water pressure
In 2014 when I purchased Casa De Compai and restored the first three condos. They were the two studios and the two bedroom unit. I also had to redo all the mechanicals from electric lines in the units to power coming into the complex. The upgrades had to be done to the water system as well. The sewer lines needed to be be replaced and upgraded to the correct diameter. I also had to install new water lines for every bathroom, kitchen or powder room. I also had to insure I had ample about of water to the complex. The city provides water, but some days it might be in abundance , other days there might be none at all. In 2015 when this part of the Dominican Republic suffered from lack of rain for over a year, so I installed a well. After I installed the well I needed a water filtration system to provide clean water. I had a good friend Patrick design a system thats provides clean water.
Wadline standing next to the new pressure tank.
All of this really doesn’t matter if I cant get the water from the cistern in the pump house to the condos. The way my system is set up, the well or city water fills up the cistern. (A cistern is an unground holding tank). From the cistern the water is pumped through the water filtration system to every condo. After I built the six new one bedroom condos I wasn’t sure how the original water pump and pressure tank would function. For the first half year things were just fine, I had a couple of guests say there was weak pressure but rarely. That was an easy fix, I just adjusted the pressure switch on the pump. That worked well for another couple of months. This summer I was very happy to have the amount of guests that I had. The number of people staying on site and taking multiple shower per day, and having to water the flowers and trees on site, brought the low water pressure system to the forefront. The two third floor units , were the condos to be affected. The issue was usually in the morning when Ogistine was joining his morning duties of watering the trees and flowers and adding water to the pool. Plus this time of day many guests are taking showers and cleaning the kitchens so the demand was at its highest. I thought if I changed the work routine around that would eliminate the issue. It helped but not enough, so it was time to find the reason why and get a fix.
Nelson working as usual.
I went into the pump house to inspect the water system, As I was inspecting the pressure tank, I noticed a very small pin leak. It look like condensation on the fiber glass pressure tank. The water coming out of the cistern is cold and when it hits the hot air it produces condensation. Well there was the issue, so I called my trusty plumber a young hard working chap named Nelson. Nelson was the lead plumber durning the construction of the new six, one bedroom condos. So we made sure we sized out the pressure tank to provide the correct amount pressure to insure we had the volume of water we needed.
Naturally Shadow in the middle playing inspector.
The installation took, less than two hours, total. I used this opportunity to sin tall a new manifold going into the pressure talk. The new manifold is great, there is a clean out port, shut off valve and new pressure gauge. All said and done, now unit 8 and 9 have plenty of water pressure and Casa De Compai has one less upgrade completed!!
