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  • Jul 20, 2008, 07:55 AM
    jimmyc1
    Waterwell pressure
    Hello I have a pressure problem on my well, when I turn on my water sprinklers the pressure is about 60 to 70 pounds but drops steady to 0 then I hear a gurgling noise from the tank or pipe I've tried to set the pressure switch to fix this but does not help what can I do I've also put air in the tank the tank is about 15 to 20 years old should I buy a another tank ? Please give me some answers on this on what I can do
  • Jul 20, 2008, 08:34 AM
    rsain2004
    The pressure tank may be "waterlogged". Modern tanks separate water from air with a plastic bladder. Older tanks lacked this, and the water would absorb the air. For practical purposes, liquids cannot be compressed, yet gases can. Compressed air is needed for water pressure. When there isn't a big enough air charge, water pressure seems good, until a tap is opened... Then the small air bubble rapidly loses pressure... Good luck...
  • Jul 21, 2008, 12:15 AM
    jensallen
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jimmyc1
    hello i have a pressure problem on my well, when i turn on my water sprinklers the pressure is about 60 to 70 pounds but drops steady to 0 then i hear a gurgling noise from the tank or pipe ive tried to set the pressure switch to fix this but does not help what can i do ive also put air in the tank the tank is about 15 to 20 years old should i buy a another tank ? please give me some answers on this on what i can do

    Submersible pump:
    1- What you say sound like it could be several things. Most likely the impellers on your pump are wore out and you need a new or rebuild current pump. This problem also can be caused by the pump sucking sand from being set to close to bottom.
    2- If your pressure tank is wore out and your pump is cycleing frequently to keep the pressure up, this will cause the impeller to spin free around the pump moter shaft.
    3- Your well could be running dry.

    Jet Pumps:
    1- all of the above except the foot could be to close to bottom.
    2- the foot valve could be stuck open and your pump may be losing its water prime.
    3- you have a loose, air leeky, or crack in your water line some where.

    If you have a bladderless pressure tank then all you have to do is turn your pump off and fully drain the tank of all the water. If there is a air fill valve on the tank then you may want to put about 5 lbs of pressure in it. If no air valve on tank then do not worry about it because the water will repressurize the tank full of air to the proper pressur set by the pressure switch. Just make sure you have all of the fittings tight again.

    If your tank does have a bladder and the shell isn't leaky, then you can order just the bladder and repace it for less. Before you do that just make sure that your old bladder didn't just slowly leak air out the air valve because if that is so just put a new valve stem in the valve and pump the bladder up to the specified pressure of the owners manual.
  • Jul 21, 2008, 12:23 AM
    jensallen
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jimmyc1
    hello i have a pressure problem on my well, when i turn on my water sprinklers the pressure is about 60 to 70 pounds but drops steady to 0 then i hear a gurgling noise from the tank or pipe ive tried to set the pressure switch to fix this but does not help what can i do ive also put air in the tank the tank is about 15 to 20 years old should i buy a another tank ? please give me some answers on this on what i can do

    Submersible pump:
    1- What you say sound like it could be several things. Most likely the impellers on your pump are wore out and you need a new or rebuld current pump. This problem also can be caused by the pump sucking sand from being set to close to bottom.
    2- If your pressure tank is wore out and your pump is cycleing frequently to keep the pressure up, this will cause the impeller to spin free around the pump moter shaft.
    3- Your well could be running dry.

    Jet Pumps:
    1- all of the above except the foot could be to close to bottom.
    2- the foot valve could be stuck open and your pump may be losing its water prime.
    3- you have a loose, air leeky, or crack in your water line some where.

    If you have a bladderless pressure tank then all you have to do is turn your pump off and fully drain the tank of all the water. If there is a air fill valve on the tank then you may want to put about 5lbs of pressure in it. If no air valve on tank then do not worry about it because the water will repressurize the tank full of air to the proper pressur set by the pressure switch. Just make sure you have all of the fittings tight again.
  • Jul 22, 2008, 10:18 PM
    hkstroud
    First, the unpleasant news. Your well pump cannot keep up with your sprinkler system. Nothing you can do about it unless you want to put down a larger pump, assuming a submergible pump. Even that may not be feasible if you have a small well pipe. Apparently you have a bladder tank if you have put air in it and you have probably messed up the proper pre-charge pressure.

    A little theory.

    A pressure tank is just a sealed tank full of air. Not pressurized, just full of air. If you take a sealed tank and fill it 1/3 full with water the pressure of the compressed air will be 40#. If you fill it 2/3 full the pressure will be 60#. The normal well working pressure is between 40 and 60#. That means that you have 1/3 of the volume of the tank to store water at working pressure. Water absorbs air. Over a period the air in the tank will be absorbed by the water. The volume of water necessary to achieve the 40# low end pressure will increase. The volume of air has decreased so it will take less water to go from the 40# cut-in pressure to the 60# cut-out pressure. When all of the air is gone the pump will cut on when you open a faucet and cut off as soon as you close it. Your tank is "water logged". The well pump is constantly coming on and shutting off. The is known as short cycling. This is very bad for a pump. It is not the running of the pump that shortens its life, it's the starting and stoping.

    A bladder tank has an expandable membrane inside that keeps the water and the air separate. This prevents water logging. It can also be pressurized. The bladder also prevents the pressurized air from escaping out the faucet should you drain the tank completely. By pressurizing the tank you expand its usable capacity. Note that you "pressurized" the pressure tank by filling it to 1/3 capacity to achieve the 40# cut-in pressure. Note also that to achieve the 60# pressure you reduced the 40# pressurized air to 1/2 its volume. If you pressurize the bladder tank to the pump cut-in pressure you have the entire tank filled with pressurized air. When you reduce pressurized air to 1/2 it volume by filling the tank 1/2 full with water you will have 60# pressure. With a pressure tank, say a 100 gallon tank, you have 33 gallons of unusable water, 33 gallons of usable water and 33 gallons of air. With a 100 gallon pressure tank you have 33 gallons of usable water. With a 100 gallon bladder tank, because you have pressurized it to the pump cut-in pressure, you can fill it 1/2 full of water before reaching the cut-off pressure. A 100 gallon bladder tank gives you 50 gallons of usable water. That is the big advantage of the bladder tank.

    The bladder tank should be pressurized, with the tank empty of water, to 2 lbs below the pump cut-in pressure. If you have been adding air and adjusting the pump cut-in pressure, I suggest that you reset the cut-in and cut-off pressures back to 40# and 60#. Turn the pump off and drain the tank completely. If necessary, add air to push out all of the water. Repressurize the tank to 38#.

    Sprinkler systems are capable of dispensing a large volume of water and require a certain pressure to operate properly. You well and pump are just not capable of providing the required volume and pressure. Your only options are to either reduce the number of sprinkler heads or to put down a larger pump and possibly a larger well. If you put down a larger pump, your well may, or may not be capable of providing the required volume.

    The gurgling sound you hear when the pressure is at 0 pressure is just the sound of the water being pumped into the tank and flowing out to the sprinkler heads, but without enough pressure to make them function properly. Nothing wrong with your tank.
  • Jul 29, 2008, 02:52 PM
    chuckhole
    Wow. I finally understand how my well really works.
  • May 14, 2012, 08:40 PM
    pinal2000us
    I have well I put new pump and new tank and has plastic deep well air release part no hae1 but we have wates presser problem we turn it on 2to 3 minets and presse came on so please tell what is the problem

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