I have a very old bagless steel water tank. My well pump set to 30 psi - 60 psi. If I turn one faucet on, the pump will be off for 45 seconds and on only 5 secs and off 45 seconds again... When it is on, the gauge shows the pressure shoot from 30 to around 70-80 psi and immediately drop to 60...

Is that a concern ? BTW, my water pressure is not good, two faucets on maxiam.

Thanks a lot.

May

Sounds like your pressure tank's water logged and must be recharged. Shut the pump off at the breaker box and open uo the boiler drain to drain the pressure tank.
You must also open a cold water faucet or hose bib to prevent airlock.
Drain the pressure tank, close the b oiler drain and any other open faucets. Turn the pump back on. As the pump fills the tank it also compresses the air inside. When the pump shuts off you have recharged your pressure tank. Good luck, Tom

Thanks for the reply. I was thinking to rent the air compressor to pump some air in, is that safer than the method you recommanded? IF it is, do you know how much air should be pumped in? Or I should just go ahead to drain the tank(I don't have a drain exit in the tank, the closest one is located one feet above the ground, is that good enough?).

Thanks.

Thanks for the reply. I was thinking to rent the air compressor to pump some air in, is that safer than the method you recommanded? IF it is, do you know how much air should be pumped in? Or I should just go ahead to drain the tank(I don't have a drain exit in the tank, the closest one is located one feet above the ground, is that good enough?).

Thanks

SB is correct. You will get the result you want if you follow his advice. However, there is something wrong with your system if you are having to do this. Your system is designed to recharge the tank with air every time the pump cuts on. It does that by using a bleed valve to allow air to enter the wellpipe every time the pump cuts off. When it cuts back on, that air enters the tank to maintain a charge of air in the tank. Another valve on the tank (about halfway up) bleeds off excess air to keep the tank from filling up with air. I suspect your system is not allowing air into the wellpipe, so the tank is not being recharged with air. Unless you correct that, recharging the tank will only last a few weeks or months, then will have to be redone.

Thanks for the info. I am not sure my tank is so advanced though. It is very old house and tank. On my tank, only one exit from the bottom. There is no valve can let the excess air out. Wish I could post picture here. Is there any way I can tell that is the case?

Thanks.

Is there a "tire type" air valve at the top of the tank?

Was able to attach the picture of the water tank. Thanks a lot.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jlisenbe

Is there a "tire type" air valve at the top of the tank?

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Yes. I can use the bicycle pump if I am strong enough.

May, it looks like the line from the pump and the line to the house both join together just before entering the tank. If that is the case, then the process I described wouldn't work on this tank. If there is an air valve at the very top, then it sounds like a bladder tank, although this would seem to be a rather large one. Are you sure you are not dealing with a bladder tank? Generally, the old tank like I described is galvanized while bladder tanks are painted, but I could not really tell from your picture due to all the insulation.

So, do you think it might be bladder tank after all? If not, then the only advice I can give you is: A. Plan on having to recharge the tank with air every few weeks in the manner described by Speedball. B. Buy a bladder tank and install it yourself or have a plumber do it.

Someone else might be more familiar with this setup than I am, but I don't see any other way around it.

Thanks , jlisenbe.

Am I 100% sure that it is not bladder one? I am not. I just did air recharge this morning. Since I only have valve (2 feet from the ground, about half of the tank size) can drain the water out, I used that valve to drain the water. So I guess after that, I have half tank air left there. Then I turn on every thing, first it is not bad, 45 seconds pump on, over 1 min pump off, then it is starting to reduce, to 43 sec, to 34 seconds. I have no much usage now, so not sure at the end of day, how many seconds going to remain for the pump on.

I am thinking to replace this whole thing, but now I am wondering if the replacing is going to fix the problem. Because it looks like there is leak some where, and I tested the top air type valve, not leak there. Is that possible somewhere else leaks, like the line coming to the tank from pump?

Thanks a lot.

May, there is no way for the air to get out of your tank other than some sort of leak in the tank or having the air dissolve into the water, which takes weeks or months. From what you are describing, I don't think you can adequately drain your tank. Half of the tank being drained is not good enough.

I would try this. Drain the tank as you did before, then put air in the tank at the top up to 50#. That will put your tank in the place it should be, which is half air/half water. I'm going to bet you will see a huge improvement in your pump cycling. However, if it was me, I'd be looking at replacing that tank. You will have to continue to add air from time to time as the air dissolves into the water.

I just wanted to update this ticket so if somebody else found it when Google, they know the answer.

I have called the plummer, they said either I can spent $140 service call to fill the air in, or spend $1100 the install a new tank. Without hestation, I did the second one . :-). It solved my problem ( how ever generate another one which I opened another thread... why I even bought a old house in the first place... :(

Thanks for every one. Replacing tank is the final/easiest solution. Now I replaced all my furnice, water heater, water tank, my utility room is so big since the new appliances are so small. Haha!

We thank you May, For the update. It helps us to give better answers when we know the outcome and final solution to a problem. Regards, Tom