2 nights ago I lost about 50% of my water pressure in my house. It's a 15 year old home that is on a well.

I immediately thought it was a plugged filter, so I removed the filter and ran the system w/o a filter in it. The pressure came back for a few minutes but started slowing up again.

I have 1 faucet attached to my water system before the water goes through my bladder, softener, and filter. When I turn on the exterior faucet it seems to get perfect pressure (although I never payed attn to the pressure in this faucet before this problem, I'm assuming it it where it use to be). It has water pressure to where I think that the problem is after this fork in my water system.

I looked at the pressure guage on my bladder tank and it was reading 25. The stamp on the side of my "well-x-trol 252" said that it left the factory at 38 pounds of pressure and it has a maximum pressure rating of 100 lbs.

I had a small compressure that I tried draining my bladder and increasing the pressure inside of my bladder, but it didn't increase. It's a compressor that's big enough to fill up my truck tires, but not a really strong compressor.


Am I safe to assume that the problem is in my bladder tank?
How to I increase the pressure in my tank?
What should I increase it to. (3 story house / 3 bathrooms, 1 kitchen)
If it is my bladder? Can it be repaired if it's a problem? Have to be replaced?

Any help would be appreciated, this is driving me crazy. Thanks.
Brian

 

No expert, but if your tank is only getting to 25...then it's the pump or pressure switch or possibly a piping issue...not the tank, that is the problem.

As I understand..the use of a bladder tank allows use of small amounts of water without the pump kicking on and off...and during larger demand, keeps the pressure constant during use.