Our building just did one of their 2x/year cleanings of the water tank on the roof. Each time, they shut our water off for a few hours, and then for a couple days afterwards we experience low water pressure.
Towns in the US have water towers which serve a similar purpose of providing water pressure but on a bigger scale. I don’t remember ever having our water turned off in order to service these towers. So, two questions:
Why do the Taiwan tanks need cleanings 2x/year? Is it a difference in the water, the tanks, both, or something else?
Why does it take so long for water pressure to come back? Is it really possible that the pumps are just that slow, and if so how can they keep up with normal water demand?
I guess because even with the water chlorinated stuff do build up, algae and all that, not to mention random crap that might end up in there. Sometimes people fall in and end up sleeping with the fishes… so if your water starts coming off weird… better call the police.
In the US the water tower service the entire town and so they can manage that better for cleanings (this is my guess).
Last question is because yes, pumps aren’t that fast. I mean you seen the pipe diameter of those pump as well as the supply pipe? There’s only so much volume they will support.
The water tank is quite large, so can meet normal demand provided there isn’t a terrible leak.
The water tank serve a building, not an entire community. If the cleaning interruption is a problem have multiple water tanks that are cleaned at different times.
I would have thought the water pressure under identical conditions would be slightly higher after cleaning, if anything. But I guess they empty the tank to clean it, so it takes a while to fill up to maximum again (pressure being a function of height). I doubt those pumps are particularly fast, but a couple of days of low pressure sounds surprisingly slow.
Most water towers in the US are only cleaned once or twice in a decade (usually without any notice), so they often have a foot of sediment and buildup at the bottom.
That’s why more educated people in the US nowadays don’t like to drink directly from the faucet.
Is there something specific people are supposed to do after having their water tanks cleaned? I think mine were done today judging from this sign downstairs:
I’ve run the water for a bit (not ages, probably like 5–10 min in total) since then and don’t see or smell anything out of the ordinary, so I guess it’s fine to use the water again as normal now?
I do have an in-line drinking water filter, which I haven’t reopened the valve to yet in case there’s anything in the pipes that could damage the sorbent resin inside.
