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Name: Chadwick
Status: Student
Age: 16
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: N/A
Question:
I would like to know how to calculate the water pressure for gravity fed water supply systems. I am doing a 4-H club project on supplying water to livestock from a water storage tank.

What is the formula for calculating the output pressure of a tank given the factors of tank size and elevation and the size of the output pipe?


Replies:
It's really easy. If the vertical distance between the spigot and the surface of the water is H inches, and you want the pressure in pounds per square inch, you just calculate the weight in pounds of a column of water one inch square by H inches high. The size of the output pipe does matter a little, because causes a pressure drop, but at the water speeds you're interested in the effect is small unless the pipe is very narrow or very long. A garden hose, for example, doesn't produce much of a pressure drop at household water pressures.

Tim Mooney


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