I will be buying a new well pressure tank and I wanted to get some advice on what brand to buy. There are so many that I don't know which ones are good and not so good. The name Well X-Trol and Flexcon have come up but so have many others. I don't like to skimp on things like this so I wanted to ask experts what they recommend.
I guess this is a good time to ask a couple other questions too:
1) Is either a bladder tank or a diaphragm tank better than the other? Which would you recommend?
2) My old cellar-type basement often gets damp and and the metal legs on the tank I have now are almost completely rusted off. It seems that a fiberglass tank might be good for my circumstances but I don't want to get one if they aren't as good as metal tanks. Are fiberglass tanks any good? I will probably get a metal tank and, if I do, I will keep it off the floor this time using a optional base, if available, or by putting it on blocks but I thought I would at least ask for opinions about fiberglass tanks.
I see that the life expectancy of a typical bladder tank is about 5 years but the funny thing is that my old Sears bladder tank is about 25 years old and I have had no problems with it at all until last month. In fact, I'm not absolutely sure that the bladder is bad but I suddenly started getting a LOT of rust in my whole house filter that I never got before so I'm thinking that maybe the bladder ruptured and the rust is coming from inside the tank. (The filter is located just downstream from the tank.) In the past, I changed my whole-house filter about once every 3 or 4 months and, even then, it never restricted water flow. It had a grayish appearance on the outside and black on the inside of the filter. But about a month ago, the water in the clear filter housing suddenly started becoming a deep orange within a week of installing a new filter and started restricting flow in about 2 weeks. I hope the bladder ruptured because I hate to think of what might be causing the problem if that isn't it. I did have to pump it up a lot more than I usually do when I changed the filter last time. In the past when I changed the filter every 3 or 4 months, I had to top the pressure up about about 3-5 pounds or so. I'm losing pressure faster now so maybe the air valve or the tank itself is leaking.
In any case, I'm going to replace the tank and need some advice on what the best type to get is.
Thanks in advance.
Tom
I guess this is a good time to ask a couple other questions too:
1) Is either a bladder tank or a diaphragm tank better than the other? Which would you recommend?
2) My old cellar-type basement often gets damp and and the metal legs on the tank I have now are almost completely rusted off. It seems that a fiberglass tank might be good for my circumstances but I don't want to get one if they aren't as good as metal tanks. Are fiberglass tanks any good? I will probably get a metal tank and, if I do, I will keep it off the floor this time using a optional base, if available, or by putting it on blocks but I thought I would at least ask for opinions about fiberglass tanks.
I see that the life expectancy of a typical bladder tank is about 5 years but the funny thing is that my old Sears bladder tank is about 25 years old and I have had no problems with it at all until last month. In fact, I'm not absolutely sure that the bladder is bad but I suddenly started getting a LOT of rust in my whole house filter that I never got before so I'm thinking that maybe the bladder ruptured and the rust is coming from inside the tank. (The filter is located just downstream from the tank.) In the past, I changed my whole-house filter about once every 3 or 4 months and, even then, it never restricted water flow. It had a grayish appearance on the outside and black on the inside of the filter. But about a month ago, the water in the clear filter housing suddenly started becoming a deep orange within a week of installing a new filter and started restricting flow in about 2 weeks. I hope the bladder ruptured because I hate to think of what might be causing the problem if that isn't it. I did have to pump it up a lot more than I usually do when I changed the filter last time. In the past when I changed the filter every 3 or 4 months, I had to top the pressure up about about 3-5 pounds or so. I'm losing pressure faster now so maybe the air valve or the tank itself is leaking.
In any case, I'm going to replace the tank and need some advice on what the best type to get is.
Thanks in advance.
Tom