Well pressure tank

CBBC · Oct 20, 2017

My water pump to the pressure tank is just cycling on and off if the water is used. So the bladder is ruptred or waterlogged.
I drained it and filled the air bladder to the 28# it said on the tank. Lost air a couple times but I kept filling to drain the water in tank out.
Now it's empty. I filled again with air to the 28 psi and now it's holding???? Put the pump back on and it's running as expected. Perhaps the shrader valve was leaking??? Any way I will keep checking.

But if it continues to slowly leak down I have a small pressure tank, 15ga that I could plumb in series between the pump and existing tank. Will the big tank give me extra reserve water and a longer draw down or will the system be limited by the size of the bladder in the small tank?

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Grant

Russ from MN · Oct 20, 2017

It sounds like you might have a small hole in the bladder, give it some time and see. You can hook 2 or more tanks in parallel, I'm not sure what you mean in series, most tanks only have one port. You will gain the capacity of both tanks as long as they are both working properly.

showcrop · Oct 20, 2017

Yes, your tank got waterlogged because there is a hole in the bladder. It is probably working as it should for the time being because a piece of rust is blocking the hole in the bladder. A bladder tank with water on the wrong side of the bladder will not last long because it will soon rust through.

kcm.MN · Oct 20, 2017

(quoted from post at 14:27:14 10/20/17) It sounds like you might have a small hole in the bladder, give it some time and see. You can hook 2 or more tanks in parallel, I'm not sure what you mean in series, most tanks only have one port. You will gain the capacity of both tanks as long as they are both working properly.

In series, water goes out of tank #1 and into tank #2. In parallel, water goes into each tank individually, then out of each tank individually.

I believe Russ is right, and you have one or more small pinholes in your bladder. If this is the case, you do NOT want to leave the tank in your system very long, as your drinking water could now become contaminated. Access to air could allow for the development of bacteria to form that could cause odors, bad taste, or rust to form, and could potentially cause the occupants to become sick.

kevinthefixer · Oct 20, 2017

Access to air contaminates drinking water? Everybody in my neighborhood, including myself, is in serious trouble. We all have vented storage tanks, we lucky ones have a well, some have to truck in all their water. Some are sick, sure enough, but that's mostly because most of us are getting old. One guy kicked off about 3 years ago at 93, I just repaired his widow's pressure pump about a month ago. Air won't hurt your water. The rotting bladder in your surge tank, though, might, and so might the coating on the inside of the steel tank. If the symptoms recur inside a few weeks, I'd think about a new tank, if not, well, not. It won't hurt to take soap bubbles to the valve stem and seams on the tank, might be as simple as a loose valve stem. It's just a Schrader valve like the ones on your tires.

CBBC · Oct 20, 2017

Thanks guys.
I have a submersible well pump170' pumps into a 500ga storage tank... for degassing methane / sulphur, and also a Chem injector for chlorination ... I keep it at about .3 ppm. Then it is pumped into the pressure tank, where it feeds the house, commercial kitchen ( jam processing, nothing too fancy) barn and outdoor water hook ups.

Irrigation is totally separate, 75hp electric turbine pump off reservoir from lake. No cross connections so no issues with contamination.

Anyway I'll watch the tank. If it drops again I will likely just get another big tank and replace. The little 15 ga will be cycling way too much.

LeakyBoot · Oct 22, 2017

You can do just as you have done and no problem until the air is asorbed again. I run a pump service and some people don't have the funds for a new tank at the time so I drain and air it up and tell them what to expect. If you keep doing the drain and air thing it will soon or later rust hole then you get a new one funds or not. I sell Well-X Trol and longest I have seen is 22 years before it went bad. As for adding another with this tank, once your old tank fills all the way up it will just sit there doing nothing and the other will go on about it's business. ( Bladder thanks are a pump mans friend and money maker.)

CBBC · Oct 22, 2017

Thanks.
I guess this is tank is about 25 years old so no surprise it's going.

I willl pick up another tank and replace it. About 5 years ago I moved the pressure tank out of the 3' crawl space and moved it all out to a dedicated water room with the degassing tank and cl injector. Nice and easy to work on things there.

I have an 8000ga cistern I use for drip and low flow misters. I have a pump and two other pressure tanks together feeding that system. It does seem to work good and reduces the pump cycle time.

Yes around here there is no shortage of work for the well / water system guys.

Thanks. Grant

wfw · Oct 23, 2017

we just had to replace our tank. the tank itself seemed to be alright but the copper pipe from the tank to the control manifold pipe had developed two small holes and was spraying water. When I tried to remove the copper pipe it broke. looking at it it the pipe was very thin, i am guessing from wear from the water cycling through it for about 35 years. the tank had some rust on the bottom. I decided to everything (except the switch, which goes bad every so often). had trouble with the joints leaking and had to go back to lowes for pipe dope as the teflon tape was not sealing. If the new tank and other parts last as long as the old one did I will be happy.

Well pressure tank

CBBC

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Russ from MN

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showcrop

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kcm.MN

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kevinthefixer

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CBBC

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LeakyBoot

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CBBC

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wfw

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