David Meiland
General Contractor
Before I say anything else, let me say that I know I need to get the water tested and will do so. It's geographically inconvenient and therefore has not happened yet.
Anyway, we are on a well that produces plenty of good water. However, it appears to have a fair amount of sediment in it. I recently removed a 2.5-year-old 40-gallon water heater and could hardly drain it due to sediment buildup at the bottom. I finally hauled it out with a hand truck and laid it on its side. An impressive amount of sediment gushed out the fill pipe and onto the deck. Prior to this the unit had been grumbling and slamming quite a bit during firing, so I knew there was a problem. FWIW the unit was removed in order to be replaced with a tankless.
Now, the pressure tank is in the crawl space. It's a 119-gallon Amtrol (?) and it's laying on it's side. The well driller, a man of great reputation and also my neighbor, told me this would be fine. The unit is designed to stand upright, or so it appears, and the inlet/outlet pipe would be at the bottom if it were. As it is, the inlet/outlet pipe is sticking out the end of the tank, exactly half way up.
So, I have some questions. I assume the pressure tank is slowly filling with sediment. There are no noticeable problems with performance, we have the right pressure, we get lots of water between cycles, etc. But since the water heater tank was filling with sediment I assume the pressure tank is too.
I'd like to install some sort of coarse particle filter on the water line (see opening statement re water testing). The usual install seems to be on the downstream side of the pressure tank. What about something upstream? Folks I have talked to have not addressed this. The usual deal seems to be that you notice a decrease in pressure and know to change the filter media. If the filter is upstream the pump is the only thing that will notice the change. Anyway, it seems like a filter would be a good idea--protect the pressure tank, protect the new tankle$$ water heater, protect the other fixtures, etc.
Comments appreciated. Are there things I can do to maintain the pressure tank in this situation, i.e drain it, or something else? Any suggestions on approaches to filtering? Anything else? I had city water for the first 40 years of my life, so this is new stuff.
Anyway, we are on a well that produces plenty of good water. However, it appears to have a fair amount of sediment in it. I recently removed a 2.5-year-old 40-gallon water heater and could hardly drain it due to sediment buildup at the bottom. I finally hauled it out with a hand truck and laid it on its side. An impressive amount of sediment gushed out the fill pipe and onto the deck. Prior to this the unit had been grumbling and slamming quite a bit during firing, so I knew there was a problem. FWIW the unit was removed in order to be replaced with a tankless.
Now, the pressure tank is in the crawl space. It's a 119-gallon Amtrol (?) and it's laying on it's side. The well driller, a man of great reputation and also my neighbor, told me this would be fine. The unit is designed to stand upright, or so it appears, and the inlet/outlet pipe would be at the bottom if it were. As it is, the inlet/outlet pipe is sticking out the end of the tank, exactly half way up.
So, I have some questions. I assume the pressure tank is slowly filling with sediment. There are no noticeable problems with performance, we have the right pressure, we get lots of water between cycles, etc. But since the water heater tank was filling with sediment I assume the pressure tank is too.
I'd like to install some sort of coarse particle filter on the water line (see opening statement re water testing). The usual install seems to be on the downstream side of the pressure tank. What about something upstream? Folks I have talked to have not addressed this. The usual deal seems to be that you notice a decrease in pressure and know to change the filter media. If the filter is upstream the pump is the only thing that will notice the change. Anyway, it seems like a filter would be a good idea--protect the pressure tank, protect the new tankle$$ water heater, protect the other fixtures, etc.
Comments appreciated. Are there things I can do to maintain the pressure tank in this situation, i.e drain it, or something else? Any suggestions on approaches to filtering? Anything else? I had city water for the first 40 years of my life, so this is new stuff.