[C320-list] fresh water pump

[Stephen Cox]

>  What exactly is an accumulator tank, how large is it, and 
> how does it improve the system?

The following description was lifted from a retailer's web site:

An accumulator tank is a bladder type pressure storage vessel and/or
pulsation-dampening device designed to hold water under pressure. The
accumulator tank provides additional water storage to assist the pump in
meeting the total demand of water. It extends the time the pump is on and
off in each cycle due to the pressure switch not tripping so often. This
extends pump life, makes less noise and gives a more consistant flow rate. 

A simple analogy would be pumping water into a balloon, then stopping the
pump. The balloon would continue to push water to your shower until it is
empty.

The difference between just a pulsation dampener and the
accumulator/pulsation dampener is in the way they are constructed, and
therefore operate. The pulsation dampener only relies on water compressing
the ambient air pressure within the unit without a diaphragm. Accumulators
compress air contained inside the unit making the air under pressure in the
start up stage. In effect this gives more water flow between stop and start
of pump for the same sized unit.

An accumulator tank is positioned after the pump and before the hot water
system or any cold water tap.


See
http://www.defender.com/product3.jsp?path=-1|51|2234245|2234251&id=121335
for the one I used.

Stephen Cox
Tegwen #1141