Pressurised water system combined with foot pump?

[Bambooboat]

Dear forum,
I have a pressurised water system on the boat and this works well most of the time. However, sometimes I wish to reduce water usage and would rather use a foot pump at one particular tap (lets say the aft head sink). I want to install the foot pump but don't want to get rid of the pressurised system. I want both options available at the tap always. Is this possible? How to achieve it? Options may be:
1. Feed a completely new line/hose from the water tank to a second tap at the sink. Drive this tap with the foot pump. Cons: don't really want 2 taps, don't want to thread a new line through the boat.
2. The tap has a single mixing lever (for hot/cold) but the boat does not have hot water (yet). Could I connect the foot pump to the tap's hot water input? Open tap to cold water and pressurised water comes out. Open tap to hot water and you need to activate foot pump for water to come out. Would this work? I'm guessing not, because cold water would still run in any intermediate position. Cons: would still have to install new line from tank to sink.
3. Insert foot pump in same pressurised line, before the tap. Would this work? Would the foot pump allow pressurised water to flow thru it when it is not activated by foot action? Would the pressure pump allow water flow if the foot pump is activated? This would be the easiest setup but I doubt it would work. Are the pumps "passive" such that they would allow flow if not active? Maybe yes if diaphragm pump?
Any ideas or comments are very welcome!

[dougweibel]

If your goal is only to save water perhaps look at a simpler solution like installing a faucet aerator with a shut off. Yeah, it's probably not quite as good as a foot pump for saving water but I have found them to be pretty good as your hand hardly has to move from its "washing" position to turn the water off. And it is an easy $10 fix.

[ggray]

My boat was built with a manual pump for emergency use should the pressure pump fail. After 20 years, never had to use it...which is good...but I should and will give it a try. It is not in a convenient location for normal use, but you could do better.

The manual pump is connected directly to the pressure system. At least, I think it is, as there is a shut off valve just before the manual pump which is kept closed except when the manual pump is to be used. I can trace the line back to be sure (next time on the boat), but I wouldn't think that shut off valve would be there were the line not pressurized. If it indeed is a pressure line, for this to work the manual pump would have to pull the water through the inactive pressure pump which certainly may be possible.

This wouldn't be convenient if you wanted to go back and forth between the two systems but maybe that's not your objective. If this would suit your purpose, it wouldn't be hard to test whether water could be pulled through the pressure pump.

[Bambooboat]

Thanks dougweibel, thats a good idea and I already have them installed. They are great at reducing water consumption. The thing is that the water pump is a 4GPM beast which is way overkill for some of the faucets.

[Bambooboat]

That sounds promising ggray. It would be great if you could take a look at your system and fill in the blanks if you have a chance! Many thanks for your reply regardless.

[captstu]

The older Gemini's had a foot pump in series with the water tap. If the pressure was turned off, you could pump the foot pump and get water. Worked OK until it didn't

[tml]

We have 3 foot pumps galley and both heads. Seldom used but a popular item when our Jabsco pump failed offshore. System is straight forward. A valve taps into the fresh water line between the tank and electric pump. It is on or off. When on water flows into the foot pump system as well as the electric pressurized system.
The foot pump system branches into each foot pump which feeds a goose neck fitting at the sink which does not have a valve. You step on the foot pump and water flows. You quit pumping and the water stops flowing.
Works great when you need it
Tom

[gonesail]

actually it is spelled pressurized in my dictionary

[Puget Dan]

We have two systems for the galley sink. Our freshwater pressurized faucet and we added another salt water (on the Puget sound) foot pump. Works great for cleaning dishes and hands, then we rinse in fresh water. cut our water use way down. Happy Sailing.

A positive attitude may not solve all your
problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort

[wiekeith]

Originally Posted by gonesail

actually it is spelled pressurized in my dictionary

As I understand it this is a legacy of Noah Webster. He changed many ‘ise’ word endings in the English language to ‘ize’ for US English e.g. specialize, realize, utilize, colonize etc.. They’re still spelled with an ‘s’ in the British English dictionary and many other places where the British dictionary is the standard, although the ‘z’ version can often be found as well. Just saying

[Puget Dan]

We have two systems for the galley sink. Our freshwater pressurized faucet and we added another salt water (on the Puget sound) foot pump. Works great for cleaning dishes and hands, then we rinse in fresh water. cut our water use way down. Happy Sailing.

A positive attitude may not solve all your
problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort

[Clivevon]

I have pressurised water throughout boat. 3 sinks. H&c to all. At the galley sink i have Also a foot pump which is never used. Under sink is a diverter valve always turned to Cold pressure system but also possible to turn 90 degrees to hose from Foot pump. Water comes from same tap ( hot & cold mixer). Never checked but assume separate hose from water system to foot pump.
Also have separate sea water tap at galley. Hand pumped. Separate hose to separate seacock.

[Bambooboat]

This is all great stuff! Thanks for sharing. Food for thought.

I grew up in the US, learnt to use the "z" spelling, then moved to Australia so switched allegiances and now go with the "s"... and lift rather than elevator, and bloke rather than dude...

[SV__Grace]

PO installed a foot pump in the galley by teeing into the cold water line at the galley sink of our pressurized water system, just upstream of one of the water tanks. Works fine, but I decided to install a shut off valve so I wouldn't lose a tankful of water if the diaphragm of the foot pump were to fail (mostly from disuse).

I would not recommend adding a foot pump for hot water. You won't be able to mix with cold without adding parts, which would complicate what is supposed to be a simple, fail safe backup for your pressurized water system.

If your goal is to save water, a delta style faucet (one lever, not two handles) allows for fast on/off. When washing hands I would estimate we use no more than 3 cups of water.

Running the tap for hot water is wasteful, and our strategy is to capture that water and store in a water jug we reserve for washing dishes. When running our shower water to hot, we capture about gallon of water in a bucket, which is enough for a couple of days dishes.

[mlydon]

Folks also have installed a completely separate spout for the foot-pumped water, avoiding the need for diverter valves, etc. Usually smaller than a regular spout, kind of like the ones people install at home for filtered water - usually in the 'hose' or 'soap' hole off to the right corner on a sink