7tMake Your Pump Last Longer

In this video, I want to show you about a little valve that I've discovered

that makes quite a difference in my water well system. This is a picture of a well. That's the casing and a cap

That's the ground level. Somewhere down below is the water level. The idea with a pump system

is to bring that water up and to the surface so that you can use it

I'm drawing a submersible pump here, but the system works with most other kinds of water pumps too. A submersible sits below the water level

and it drives water up through a pipe that eventually comes up into your home

There are all kinds of fittings in there too, and there'll be some kind of a pressure gauge as well that lets you monitor what pressure the

system is operating at. Now as the water comes up the pipes

it's monitored by a pressure switch, which decides when the pump needs to be

running and when it needs to be shut off, depending on the pressure of the system. There's also going to be some kind of a

tank. Some are large, but some can only be quite small too, as I'm going to show you in a minute

The tank is connected to the pipes that provide water for your house

Taps, showers, toilets, things like that. Now let's just say the pressure is low

and the pressure switch has energized the pump and water starts flowing in the tank. Pressure will rise to some preset level

The pressure switch will sense that and shut the pump off. Now as you use water, the pressure is going to decline

to some lower level. The switch will turn the pump on and have more water come

into the tank. So water pressure will always be rising and falling, rising and falling, as you use water and as the pump

replenishes it. That's kind of one of the problems with this sort of a setup. All that on and off stuff is bad for

pumps. Pumps are much better off if they just run constantly. Then there's the problem of rising and

falling water pressure at your taps, which is kind of annoying. The situation

gets even worse when you have a smaller tank. Smaller tank has a smaller capacity, so it's going to be filling

and emptying much more often, and that's going to be hard on your pump

That's where a little piece of hardware called the cycle stop valve comes in

It solves the problem of rising and falling water pressures, and it also greatly reduces the cycling on and off of pumps

I was looking for a way to solve this problem because I wanted to install a small tank in my home, and that's how I discovered

this unit. That's the cycle stop valve right there. This is the pressure tank. Notice how small it is

It can be very small with this system, and that's the pressure switch I was

telling you about. This is the incoming water line. Water flows through this white pipe, through the valve

and then onto the house. Now, in practice, the value of the cycle stop valve is

that it holds water pressure at your taps and fixtures at a constant 50 pounds per square inch

The pump runs continuously, and the idea comes from a guy that you see here. His name is Kerry Austin. He's from Lubbock, Texas

and 25 years ago he patented his idea for a small mechanical valve to keep

water pressure constant in pump systems. He sells these valves all across the world, so it doesn't really matter where you live

Let me show you a little more closely how the valve works

This is the incoming water pipe coming from your pump. This is the cycle stop valve body. Now, down below

is where the tank could be mounted. I'm drawing it smaller than it would be in

real life just to give you an idea and so you can see what I'm up to. And this is the pipe leading from the valve to your home

Water comes in here, and the flow of water is regulated by what goes on in the cycle stop valve itself

This is the adjustment bolt up top that allows you to vary the pressure at which

it operates. So water comes in, and it goes out at a

constant pressure all the time you're using water. Let's take a scenario, and we'll look at things between 30 and

50 psi. So you've got water pressure in your tank. That pressure drops because you've used it, and the pump comes on

Water is going to flow in, but the cycle stop valve is going to create some back pressure, throttling

the action of the pump. The idea is to maintain that constant

50 psi of output. Now, that happens no matter how little water you use, as long as you're using at least one gallon per minute

And it keeps on working up to 25 gallons per minute in the case of the model of the valve that I have. This is especially valuable

if you want to have a small tank that doesn't take up too much room. You're going to get the constant water pressure, and your pump is not going to

be going on and off. Other advantages of the valve include a

lower amperage draw. The pump's just going to use fewer amps of power. And, of course, you're going to get a

longer life for the pump as well. So let me show you how this works in

real life. You turn the water on, and the pressure drops to the point where the pressure switch

turns on. The pump is delivering water into the tank, but instead of going up to

that 60 psi, which is what this system is set to switch off at

you get a constant 50 psi of water as long as that tap is running

The valve was easy to install. So far, I haven't found any drawbacks of the

system. It's just been working great