Hi there,

I have recently added a few additional supply runs, although they are all capped off now, just roughed in, and not drawing any water. I am not sure if the timing was right on or not, but shortly thereafter, it seems that the water pressure to the house has slowed. Especially, if two things are running at once (IE toilet filling, and shower running, or dishwasher and sink faucet, etc). the low pressure is very noticeable. I am on a well and septic, and have a pretty new (4 years old) well pump and pressure tank. I am wondering a couple of things

1) Can I add compressed air to my pressure tank to increase the pressure?

2) Is it possible that the tank is undersized? The house was build by a plumber so I kind of doubt this one, and it had worked fine when we moved in.

3) Any other possible thoughts? The pressure is fine when just one fixture is running.

I am concerned about hooking up additional fixtures with my new supply lines ( this will be a basement bathroom, and as I said, it is all capped off now, so I don't see how this could cause a pressure reduction. ANy help woule be great.

Can I just add some compresed air?

 

Just adding air to the pressure tank will not increase pressure. That is a function of the pump.
Just for starters, Take a look at the pressure gauge when the pump kicks on (it you don't have a good gauge in the system, install one), and note the pressure. Then turn the power to the pump off, completely drain the tank, and check the tank precharge with a tire gauge.The precharge should be 2 psi less than the pressure that the pump started at. If not, add or remove air as necessary. Turn everything back on and see what happens.
This will, at least, let you know what is going on with the pump and tank. If all is well here, then the problem is somewhere else in the plumbing.
Ron

 

I'm also on a well system with a pressurizer tank. I can adjust the pressure with the well pump regulator valve. I think all it does is run the pump a little longer to get increased pressure in the tank.

 

Hi there,

I have finally gotten around to this, and here is the prognosis. The water pressure gauge reads about 50 psi when nothing is happening, when the water runs for a few minutes, the gauge drops to about 49 psi, then the well pump kicks on until it hits 50 psi or maybe 51- but not a drastic move. Then the well kicks off for a few more moments then repeats the cycle. During the course of the shower, the well pump kicks on probably 10 times or so. This is a separate issue- but is this normal? Could the gauge be bad or the pressure switch on the tank needs adjustment?

The more important piece to this, is that I then cut the well power and drained the pressure tank completely. At this point I checked the pressure tank pre-charge with a tire gauge, and there was only 15 psi of air in the tank. I am guessing that I need to put about 33-35 psi of compressed air in the tank. I am wondering how it got so low, unless maybe the previous homeowner dropped it to reduce the pressure?

Any thoughts based on these updates? Thanks a million. I am still waiting to borrow an air compressor so I can fill in the tank, then I will let you know how it goes. Thanks