Traveller
Member
Our town's water system has a check valve installed on the service to each customer, thus making each residence a closed system. This creates problems with our water heaters, as water expands when it heats, and the 150 psi pressure relief valves on our water heaters open regularly.
The manufacturers of water heaters recommend installing a small bladder type expansion tank on the supply side of the w.h. to minimize pressure rises. As our water system is less than ten years old, and all of our homes were on private wells before its inception, most of us still have bladder tanks sitting idly in our old pump houses, and I was wondering what would stop a person from using one of these as an expansion tank.
The problem is this; as well tanks have adjustable air pressure in their bladders, what would be the optimum pre-charge for the bladder if it is to be used as an expansion tank?
The manufacturers of water heaters recommend installing a small bladder type expansion tank on the supply side of the w.h. to minimize pressure rises. As our water system is less than ten years old, and all of our homes were on private wells before its inception, most of us still have bladder tanks sitting idly in our old pump houses, and I was wondering what would stop a person from using one of these as an expansion tank.
The problem is this; as well tanks have adjustable air pressure in their bladders, what would be the optimum pre-charge for the bladder if it is to be used as an expansion tank?