, I've never worked with it.

 

[zrock]

I guess if your used to it all the power to ya..lol... I hate working with copper after redoing my mom's complete house all confined space. Most of it leaked because I could not get it hot... most of the connections I had barely enough room for the torch and my face...lol

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[laynes69]

Trust me, I understand lol. From the 4 hours I spent yesterday, I had one leak and that was at the shark bite right after the pressure tank. It was there from the well company so I decided to use it. I don't think I had it in enough, but now it's fixed.

 

[laynes69]

Well I'm done! What a difference! I flushed the toilet, ran the vanity sink, had the shower going and zero difference. I can't even believe it.

 

[Dobish]

we had to put in a regulator, because I was getting 120psi from the city... 80 seems SO low to me!

we have a 1" line off the main, then 3/4" to the water heater and the manifold, and 1/2" for everything else. We really only notice the pressure drop when running the bath with hot water and other hot water appliances. I do wish we had done 3/4" to everything, but i'm not going to redo it.

 

[maple1]

I would be afraid of my plumbing blasting apart.

We're on a shallow well jet pump. Something like 20/40 here.

 

[laynes69]

I would be afraid of my plumbing blasting apart.

We're on a shallow well jet pump. Something like 20/40 here.

Originally the well company set the pressure at 60lbs, which made a huge difference, but I bumped it to 70lbs. I thought the same thing about things going south, but the ol copper pipes took the beating. What I've noticed since the sizing increase and pump, our washer takes half the time, our tub fills in about 6 minutes for a bath, our water softener is working now since we have pressure and flow to properly operate it, and I replumbed the hot water to the dishwasher (dad put it on cold). We can now run quick washes (1hr) and the dishes sparkle. We did originally have an 80 gallon water heater and when it went, we could only find a 50 in stock. When our 2nd bath goes in, I may install an 80 gallon heat pump water heater. While our well is only producing 4 to 5 gallons per minute, we use water in bursts and it's working well for us. The one thing I didnt do was plumb in heat traps. Not sure if we would see a difference, but I did insulate the hot lines.