First time poster here. I've fixed/solved probably a half dozen issues myself thanks to this forum. Everyone smarter than me that contributes, it is much appreciated.
I bought a house with well and septic about six months ago so now I'm learning how it all works.
A month or two or three ago I was getting a really bad water hammer in the basement pipes when the water softener would cycle, vibrating/pulsating the basement pipes, and the softener itself was really loud, I drained the pipes and added iron out to the salt tank and directly into brine water which seemed to fix it.
Now just recently the well pump seemed to be cycling a little more frequently and making more noise than usual. After researching in this forum, I drained the tank, checked pressure, 15 psi, filled it up to about 38, then filled it back up with water. Didn't really seem to make a difference, taking about 20-25 seconds to fill the pressure tank. Pressure switch kicks in around 45 psi and kicks off a little over 60, and the needle doesn't move smooth up to 60+ and stop, it wiggles back and forth a few psi for a split second after well pump stops. Next day I cycled the pressure tank to full and shut pump and valves and drained the tank, should be little over 9 gallon drawdown and I got about 6 gallons. I don't know if the gauge read like this before, never paid attention to it. Since I started doing all this I'm getting lots of rusty sediment in the pre-softener Rusco screen filter I keep draining out. The vibrating when the pump is running is coming from the water pipe that bypasses the softener and feeds the kitchen sink cold, ice maker saddle valve line, and I'm guessing outside spigots. If I touch the pipe while pump is running I can dampen vibration. Also just tonight it seems like air is coming through the faucets a bit even after pipes are primed.
Question is, can I do anything else to diagnose a failed bladder? I never got any water out of the Schrader valve. The pressure tank is a wellmate WM-9, picture link below. I called the well company and they said the well pump was last replaced in 2006 with a 1-1/2 horse 10gpm pump (they may or may not be right about the gpm), and I think they said the tank was installed about that time. Dunno how deep the well is but state and county databases say all documented wells on my street are in the 350 ft range. Guessing the well was drilled in 74' when the house was built, the house has copper piping, 3 bed 4 bath with lots of fixtures. Water softener is a kinetico K30 if that matters.
Also, what's the best place to buy a new wellmate tank if I need to? I most likely wanna go bigger if I have to replace it. the WM-12 seems to be the same size fittings and width, just taller, so I could swap that one easier, anything larger and I'd have to redo the PVC arts and crafts at the base of the tank and I'm not a plumber so I don't know what I might mess up doing that myself.
Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance!
https://imgur.com/a/G3Jc6
I bought a house with well and septic about six months ago so now I'm learning how it all works.
A month or two or three ago I was getting a really bad water hammer in the basement pipes when the water softener would cycle, vibrating/pulsating the basement pipes, and the softener itself was really loud, I drained the pipes and added iron out to the salt tank and directly into brine water which seemed to fix it.
Now just recently the well pump seemed to be cycling a little more frequently and making more noise than usual. After researching in this forum, I drained the tank, checked pressure, 15 psi, filled it up to about 38, then filled it back up with water. Didn't really seem to make a difference, taking about 20-25 seconds to fill the pressure tank. Pressure switch kicks in around 45 psi and kicks off a little over 60, and the needle doesn't move smooth up to 60+ and stop, it wiggles back and forth a few psi for a split second after well pump stops. Next day I cycled the pressure tank to full and shut pump and valves and drained the tank, should be little over 9 gallon drawdown and I got about 6 gallons. I don't know if the gauge read like this before, never paid attention to it. Since I started doing all this I'm getting lots of rusty sediment in the pre-softener Rusco screen filter I keep draining out. The vibrating when the pump is running is coming from the water pipe that bypasses the softener and feeds the kitchen sink cold, ice maker saddle valve line, and I'm guessing outside spigots. If I touch the pipe while pump is running I can dampen vibration. Also just tonight it seems like air is coming through the faucets a bit even after pipes are primed.
Question is, can I do anything else to diagnose a failed bladder? I never got any water out of the Schrader valve. The pressure tank is a wellmate WM-9, picture link below. I called the well company and they said the well pump was last replaced in 2006 with a 1-1/2 horse 10gpm pump (they may or may not be right about the gpm), and I think they said the tank was installed about that time. Dunno how deep the well is but state and county databases say all documented wells on my street are in the 350 ft range. Guessing the well was drilled in 74' when the house was built, the house has copper piping, 3 bed 4 bath with lots of fixtures. Water softener is a kinetico K30 if that matters.
Also, what's the best place to buy a new wellmate tank if I need to? I most likely wanna go bigger if I have to replace it. the WM-12 seems to be the same size fittings and width, just taller, so I could swap that one easier, anything larger and I'd have to redo the PVC arts and crafts at the base of the tank and I'm not a plumber so I don't know what I might mess up doing that myself.
Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance!
https://imgur.com/a/G3Jc6
