We have lived in our house for almost 7 years. We started having issues with our water pressure a few weeks ago. We drained the bladder tank and the water pressure was great for a little while. We drained it again and it was good for a little while (although much less time). We drained it again and now we have no water. You can hear the tank fill up and the pressure reaches 70 PSI on the pressure switch really quick, but then drops and we have no water. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Remove cover to pump switch, are the points open or closed?
Where is the tank? Is it in the house or outside?
How cold is it where you are located?

What is the present pressure reading?
Is the pressure switch on the well piping or is it connected to the tank by a small copper pipe?

Can you post a picture of your setup?
At what setting is the pump suppose to come on and go off?

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Originally Posted by hkstroud

Remove cover to pump switch, are the points open or closed?
Where is the tank? Is it in the house or outside?
How cold is it where you are located?

What is the present pressure reading?
Is the pressure switch on the well piping or is it connected to the tank by a small copper pipe?

Can you post a picture of your setup?
At what setting is the pump suppose to come on and go off?

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We had some really cold weather a couple weeks ago and there was a draft coming in causing the pipe coming in to the house to freeze. I insulated and sealed the draft hole and thawed the pipe. Haven't had any problems with freezing ever since, but that's when the low pressure started.

The tank is located in the basement. The switch comes on at 30 psi so it is currently on. The pressure is about 22 psi. The switch is located on the well piping, just beyond the tank. I have had the cover off and it is set to 30/50. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks!

I will try to get a picture and attach. We can drain the tank and get water back again. The pressure just drops quick when we use the water.

Attachment 45720

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Originally Posted by meltut

We had some really cold weather a couple weeks ago and there was a draft coming in causing the pipe coming in to the house to freeze. I insulated and sealed the draft hole and thawed the pipe. Haven't had any problems with freezing ever since, but that's when the low pressure started.

The tank is located in the basement. The switch comes on at 30 psi so it is currently on. The pressure is about 22 psi. The switch is located on the well piping, just beyond the tank. I have had the cover off and it is set to 30/50. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks!

I will try to get a picture and attach. We can drain the tank and get water back again. The pressure just drops quick when we use the water.

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Attach hose to drain valve, open drain valve. Pressure should drop to 0.l Switch points should be closed, pump should be running. Water be coming out drain valve from pump. Close drain valve, pressure in tank should go to 50 and points of pump switch should open. If pressure does not reach approximately 50, you have a busted well pipe.

If you suspect a leaking well pipe, turn off breakers. If you have a check valve, the pressure will remain the same. If you do not have a check valve and have a leaking well pipe the pressure will drop to 0 again.

If pressure reaches 50,points open and turns pump off, but as soon as you use a little water the pressure drops dramatically, you have a ruptured tank bladder.

Pressure does reach 50, points open and turns the pump off. As soon as we use any water, the pressure drops to around 20 and the water pressure is horrible. I suspected the pressure tank, but just needed to make sure I was headed in the right direction. Thanks so much for your help!

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Originally Posted by hkstroud

Attach hose to drain valve, open drain valve. Pressure should drop to 0.l Switch points should be closed, pump should be running. Water be coming out drain valve from pump. Close drain valve, pressure in tank should go to 50 and points of pump switch should open. If pressure does not reach approximately 50, you have a busted well pipe.

If you suspect a leaking well pipe, turn off breakers. If you have a check valve, the pressure will remain the same. If you do not have a check valve and have a leaking well pipe the pressure will drop to 0 again.

If pressure reaches 50,points open and turns pump off, but as soon as you use a little water the pressure drops dramatically, you have a ruptured tank bladder.

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Sounds like you have a ruptured bladder.

Turn off breakers. Open drain valve.

Pressurize tank through the valve stem to 28 pounds. If you start getting air out the drain valve, close drain valve.

Your tank bladder has ruptured and the precharge air has been absorbed by the water. Your tank is now water logged (full of water). Although you said you have previously drain the tank, the water in the tank did not come out because no air could get in to replace it. You cannot compress water, you can only compress air. If the tank is full of water and you try to add another quart, the pressure goes up dramatically. As soon as you use a little water the pressure drops dramatically.

You need to first get all the water out of the tank. You do that by opening the drain valve and pressurizing the tank. Because your bladder is ruptured you will probably get air out the drain valve after the tank is empty. You then close the drain valve and pressurize the tank to the proper precharge pressure. Which is 28 lbs. if the pump switch is set to come on at 30 lbs.

This will work for a while until you can replace the tank. It will work until the air in the tank is again absorbed by the water. How long that will be depends on the size of the tank and how much water you use. Of course if the tank again becomes water logged, you drain the tank and do it again.

We put a new pressure tank in and now the pressure will only get up to 30 PSI and the pump never shuts off. If we use the water, it gets down to around 20 PSI. It takes forever to get back to around 30 so you the pump is staying on all the time now.

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Originally Posted by meltut

We put a new pressure tank in and now the pressure will only get up to 30 PSI and the pump never shuts off. If we use the water, it gets down to around 20 PSI. It takes forever to get back to around 30 so you the pump is staying on all the time now.

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Not a Plumber, but you may have a leaky foot valve at the foot of the well. That is slowly leaking off back into the well. Just my guess.

Don't understand. You said earlier that the pressure would go up to 50 and the pump would shut off. Where are you located and what has the temperature been recently? How deep is the pipe between the well and the house buried?

It was getting up to 50 PSI and shutting off before we replaced the tank. The issue then was just when we used the water. Now, we cannot get it above 30 PSI. I know my husband adjusted the check valve. We are located in South Central Ohio. The pipe between the house and the pump is buried at least 3 feet I think.

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I know my husband adjusted the check valve.

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Please explain. You don't adjust check valves. Check valves are just valves that have a flapper in them that allow water to only flow one way. Please ask Hubby what he adjusted.

He adjusted the pump switch. He turned it down to 20 PSI because the pump was running constantly since it would not get up to 30 PSI.

Which pipe icomes from the well and which pipe goes to the house? Is the PVC pipe from the well and the pipe with the shut off valve to the house?