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n8915p · Apr 4, 2013, 11:52 AM

My husband and son decided we needed to add some air to the bladder tank of our well walter system. Now the one faucet in one bathroom has very little water pressure so you can barely use it and the cold water rinse fill on the washing machine fills very, very slowly. The screen on the faucet is not the problem. Thanks for any help.

hkstroud · Apr 4, 2013, 03:30 PM

My husband and son decided we needed to add some air to the bladder tank

That was dumb. Increasing the amount of air in a tank does not increase the water pressure.

The amount of air pressure is set relative to the pressure that the pump is set to come on.

Tell them watch the pressure gauge to see at what pressure the pump comes on. If they don't know when it come on, tell them to remove the pressure switch cover and watch when the points of the switch close.

Then turn the breakers to the well off. Drain the tank by opening the drain valve. Set the air pressure to 2 pounds less than the pressure that the pump comes on. Turn the breakers back on.

Then take away their air pump.

jlisenbe · Apr 4, 2013, 07:45 PM

Then take away their air pump.

Funny! It seems to be an instinctive act to add air to the tank, but HK is exactly right that it is not the thing to do.

Is there a filter or softener on the system?

n8915p · Apr 5, 2013, 02:21 PM

The reason air was added to the tank was not because of low pressure. The pump was cycling every minute to seconds. We had been told by our "well professional" that this was what was needed. Now we have very low pressure at one of the bathroom faucets and the rinse cycle of the washing machine. I guess I didn't make that very clear in my question. I would have felt slightly better without the "that was dumb" comment. There is a softener system also. We have had well systems all of our 60+ years of living and had to add air one time before for the same cycling problem. The cycling problem is now resolved. We are thinking that perhaps a piece of sediment or something got in the line? Thanks for the responses.

hkstroud · Apr 5, 2013, 03:38 PM

Sorry, don't take the "That was dumb" too seriously, only having fun.
Only two reasons to add air to tank. One is a ruptured bladder and the tank is water logged. Or a leaking valve stem, which is rare. If you had to add air because of pump short cycling expect to have to do it again before long. How long depends on the tank size and the amount of water used.

Remove aerator on bath faucet and see what kind of volume you have. Remove washer hose, both end and see if there is a screen in the hose that has become clogged.

Turn water softener to by pass and see if there is a difference.

jlisenbe · Apr 6, 2013, 04:01 AM

89, don't take all of us too seriously. HK was just pulling your leg.

To add a little to his answer, if you add air to the pressure tank, that will indeed resolve your short-cycling problem, but only temporarily. That air will get dissolved into the tank's water in a few more weeks, and the problem will return. Assuming this is a bladder tank and not a galvanized tank, the only long-term solution is to replace it. That is not difficult.