Ok, I have been having this problem now for a couple of months, since I bought this place. I get my water from a spring that is a couple hundred feet from the house. It has a submersible pump in the cistern there. The pressure tank is here at the house. When I turn the water on, the pressure switch is going on and off every two seconds or so. I thought I had a bad pressure tank, but it holds 35 pounds of pressure in the bladder, and no water comes out the schrader valve. It's like no water is going in the pressure tank. I can turn on water at the facet and it comes out ok, just surges. I have turned the pump off and closed the valve on the water line at the tank and tried to drain the tank but none comes out. The tank is 20 gallons, and when you tap on the side you can tell it's empty. I just can't figure this out. I thought the fitting that goes in the tank was plugged up or something, but it's not. Why is the tank not filling up with water!
Help with my water pressure tank, Please
- Thread starter daleyboy
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You need to test the precharge air pressure with the water pressure=zero. Maybe you did that.
Post a photo that includes the pressure switch, pressure gauge, and the base of the pressure tank, and piping in between.
Also tell us what the pressure gauge reads during this pulsing.
That is meaningful.
Post a photo that includes the pressure switch, pressure gauge, and the base of the pressure tank, and piping in between.
Also tell us what the pressure gauge reads during this pulsing.
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Is your pressure switch at the cistern or at the pressure tank?
It's at the pressure tank
The picture must be too big. I can't post it.
https://terrylove.com/forums/index....-or-attachments-to-a-post-in-vbulletin.55180/
Windows Paint can reduce picture size by clicking on Resize.
I'm sending it from my phone.
Probably a bad tank then. Most likely has some water on top of the diaphragm, which will cause the switch to bounce. The diaphragm in the tank goes bad from all the pump cycling. While you are replacing the tank you can also stop the cycling, by using a Cycle Stop Valve, which will also let you use a much smaller and less expensive tank.
NO! What do you mean water is turned off to the tank?
I mean the pump is turned off, and the valve on the line is closed. If the tank is bad , why isn't water comin out at the schrader valve.
"the line"? You should not have a valve between the pump and the pressure tank. Perhaps you are closing the valve after the pressure tank that feeds water to the house.
The Shrader valve is at the top. It would take very little air to cause air to come out of that valve. However the fact that the tank sounds empty when you tap in it tends to say the tank is not waterlogged.
Tell us what the pressure gauge reads during this pulsing.
"I'm sending it from my phone." Maybe get help with whoever helps you with cellphone stuff. If you have a photo posting site, that can be accessed without a login, you could post a URL to the big photo.
I think I've fixed this problem somewhat. I think it had way to much air in the tank. I let a lot of air out of the tank then turned the pump back on and, it seems to be cycling alright. It stops at 40 lb and starts at 20 lb. I don't know if this is right, but I'm damn happy with it. The reason there is a valve between the cistern and the tank is because the water will gravity feed from the cistern with the pump turned off. Too bad it didn't have enough water pressure or I wouldn't even need the pump. Thanks for you guys being a sounding board. I appreciate it. I'm happy with the outcome so far. The air pressure gauge I was checking it with was not reading correctly. I don't know how much air is in the tank, but I don't care. I'm leaving well enough alone
LLigetfa
DIYer, not in the trades
For water to come out, it would need to be 100% waterlogged. Probably it is mostly water but still has a little bit of air at the very top.
Where is the valve that is shut off in relation to the tank, the house, and the pump? Turn off the valve between the tank and the house and open the drain valve to remove all water. Then measure the air pressure. Even if it holds the air pressure it does not mean the bladder or diaphragm is good as water can get trapped on the air side of the bladder. Installers sometimes have to punch a hole in the bad tank to get it to drain so it isn't too heavy to carry.
With the switch at 20/40, the air would be 18. If you adjust the switch to 30/50, the air precharge would be (30-2)=28. and so on. If your pump can supply higher pressures, cranking this higher would probably be good. The nut on the big spring turned clockwise by 3.5 turns will raise both the cut-on and cut-off by about 10 PSI. You would normally not set the cut-off higher than about 5 PSI more than the pump can produce. You want flow as the pump nears cutoff.
There should be a check valve in or near the pump. That keeps water from flowing backwards. Other than that, you would not want a valve. That is because a valve could be closed, isolating the water pressure from the pressure switch.
Most submersible pumps for wells have a built-in check valve. If that fails or is absent, or as a failsafe, you would put one near the pump.
LLigetfa
DIYer, not in the trades
How did it get to have too much air? Probably one of three things... you added air, you lowered the kick-in pressure setting, or water leaked through and jacked up the pressure.
I would not be happy with 20/40 so if the pump is capable of it, I would raise it to 40/60 and precharge the tank to 38. I would also add a CSV so that most of the time, the pressure will be an even 50.
I was suspecting the pressure switch deteriorated, or somebody diddled with it (your #2).
Knowing how quickly the pump goes from cut-in to cut-out would be interesting. And I guess we would want to know more about the pump in that case.
Like I said, I've only had this place for a couple of months. The person before me put way to much air in the tank. I've been working on other stuff, but decided to work on this water problem in earnest today.
