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Dmoore6172 · Mar 21, 2012, 04:07 PM

We have a well water , a square d 30/50 pressure switch , aqua-marine v60 bladder tanks 3 of them , I'm guessing between 20 to 30 gallons . When our air conditioner is running we loose all water in the house.. After the air cuts off it take about 15 minutes for the water to regain pressure . I have tried increasing pressure by turning the tall nut on the pressure switch . I may have bad bladders , won't know till I can get air in them Thursday. After adjusting the pressure switch , I saw no movement in the pressure gauge.. Actually when I tapped it , it dropped from 20 to 15 psi... So I'm not sure , I think maybe the pressure switch is bad and maybe one of my bladder tanks is bad.. How do you know when a pressure switch is bad ?

ebilly · Mar 21, 2012, 04:22 PM

You can test a pressure switch with a known good pressure source and a meter. If you put it under pressure and adjust it, you should see the switch open and close depending upon the pressure and setting.

In your case, I would replace the gauge first and make sure you have one that is correct. It sounds like the gauge is faulty, so any troubleshooting you do base upon it can be just plain wrong.

As to the bladders, a/c etc. without more info, it is hard to say, but bad bladders or even low air can allow wild pressure swings. The bladders help the water volume and pressure stay pretty constant. So you might have a problem there also.

ballengerb1 · Mar 21, 2012, 04:36 PM

Normally I'd step in when I see some one with only 2 posts giving advice in my top section, plumbing. However, in ebilly's case, I want to welcome him and give a high five on his great answer.

Dmoore6172 · Mar 21, 2012, 04:42 PM

Thank you very much , I'm going to put in a new pressure switch and then recharge my bladders and then take it from there , every time I adjust the switch , I'm getting nothing in either direction "clockwise or counter clockwise" so I'm going to go with what you said , I feel like I should get a respond one way or another out of the switch.. thanks again.. I will be back I'm sure of it ! Awesome web forums here ! Saving us so much money !

mygirlsdad77 · Mar 21, 2012, 04:43 PM

Im trying to figure out what your air conditioning has to do with water pressure. Can you let us know what type of a/c system you have, and how it is tied into your potable water system?

Dmoore6172 · Mar 21, 2012, 04:51 PM

To be honest , I'm trying to figure that out as well... this is my girlfriends house and it was this way when I moved in , but the well water also runs to the central ac unit... that's all I know as of now , I will post more when I find out more myself.. I must be dumb , cause I never knew water ran into a central ac unit...

Dmoore6172 · Mar 21, 2012, 05:26 PM

It is a hydro electric ac unit , I have two lines coming under the house from well , one goes right to the ac and the other goes to my pressure switch and bladder tanks , then in the center of the three tanks where they all " T " together , another line runs from there back to the ac unit..? I'd pull my hair out if I wasn't already a chrome dome... lol . We ran the ac unit and before the pressure gauge was reading at 15 psi and now it won't go above 10 psi.. I'm thinking the two lines to the ac are the one coming from the pump to the ac is the feed line and the other line is a return line back to the tanks maybe... not sure . I will handle that after I fix the pressure switch and check my bladder pressure.. in the morning that is.. I'm done with it for the day .

ballengerb1 · Mar 21, 2012, 05:58 PM

I have seen only one unit anywhere near what you are talking about. A friend had a very old home on a well in rural Illinois. He ran well water through a truck radiator which was mounted in the air plunum of his furnace. He ran cold water through the radiator to cool his home, used water went to a very large storage tank in his attic where it could be drained for residential use. The system was terrible but that's all he had.

hkstroud · Mar 22, 2012, 04:46 AM

I know nothing about the type of a/c system you have, but will offer two comments anyway.

Air pressure in a bladder tank is not indicated by the pressure gauge, no does it affect the operation of the pressure switch. The air in a bladder tank is measured with a the tank empty, using a tire pressure gauge.

The pressure gauge shows the water pressure. Ten to 15 lbs. is unusually low pressure settings. Most people per fer 30-50 or 40-60 settings.

Know nothing about the a/c system but simple logic would say that there is probably a check valve between the bladder tanks and the a/c system. Again logic would say that there is probably some kind of switching valve to send the water to the tanks or to the a/c system cooling coils.

I am guessing that the principle of operation is that either system can turn the well pump on. Water is directed either to the tanks or to the a/c and then back down the well. Therefore some kind of valve would be needed to properly direct the water and a check valve would be needed prevent tanks from draining during a/c operation. Of course operation may not be that simple. Unusual to have three tanks.

I would be looking for a defective check valve, after establishing a more usual water pressure.

More than two comments but then I never went very far in school.

mygirlsdad77 · Mar 22, 2012, 03:43 PM

Ok, Ive also only seen one of these sytems. Works kind of like a ground source heat pump for cooling, but instead of being a closed loop, it is an open system witch uses your well water to cool the evap coil and dumps the water usually in a nearby crick or equivalent. The one I saw was on an artesian well, so there was no lack of water. I have to say, I have never worked on one of these. I think Harold is on the right track. There should be some sort of silinoid valve and relay to pump water through the a/c coil. Also, there should be some sort of volume limiting device (could even be a valve that needs to be shut down a bit) for the a/c, as it shouldn't have full volume of the well running through it. Slow flow is all it takes for the cold water to do its job for the a/c. Sounds like the restrictor (whatever it is) may be the culprit, allowing all of your water pressure and volume to run through the a/c and dump somewhere. Without some sort of restriction, its just open ended and you will lose all storage of pressure tanks quickly, and unless you have an awesome pump, it may not be able to keep up. Is there an isolation valve on the incoming water line to the a/c? If so, throttle it down almost all the way and see what happens. If it seems to cure things, but the a/c isn't cooling enough, open it just a little bit at a time unitll the system balances out.