Air in Supply Lines?


  #1  
Old 03-28-06, 05:24 AM
E
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 2
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Air in Supply Lines?

Not sure what may be causing the following, but it sounds like air pockets when our toilets are filling or sinks are on. The water will noisily surge into the toilet or out of the faucet in the sink in very small bursts.

We have a well (could this be a sign that the well may be low?) and a whole house sediment filter in the house. The filter has been changed within the two weeks or so, and doesn't appear to be horribly dirty. I did change the filter from a string type to one that is made of what looks and feels like styrofoam to help keep more sediment out of our lines.

We usually get the same sort of noises when we have just changed the filter, which leads me to believe this may be an air issue. Any suggestions?

Thank you for any insights!
 

Last edited by ejhale; 03-28-06 at 05:35 AM.
  #2  
Old 03-28-06, 06:49 AM
majakdragon's Avatar
Member
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: N.E. Arkansas
Posts: 7,475
Upvotes: 0
Received 1 Upvote on 1 Post
ejhale, Welcome to the DIY Forums.
Did you bleed off the air in the filter cartridge when you changed filters? You could also have a bad washer in one of your faucets that sucks air into the system. You could buy a pressure gauge that connects to an outside faucet. Run a little water before hooking it up. Once hooked up, turn the faucet on and then turn off the valve at the well. See if the gauge pressure goes down. This will tell you if your system is "tight". Good luck.
 
  #3  
Old 03-28-06, 08:03 AM
E
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 2
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
We haven't bled the filter cartridge, or I'm not aware that we've done that. Typically it sputters once or twice and then stops.

This new issue happened well after changing the filter. All that said, the house predates the plumbing, which is exceptionally old as well. If our house is "tight" that would be a huge surprise to me!!

We'll try the gauge to try and pinpoint the problem. Thank you for the suggestion!
 
  #4  
Old 03-28-06, 08:41 AM
majakdragon's Avatar
Member
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: N.E. Arkansas
Posts: 7,475
Upvotes: 0
Received 1 Upvote on 1 Post
On my last house with a well, I had to relieve the pressure before I could open the filter cartridge. Had a button on top to bleed off pressure. I also pressed it when I turned the water back on to get that 1/2" air space to leave.
 
  #5  
Old 07-19-08, 10:14 PM
P
Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 6
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
I had a problem like you describe and finally found it. There is an air blead valve that was used when wells had storage tanks without bladders. What it did was allow air into the well pipe when the pump turned off. This would add air into the tank each time the well pump came on. The tanks without bladders had an air release system that kept the tank from filling with too much air and would let excess air out of the tank. This kept the tank from getting completely filled with water.

Now we have tanks with bladders in them. You do not need this valve now. What now happens if you have this valve is each time the pump comes on it adds air to the plumbing in the house which will continually spirt air out of the faucets and toilets.

I had this on my system and sisn't know what it was and couldn't find any pictures of anything like the one I had. One day it sprung a leak so I needed to take it out. That is when I found out that it was one of these valves. Now I don't have any more air in the water.
 
 

Thread Tools
Search this Thread
 
Ask a Question
Question Title:
Description:
Your question will be posted in: