Booster System Basics:

Constant Speed Systems

Thursday, June 13, 2019

 Pressure Booster Systems

• WHAT IS A BOOSTER SYSTEM?

• BOOSTER SIZING REQUIREMENTS
• BOOSTER SYSTEM CONTROL
• ENERGY SAVING STRATEGIES
• DRAWDOWN TANKS

Thursday, June 13, 2019

 What is a Pressure Booster System?

Pumps
Control Panel
Pressure Reducing Valves

Headers, Piping and Isolation

Valves, Pressure gauges, Solenoid
Valve, Aquastat and copper tubing

• All components mounted

on a common base, tested
and calibrated to site
conditions

Thursday, June 13, 2019

 What you need to size a
booster system?
• Calculate the total flow requirement for
the building
– Number of Domestic Water Fixtures
– Type of fixtures in the building
– Type of building (residential, public, heavy use)
– Special services

Thursday, June 13, 2019

Total Flow = Total Fixture Units
100 100

HUNTERS CURVE
GPM
50 50

50 50

100 100

Fixture Units

Thursday, June 13, 2019

 What you need to size a
booster system?
• Calculate the total flow requirement for
the building
• Calculate the total pressure required for
the building

Thursday, June 13, 2019

 Static Pressure

• Based on the vertical boost

required above the packaged
system manifold
Pstat
• This component never varies

Thursday, June 13, 2019

 Fixture Pressure

• Required pressure to operate fixture Pfix

at farthest point from system.
• Must overcome valve “start-up”
pressure (i.e. 25 PSI min. required for
flush valves to operate)
• Never varies, this is always required
as a minimum

Thursday, June 13, 2019

 Packaged System Losses

• Systems are designed to

have no more than 5psi loss
from suction manifold to
discharge manifold
• This must always be added
into pressure calculations

Ploss

Thursday, June 13, 2019

 Available Suction Pressure

• Typically varies by about

10-30 PSI
• Can vary over time due to
growth
• Can also vary due to
municipal re-structuring

Pcity
Thursday, June 13, 2019
 Friction Losses

• Usually calculated at 10% of

total static requirement
• Typically a very small boost Pfric
pressure component
• Can be larger as in the case
of boost over a “campus-style”
area or large low-rise building

Thursday, June 13, 2019

 Pressure Requirement
System Pressur
E Fixture pressure
D PRV Losses
Pump Boost Pressu
C Static head

B Friction Head

A Supply pressure after water meter

Thursday, June 13, 2019

Pressure Requirement
Pump Boost Pressure
(TDH)
= Fixture Pressure
+ Package Losses
+ Static Head
+ Friction Head
- Supply Pressure

Thursday, June 13, 2019

Pressure Requirement
Boost Pressure
= System Pressure - Supply Pressure

Thursday, June 13, 2019

 Significance of System Flow
in Booster Systems

• Flow impacts system demand, not pressure - as

demand increases, flow must increase at a
constant output pressure
• Flow governs pump actuation - therefore, flow
should govern pump sequencing and actuation
• System capacity matched to system flow
requirement is most efficient and cost effective
for domestic water pressure boosting

Thursday, June 13, 2019

What are the most popular methods
of booster pump control ?
• Flow meter or flow switch
– Instrument is in contact with corrosive water
therefore requiring more maintenance

Thursday, June 13, 2019

What are the most popular methods
of booster pump control ?
• Flow meter or flow switch
• Pressure Switch
– Requires non-overloading (NOL)
motors
– Requires a pressure drop across
operating range
– Can be unstable in operation
resulting in “starving” the system of
water (end of curve operation)
– Mechanical switches increase
possibility of failure

Thursday, June 13, 2019

 Effect of Suction Pressure
PRESSURE
(PSI)

50
Discharge
Pressure
40

30
HP

20

10 Suction
Pressure

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 GPM

Thursday, June 13, 2019
PRESSURE
Effect of Suction Pressure
(PSI)

50
Discharge
Pressure
40

30 HP
20 Suction
Pressure

10 Suction
Pressure

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 GPM

Thursday, June 13, 2019
What are the most popular methods
of booster pump control ?
• Flow meter or flow switch
• Pressure Switch
• Current or kW Sensing

Thursday, June 13, 2019

 Current Sensing

• As the flow increases, so does the pump load

• The motor must match the pump load
• Current / Power draw for motors is proportional
to the load (pump flow work)

Thursday, June 13, 2019

 Current - Flow Relationship
PRESSURE
(PSI)

50

40
PUMP CURVE
30
HP

20
Motor Amps
10

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 GPM

Thursday, June 13, 2019
PRESSURE Effect of Suction Pressure
(PSI)

50
Discharge
Pressure
40

30
HP

20
Motor Amps
10 Suction
Pressure

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 GPM

Thursday, June 13, 2019
PRESSURE Effect of Suction Pressure
(PSI)

50
Discharge
Pressure
40

30 HP
20 Suction
Pressure

10 Suction
Motor Amps Pressure

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 GPM

Thursday, June 13, 2019
 Effects of Voltage
Fluctuations on Motors
% Voltage Change

- 10
% Change Full Load Amps

+ 10

+11

-7

Thursday, June 13, 2019

 Current Sensing

• Motors sized to match the power

requirement
• Current sensing allows flexible pump
sizing to match the system load profile
and energy requirement
• Duplex: 33% - 67% capacity split
• Triplex: 20% - 40% - 40% capacity split

Thursday, June 13, 2019

 Current Sensing

100%
• Duplex allows
up to three 80%
steps of
sequencing 60%

40%

20%

0%
P1 P2 P1&P2

Thursday, June 13, 2019

 Current Sensing

• Triplex
100%

80% allows up to
60%
five steps of
sequencing
40%

20%

0%
P1

P2

P1/P2

P2/P3

P1/P2/P3

Thursday, June 13, 2019

 0h00

1h00

2h00

3h00

4h00

5h00

6h00

50-50 Split
7h00

8h00

9h00

10h00

11h00

12h00

13h00

14h00

Time
15h00

16h00

17h00

18h00

19h00

20h00
Actual
Consumption

21h00

22h00

23h00
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
Typical Daily Demand Curve

Thursday, June 13, 2019

Flow Rate ( GPM)

Duplex Booster - 50/50 Split
Conventional Split
500

450

Flow Rate ( GPM)

400

350

300

250

50-50Split 200

Actual 150
Consumption
100

50

23h00
22h00
21h00
20h00
19h00
18h00
17h00
16h00
15h00
14h00
13h00
12h00
11h00
10h00
9h00
8h00
7h00
6h00
5h00
4h00
3h00
2h00
1h00

Time
0h00

Thursday, June 13, 2019

 Duplex Booster - 33/67 Split
3 Step Control with No-flow shutdown
500
33-67 Split
450

Flow Rate ( GPM)

400

350

300

250

200
50-50 Split
Actual 150
Consumption
100

50

23h00
22h00
21h00
20h00
19h00
18h00
17h00
16h00
15h00
14h00
13h00
12h00
11h00
10h00
9h00
8h00
7h00
6h00
5h00
4h00
3h00
2h00
1h00

Time
0h00

Thursday, June 13, 2019

 Energy Consumption
HP = GPM X Feet (Head)
3960 X (Pump Eff) x (Motor Eff)

• Smaller pump at lower flows will be more

efficient and consume less energy
• Smaller motor is more efficient at lower loads

Thursday, June 13, 2019

 Energy Savings
Conventional vs. 33/67 Split

33-67% Energy Savings: 19% 14

Consumption (kWhrs)
12

10

6
Actual
Consumption 4
50-50 Split
2

33-67 Split
0

23h00
22h00
21h00
20h00
19h00
18h00
17h00
16h00
15h00
14h00
13h00
12h00
11h00
10h00
9h00
8h00
7h00
6h00
5h00
4h00
3h00
2h00
1h00
0h00

Time
Thursday, June 13, 2019
 Energy Savings
Conventional vs. 33/67 Split

Total Energy Savings = 19%

Energy Cost = $0.12 / kWhr

Savings per Year: $2,280

Thursday, June 13, 2019

What are the most popular methods
of booster pump control ?
• Flow meter or flow switch
• Pressure Switch
• Current or kW Sensing
• VFD with pressure transducers

Thursday, June 13, 2019

No-Flow Shutdown and Tank
Sizing

When do you use it? Where should

you install it? What size should it
be?

Thursday, June 13, 2019

 Sizing and Selecting
Drawdown Tank
• Tanks are to be used in systems that
do not have a continuous water
demand
• Tanks should NOT be sized according
to booster size
• Tanks should be sized to store 20 - 30
Gallons of water (2 - 3 GPM leak
loads)
• Tanks maintain pressure in piping
system and supply small demands to
allow pumps to be shutdown

Thursday, June 13, 2019

 Sizing and Selecting
Drawdown Tank
• Tank Storage Volume is governed
by the Ideal Gas Law
• Solving for storage volume gives:

• Vstorage = Pdifferential x VTotal Tank

(PTotal +PAtmosphere)

• 3 factors must be considered

Thursday, June 13, 2019

 Tank Volume

• Vstorage = Pdifferential x VTotal Tank

(PTotal +PAtmosphere)

• The bigger the tank, the better the

storage

Thursday, June 13, 2019

 Differential Pressure

• Tank storage Volume is proportional

to the difference in the cut out and
cut in pressures of the pumps
• The larger the pressure differential
the more water that will be stored
in the tank

• Vstorage = Pdifferential x VTotal Tank

(PTotal +PAtmosphere)

Thursday, June 13, 2019

 Pressure Differential
Calculation
• Pdifferential = Pstop - Pstart
• Pstop = Pressure at the tank when
the system shuts down
• For adjacent or package mounted
tanks, this means the suction
pressure plus the shutoff head of
the pump
• For remote mounted tanks, this is
simply the normal system pressure
at the location of the tank

Thursday, June 13, 2019

 Pressure Differential
Calculation
• Pdifferential = Pstop - Pstart
• Pstart = Pressure at the tank
when the system starts again
down
• For adjacent or package
mounted tanks, this means the
setting on the no flow (call on)
pressure switch
• For remote mounted tanks, this
is simply the system pressure
at the location of the tank
when the call on pressure
switch brings the system back Thursday, June 13, 2019
 Total Pressure

• A lower Total Pressure will yield

larger water storage for the same
pressure differential
• Lower Total Pressure allows for
lower tank pressure rating

• Vstorage = Pdifferential x VTotal Tank

(Ptotal +PAtmosphere)

• Lower tank pressure rating

Thursday, June 13, 2019

 Sizing and Selecting
Drawdown Tank
• All three of these factors must be
considered in selecting the
appropriate tank

• Vstorage = Pdifferential x VTotal Tank

(PTotal +PAtmosphere)

Thursday, June 13, 2019

 Where Should the Tank be
Installed ?
• Packaged Mounted
– Tank water storage may
be limited by tank size
– Will require higher tank
pressure rating
– More Costly
– Difficult to maneuver due
to weight and may
require building structural
reinforcement.

Thursday, June 13, 2019

 Where Should the Tank be
Installed ?
• Adjacent Mounted
– Tank is supplied as a
loose component for
connection on site
– Tank is not mounted on
skid with pumps
– Contractor has freedom
to locate tank in
mechanical room
– System is easier to
maneuver

Thursday, June 13, 2019

 Where Should the Tank be
Installed?
• Remote Mounted
– Roof mounting - Lowers Tank Total
Pressure and Tank Pressure
Rating Required
– Allows for the use of smaller tanks
for desired water storage
– Contractor has flexibility locating
and installing tank

Thursday, June 13, 2019

Questions
&
Answers

Thursday, June 13, 2019

Thank You

Thursday, June 13, 2019