seasonal above ground water line for farm use 1

[pperlich]

Hi everyone. I'm PV engineer for carbon steel vessels by day and a farmer/rancher by night. I need to run a water line to provide water to my cows during the warm months. Currently I am using a 325 gal (US) tank in the back of a pick up truck to carry water, and I'm tired of doing it this way.

I'm planning on running the water line above ground along the perimeter fence. The total length from the current water source to the point of use is about 1600'. The good news is that I'm only looking at about 8' rise over that distance. Accounting for the hottest days and future growth of my herd, I'm wanting to design for delivering 600 gal per day. I will have the water pumped to a storage tank which will supply the water to the stock tank via gravity. This way during peak demand, the water will already be in the storage tank.

My well is on a 40/60 psi switch. I was thinking of using HDPE pipe. I was looking at flow calculations using this site: https://hdpeapp.com/#/application. I know this isn't the most comprehensive way of doing this, but...
Over 1600':
1" Pipe @ 5 GPM = 13 psi pressure drop (2 hour run time per day)
3/4" Pipe @ 5 GPM = 39 psi pressure drop (2 hour run time per day)
3/4" Pipe @ 2.5 GPM = 11 psi pressure drop (4 hour run time per day)

The 3/4" pipe and fittings will obviously be more affordable, but will it flow enough?
Is HDPE pipe a good choice for above ground water pipe? UV exposure?

I will also have to account for temperature/length changes, but should be able to accommodate that.

Am I overthinking this? Probably.

 

[dvd]

after searching on "bladder tank" and seeing what I refer to as a "pressure tank" I get a better concept. When I saw bladder tank I though it meant a bladder storage tank...

 

[LittleInch]

The idea is to have a short stock tank that young calves can drink from. These shorter stock tanks only hold 50 gallons or so. Cows on pasture will all come to get water at once, and they'll drink a lot. So I'll need a storage tank in the back of the farm that can rapidly fill the stock tank while the cows are all getting their drink at one time. The flow rate off the long water line won't be able to keep up. Additionally, I am anticipating times when the pump doesn't work, such as after bad storms when we loose power. If I have a 24 hour supply of water ready to use, I'll feel much better.

OK. Making more sense now.

When they all come to drink your pump will be going flat out serving the big tank so doesn't leave you with much left for the rest of the farm. If you're talking water off at the farm expect lower pressure at the farm and less flow into your storage tank. But overall a 3/4" PE line scraped into the dirt will do you fine.

Nice grass.

 

[pierreick]

Hi,
You may want to consider a water tower, similar to what I'm using in my orchard .
From the well I transfer the water to the tank (water tower) , the well pump is started by LSL and stopped by LSH .
From the water tank I distribute the water to the garden and to the house through a network made of Black PE pipe. For the house I fill an outside storage tank .The outside storage tank is equipped with a float valve. From the tank I used a booster pump to supply the water to the house.

My experience.
Pierre

 

[pperlich]

Hey! That's pretty cool! Where are you located? By the trees it looks like a warm climate.