"SJF" wrote in message
news:sEsMf.70025$bF.45229@dukeread07...

wrote in message
ups.com...
Please pardon this multiple newsgroup article. I do not know which
newsgroup would be the most-correct. I hang out in talk.origins mostly,
so I do not know which hard-science venue would be appropreate for my
query. Hydrodynamics does not seem to be represented in the newsgroup
list as far as I can tell.

I live and work on a cattle ranch. (Moooo!) We have a fresh-water
spring on the side of a hill that produces about ten gallons (38
liters) of water per minute. We want to go up the hill and dig a hole
and bury a 55-gallon (208 liter) drum as a collection box and pipe the
spring water into the top of the drum; we then want to run a pipe from
the bottom of the drum and down the hill into a cabin. (There will also
be an over-flow fitting at the top of the drum, but that is not part of
my query.)

At the cabin we hope to get around 43 PSI, or about 100 head feet, of
water pressure. We plan on using pipe with an inner diameter of 1.5
inches or perhaps 1.0 inches. We do not want to use a water meter /
pressure regulator.

The hill's decline is about 20 degrees, but I do not know if that is
important to know. As far as I know, what is important is the height of
the water source above the water demand (the "head").

My query is:

1) how high up the hill should the collecting drum be?

2) is there a danger of too much pressure if the collecting drum is too
high up the hill?

3) is a pressure regulator at the cabin necessary?

I shall appreciate any thoughts and opinions on the subject.

DMR

1. 100 feet of elevation difference.

2. No

3. No

I presume you will use the barrel as a reservoir with overflow of the
excess water.
Pipe size depend on the horizontal distance and the desired rate of flow.
This data is missing.

SJF

Sorry! I hastily misread your question 2. The answer is YES. If you put
the collector higher than 100 feet, the static pressure will be more than 43
psi.

That's a pretty steep hill at 20 degrees. Or did you mean 20 percent grade?
A slope of 20 degrees means the minimum length of your supply line to the
house will be 300 feet. For a 20 percent slope, it would be 500 feet. You
will probably need something to counter water hammer when you shut off the
flow.

SJF