Water coming from the well and bypassing the tank and going directly to taps

I doubt that is the case. Your system is supposed to work like this. As your pump pumps, it "pushes" water into the pressure tank, compressing the air in the tank and thus raising the pressure. When the pressure reaches the cut off point, the pump cuts off. After that, water from the tank is sent to the house, thus reducing the amount of water in the tank and lowering tank pressure. When the tank pressure reaches a set low point, the switch cuts the pump back on and the whole cycle starts again. So, for your observation to be true, your system pressure would have to stay the same all the time. That's why I say I doubt that what you are saying is really the case.

It can certainly seem that the tank is not getting much water. That is a COMMON complaint on this board and is generally not worth worrying about. What you really want to measure is this. How much water can you run from a faucet between the cutoff and cutin points? To find out, let the pump run until it cuts off (high pressure point). Now run water from an outdoor faucet into a five gallon bucket. Listen for the switch to "click" to turn the pump back on. You should get at least five or six gallons before that happens, depending on the size of your tank, and perhaps even more. If that is the case, then it's not likely you have trouble.

Hi jlisenbe. That makes a lot of sense. It just seems when you rock the tank that there's nothing in it. Could there be too much air pressure in tank thanks for your info abbydog1

Abby, your tank pressure should be set at 2 pounds below the cut in pressure for the pump. So, if your pump cuts on at 30#, then the tank pressure would be set at 28#. This should be done with the system off and the system drained to near zero pressure simply by opening a low level faucet.

Abby, sometimes, when a new tank is installed, we get this complaint. There will be some amount of air "trapped" in the tank below the bladder. That keeps the bottom of the tank from filling with water as it should. However, in a few weeks the excess air is absorbed into the tank water and the space below the bladder is water only, as it should be. Check out this site for some neat pics of how it all works.

http://www.inspectapedia.com/water/Water_Tank_Bladders.htm

Thanks jlisenbe very helpful