How do you maintain your pressure tank?


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Old 10-25-14, 02:54 PM
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How do you maintain your pressure tank?

I had some pump trouble so I went to the shed where my pump is and after replacing the faulty part I turned the pump back on. I was surprised when it pressurized the system in literally 5 seconds and shut off. So I figured there is not enough air in the tank and indeed it was practically full of water. There is an air injector (or whatever it is called) on that tank. Obviously it is not enough. What can be done to prevent it from happening again?
 
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Old 10-25-14, 03:50 PM
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It may be time to replace the antiquated tank for a bladder type tank so you won't have to experience the water logging. Set the new tank's pressure using an air source on top to 2 lbs below cut in pressure.
 
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Old 10-25-14, 05:39 PM
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Thanks! Never heard of bladder tank before. What is the meaning of "35 Gal. Pre-Charged Pressure Tank with 82-Gal. Equivalent Rating"? How they get this 82 gallon rating?
 
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Old 10-26-14, 04:31 AM
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The precharge is the pressure of the air above the bladder. It is adjustable via a tire valve looking thing on top. In your old tank, you are relying on pure air pressure to return to the system. It has the tendency to mix with water, which is partially air, anyway, thus waterlogging itself. With the bladder, your air is segregated from the water and the pressure is always stable, and at a higher potential since you can adjust the air pressure from above. With just water/air as you have, now, you have no way of making the pressure higher. With a 28 lb charge of air above, once your water begins to press against the bladder, you will notice a smoother flow of water for a longer period of time between pump kick ins. You are probably seeing your pump kick in every few seconds, now.
 
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Old 10-26-14, 04:53 PM
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Air can be added to a non-bladder tank manually to correct the waterlogging problem but you need to repeat this process every few months.

Since you mentioned an injector, your pressure tank may have had some automated mechanism with moving parts to replenish the air in the pressure tank and avoid the need to add air manually. This mechanism is not exact. This mechanism also has a finite lifetime and yours may have worn out.

Because recharging the non-bladder tank is time consuming, most homeowners replace it with a bladder tank when problems develop. Incidentally you would turn off the pump, then open a cold water faucet, then add air until some comes out the faucet. Then close the faucet and pressurize the system to a few PSI less than the pump turn on pressure.

The new bladder tank should be installed with a simple T connection to the main water line where the old pressure tank used to be. The extra parts (snifter valve, injector, etc, if any) associated with the non-bladder tank are incompatible with the operation of a bladder tank and should be removed. However you still need a gauge and pressure switches; these need not be located right next to the pressure tank connection.
 
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Old 11-01-14, 08:34 PM
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I know that this will sound like heresy to some of the readers here, but the "antiquated" tanks have an advantage in that they have no moving parts inside the tank. The bladders tend to rub inside the tank and wear out and I know the new accordion bladders are supposed to fix that, but even the most ardent proponent will admit that they can rub, too.

The downside is that the non-bladder tanks have to be reset every other year or so. We have a sticky here that explains how to do that. It's easy enough -- so easy my mother learned to do it and that's how I learned, by watching my parents do it. And it doesn't take much time, maybe 1/2 an hour or so.

If you break the seal by replacing a part, you need to reset the tank.

On an "antiquated" tank (still sold by Sears) there is usually a way to add air using a bicycle pump or compressor, but it's been my experience that by doing that, it causes more trouble that it is worth. Better to drain the water and start from scratch than to tinker and try to get things working right by fiddling with the pressure.
 

Last edited by Vey; 11-01-14 at 08:49 PM.
 

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