Short-cycling

[Bayou Bill]

I have a house which I plan to retire to permanently someday but now I stay in the house once a month, I have a tank system with a 30/50 regulator. I arrived at my house on 5/11/15. I noticed that the gauge was setting on 53 psi. With water demand, the gauge would drop to 50 psi and the pump would turn-on.

I went to You-tube and found some videos about short-cycling which describes what my pump was doing. The reason for the short-cycling is the failure of the air bladder in the tank according to You-tube. One video noted that you can be sure of a tank failure if you knock on the bottom of the tank and it sounds dense. Then knock on the top of the tank. It should sound hollow -- not dense with water. Well, my tank sounded dense on top and bottom.

I really can't afford a tank replacement right now. So I thought I would try an experiment. I turned-off the water pump and drained the tank completely. Then I used my air compressor to pressurize the tank to about 38 psi. Then I turned-on the pump. The tank went up to 55 psi. The tank would drain down to 40 and kick-on. It did it over and over. The top of the tank sounds hollow. I would be happy if this would would be permanent but it isn't.

Over time, the gauge goes down slowly over several minutes to 40 psi but the pump does not automatically come on. It will sit at 40 psi for hours. If there is a water demand, the pump comes on and the gauge goes up to 55 psi. It will repeat the 40/55 routine as long as there is water usage. Then it does the drain down to 40 psi trick over time.

Can anyone tell me what is going on?

 

[Reach4]

Over time, the gauge goes down slowly over several minutes to 40 psi but the pump does not automatically come on. It will sit at 40 psi for hours. If there is a water demand, the pump comes on and the gauge goes up to 55 psi. It will repeat the 40/55 routine as long as there is water usage. Then it does the drain down to 40 psi trick over time.

Can anyone tell me what is going on?

First, it sounds as if your pressure switch has now been adjusted to 40/55 PSI. That part sounds straight forward.

Then, I think you are saying that if the pump runs, and if you stop all water consumption, the pressure rises to 55. But rather than staying there, the gauge declines to 40 and stays there as long as there is no water consumed. Right?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Bayou Bill]

First, it sounds as if your pressure switch has now been adjusted to 40/55 PSI. That part sounds straight forward.

Then, I think you are saying that if the pump runs, and if you stop all water consumption, the pressure rises to 55. But rather than staying there, the gauge declines to 40 and stays there as long as there is no water consumed. Right?

Yes, but it did not decline previously. The pressure would rise to 50 and stay there until some water consumption. The pump would not cut-on until 30 psi.

 

[Valveman]

If you don't find a leak somewhere the check valve on the pump is probably leaking back.