Low pressure in whole house, also a good amount of air in the lines

[archaeal]

Hello all! We're on a well with fairly high iron content from what I'm told. We're really struggling with water pressure/flow in the whole house. The shower is weak, and if someone flushes a toilet, it slows to a drip. Same goes for trying to run two faucets at once, barely a trickle. The washing machine regularly throws error codes about low water supply (even after I've cleaned the inlet filters). All the fixtures regularly cough up a bunch of air.

Our system is:
- Galvanized air-over-water pressure tank set to 50-70.
- Two water softener tanks, plus an iron filter tank.

A well company inspected the tank and said it seems to be operating OK. A plumber came out and said it's probably the tank causing the low pressure. In the last few months I've noticed one of the treatment tanks giving off a very high pitched whine/whistle sound at times. Could that be air getting in? I should note that the low pressure/flow issues were present long before I ever heard that whine, so I'm not sure if we have two problems or what. I've also tried bypassing all the treatment tanks, but we still have the same low flow/pressure.

Any help/advice/thoughts you have are appreciated!

 

[Valveman]

Make sure the gauge is good because if it is working between 50 and 70 you should have really good pressure. Most likely the Air Volume Control (AVC) that screws in half way up the tank is bad. It lets out any excess air and apparently isn't working. Cheap fix. If pressure is still bad in the house the iron may have built up in the lines and is restricting the flow.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Reach4]

What does the pressure gauge at the pressure switch say?
Then mount a garden hose thread pressure gauge at the drain on the WH. Check that pressure. Then run hot and then cold water in the tub, and see how that gauge at the WH shows during that water draw.

The difference in pressures is pressure drop.

 

[LLigetfa]

With high iron, the inside of the pipes will build up with iron restricting the flow. You may need to replace some of the pipes if you cannot snake them out. When doing so, you will probably also have to snake out the fittings on the tank.

When I replaced my iron filter, I also replaced the 3/4" copper pipe between the HP tank and iron filter with 1 - 1/4" PVC and I avoided using 90 degree elbows that a snake could not go around. I also put in unions to make it easy to open up to snake.

 

[Bannerman]

- Two water softener tanks, plus an iron filter tank. plus an iron filter tank.

Not certain what you mean by 'two water softener tanks' (pictures?), but have you bypassed the softener(s) and iron filter individually, to determine what effect if any that will improve the flow rate to fixtures?

 

[archaeal]

Not certain what you mean by 'two water softener tanks' (pictures?), but have you bypassed the softener(s) and iron filter individually, to determine what effect if any that will improve the flow rate to fixtures?

Yeah three identical-looking fiberglass tanks, one is an iron filter, and the other I only know to be the softeners (maybe there's a more technical distinction between them, but I'm not sure). Yeah, bypassing all of them doesn't improve the flow/pressure.