OK so I am new to all of this and need some help.

Just a few weeks back I started losing water pressure in my house. I share a well pump with my dad. The water rate at the pump is 32 GPM, and we have two bladder tanks in the same building for one pump. He has great water pressure in his home and we Had descent water pressure until now. The lines off of the well to my home is about 100 yards from the well.

I need to figure out what I can do to troubleshoot where the problem is beginning and don't really know where to start. The water pressure in my home has dropped to the point that it is very hard to take showers, wash dishes, and even wash clothes. Having a new energy efficient washer, the water pressure is low to the point that it puts the washer in to an error mode.

What can I do to fix the water pressure so that it runs equally through both homes?

 

Welcome to the forums! Is the building where the pump and bladder tanks part of either house, or a separate well house? I have my tank in the house while the pump is away from the house. Provided the pump is putting out good volume and pressure, I would install a tank in my house.

 

The tanks are in the well house with the pump. And then water lines are ran from the well house to both homes.

 

Can you get a pressure reading at or near the tanks? Have you tried recharging your tank?

 

The air pressure in the two tanks are different pressure.

 

Should the pressure in both tanks be the same? And could them being different be part of the problem? And checking the pressure should be done with the pump off and tanks emptied,right?

 

How much pressure difference?
It's been a long time since I had a well and my memory isn't the greatest but I believe you can check the pressure anytime. If the bladder breaks/leaks, the tank can get water logged .... but I can't remember if that gives you less pressure or just makes the pump run more

 

Emptied the tank leading to one house, the one with good pressure, is at 15 psi. The other tank for the other house, bad pressure house, emptied is 35 psi.

 

What is the pressure after the pump fills the tanks?

 

Filled, good pressure house, 40 psi. Bad pressure house, 48 psi filled

 

I've never dealt with multiple well tanks but would think you'd want them to have the same pressure but I'm not sure that is the problem. Brighter minds should be along later

Do you have any spigots along the line going to the house with low pressure? If the problem isn't with the tanks then there has to be a clog somewhere. Any galvanized pipe? If you had a leak I'd expect the pump to run a lot.

 

And how do you recharge the tanks?

 

Add air thru the schrader valve like you would with a car tire.

 

The only spigots on the line to the house with bad pressure, is the two at the house itself... one spigot at the front of house, and one at the back of house where the main water line comes in from the well

 

Is the low pressure the same thru the whole house? Do you know which spigot/faucet is the first one after the water line gets to the house? No filters that got overlooked ??

 

Low pressure same through whole house, and do know which spigot is first in the house, and no filters.

 

About the only thing else I'd know to try would be to install a spigot close to the tank and see if you have good pressure there. Hopefully some of the others will have more/better advice for you

 

OK, thanks... will check back in a bit and see if any more advice

 

Both tanks should be manifolded together and have the same pressure. Then both houses should be feeding off the same pipe that manifolds the tanks.

Then, because the pressure is equal, one of the tanks should be controlling the pump. The most distant house will have some pressure loss and if it is too great, then the pressure switch range can be adjusted up to compensate for that.

If the tanks are not equal, then they both should be "reset" -- see our sticky on how to deal with a water logged tank.

IMO resetting from scratch is the best way to go. Fiddling with bicycle pumps and what-not with a tank half-full of water is a fool's game.

 

Most likely you have a clog in your line.

The second most likely reason is that the system pressure at the pump house has drifted down due to aging components (and the other house, still with good pressure, was closer). Usually making some adjustments will put that back the way it was.

Assuming the pressure tanks don't have valves or check valves between them,, one will work just as well as two except the time after you start using water and before the pump kicks on will be less. If just one pressure tank is bad or waterlogged, the other will keep the pump from erratic starts and stops although here, again, the time before the pump kicks on will be less compared with two good tanks.

The pressure tank(s) provide the primary system pressure; the pump provides secondary system pressure. After the pump finishes its cycle, almost all systems let you draw water with the tanks providing decreasing pressure for a short while before the pump restarts. When the system pressure drops below the preset internal pressure of one bladder tank, that tank stops providing primary pressure. When the system pressure drops below the preset internal pressure of the other bladder tank, then the only pressure in the system is provided by the pump. The pump should be set to start before the pressure tanks drop to their preset pressures otherwise the water flow will be erratic at that moment

For best results, both pressure tanks should be set to the same pressure after the system is depressurized (pump shut off and water drained out until the flow stops).

Regardless of what pressures the two tanks have when the system is depressurized, both will (should) register the same pressure after the system is turned on and the pump has finished its cycle. The tank with the lesser starting pressure will have more water in it. This does not mean that you can draw more water before the pump starts compared with equal starting pressure for the two tanks.

Additional pressure tanks will do no harm. If you add a pressure tank in your house, you will alleviate some low pressure problems from a partially clogged line. The low pressure problems returns if you use a lot of water at once but the problem goes away again after you allow time for the tank to refill.

 

Does your father still have great water pressure ?
If so.... the problem is the line to your house. If it's the old galvanized pipe it's rusting shut.
You may need to replace the line to your house with plastic.

 

OK... so I do need to depressurize the tanks and make them equal, and that may fix the problem... and it won't hurt to add a tank inside my home to help equalize the pressure? And to answer the question about the waterline to my house, it is plastic.... I have always had less water pressure than my dad, but not as bad as now, and I figured I would have less water pressure due to the fact that my house is about 100 yards from the well house. His house is maybe 30 yards from the well. I will look at the sticky notes provided and the try room equalize the air pressure in the tanks tomorrow... if that doesn't work, then I will reply on this thread and explain what is happening at that point. Thank you all for the advice, hope I can fix it tomorrow.

 

While you're checking around..... see what size the pipe is to your house.

 

For your pneumatic storage tanks to work and have maximum storage capacity they both need to be as close in pressure as possible.
You need to check the air pressure with the pump off, the water pressure at zero, and any valves in the system open so that when you fill the bladders with air any water in the tanks can leave.
The air pressure in the bladders must be 2 psi lower than the cut in pressure of the pump......Any lower and you will have less water leaving the tank on an off cycle of the pump and any more and you will have less water entering the tank when the pump is running.

An example is if your pump turns on at 40 and off at sixty the air pressure in the tank(s) must be 38 psi.
You need to make sure the gauges you are using to read the water and air pressure read exactly the same.

A way to experiment with measuring storage capacity is to let pump run until it cuts off then unplug it.
Let water flow into something where you can measure the water.......like maybe a bathtub then mark the level with a piece of masking tape.
Reset the air pressure in the tanks to where it should be as described above and then check the volume again.

Another pneumatic tank inside your house will only help until it runs out of water which would only be a couple of gallons.

To troubleshoot your pressure problem in your house you will need to take pressure readings at different places in the system after you get the water tank pressure set correctly.
-Check the pressure at your house when the pump cycles off and no water is flowing.
-Check the pressure at your house when the pump cycles off and when water is flowing at say the bathtub.
-Do the same thing at the well house and record all pressures.

This will give you an idea in what area the problem could be located.

 

My suggestion on the additional tank was due to my thinking you each had separate tanks. Since they are tied to the same piping, no additional tank would be necessary. Follow Greg's comments regarding equalizing the pressure on the existing tanks. They should be in tandem and should exhibit the same pressures.

 

When you turn on a faucet, how long does it gush water at normal pressure before you have pressure problems?

Less than one second?

With a one piece black plastic line (not rigid PVC) we cannot rule out its having been crushed due to frost heaving of underground boulders etc. thus constricting the water flow.

Not sure if there are methods of blowing debris out of a water line less than 3/4" in diameter, methods comparable to blowing out an underground sprinkler system before winter sets in.

Down in the pump house, does each pressure tank have its own gauge? Here it is possible that one of the gauges is not accurate which could be one reason why you measured 40 PSI in one tank and 48 PSI in the other at the same time. It is desirable to use one portable gauge (such as a tire gauge) to measure both tanks using the air valve on top but you need to be careful not to let air escape during the measurement. Practice using tires so you can press the gauge on the air valve without getting a long loud hiss which also usually causes the gauge to read lower than the pressure really is.

Math is needed to figure out how much water will enter and leave a pressure tank as the pump cycles on and off. There are four parameters: (1) pump start pressure, (2) pump stop pressure, (3) tank capacity, and (4) tank preset pressure with pump off and plumbing depressurized. I think it is (storage gallons) = (1 - ( (pump start pressure) / (stop pressure) )) * (tank capacity) when (pump start pressure) is approximately equal to (tank preset pressure).

If the tank preset pressure is too low, more water will be held in the tank but some of that water will never come out which is another way of saying the storage capability of the tank, given that set of parameters, is not as great as you thought.

As a rough rule, if the pump start pressure is 2/3 of the pump stop pressure such as 40/60, the pressure tank wil tend to be 1/3 filled with water. If the start pressure is 1/2 the stop pressure, such as 25/50 the pressure tank tends to be about half full of water. If the start pressure is much less than half the stop pressure, the pressure tank will be well over half full of water but you will very often think that your shower is too strong some of the time and too weak some of the time. Be careful not to set any of the pressures too high (70 is usually too high) otherwise some component such as the pump or the tank could be damaged.