Pressure Tanks in Series Configuration?

[petes42]

I've recently purchased a 20-year old home on a well in the mountains. I've never had a well before and am learning on the fly.

I replaced the well pump about 6 months ago. At that time I also learned a little about these pressure tanks, and saw some discoloured water from the first tank which made me think the bladder had degraded (yet I see nothing throughout the house and it's been fine since). After some research, I'm not convinced the system is really set up correctly. But I'm not sure it's worth tampering with since pressure and plumbing in the house are working fine. I only ask, because I'm about to make some other modifications and now would be the time to change this setup as well.

I have a 10GPM well pump (250' deep) feeds directly into these two tanks, both rated 220 gallons (which i assume means they are each more like 110 gallons?). The pressure switch is at the front end, not in between the tanks, as well as the gauge. The tanks are connected by 1 1/2" pipe and are about 3 feet apart. The pressure switch says it's 30/50 and both tanks read 46 psi at present.

a) should I move the switch to be between the tanks rather than at the head?
b) could I use the NTP valves on the second tank tee for the switch and gauge (freeing up the first NTP for my soda ash system I'm tapping in before the tanks)?
c) I don't see any pressure relief valves at the head of either tank - disaster potential?
d) if the first tank (grey) is bad, why am I not seeing nasty water feed throughout the house plumbing?

More curious than anything since I'm new to the setup. As I said, it seems to be working fine and I don't intend to screw with it just for fun. I'm more concerned about future problems if these tandem tanks aren't correctly setup.

 

[Jadnashua]

The piping I can see is copper, but if there were any galvanized nipples or fittings, if the system sat for any time before you bought it, you could get a little bit of rusting from those components, and now that you're using the system, whatever is rusting wouldn't accumulate, and would be flushed with each use so you probably wouldn't notice it anymore.

 

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[Valveman]

I can tell from the base those are not a good brand of tank. If the bladders in them are not busted now, they will be soon. When a bladder in a tank goes bad, water gets on top of the bladder where the air should be. This water cannot get out and stays in the tank getting stale and rusty. Then when you have a power outage or shut the power to the pump off, the pressure drops low enough for the tank to dump all that nasty water in the house. Other wise you won't know all that nasty water is in those tanks. The only symptom you see is the pump is cycling on and off more rapidly than when the tanks are still good.