Hello... I'm new to this forum and excited to see if someone can help me figure out this situation I cant seem to wrap my mind around. I've been lurking and researching to hopefully see if my answer already exists but nothing. And there's some very smart people on this forum too.
What I have is a residential well with submersible pump about 200+ feet in the ground. The pressure tank is located in the garage about 100 feet away from the head, and was an epoxy 220 gallon tank with an air control valve on the top. Yes...on top, since that seems to puzzle a lot of people. I believe it has "Armstrong Machine Works" on it.
Pressure relief valve and pump pressure switch were on the side tank ports. From the day this whole system was installed the air control valve (ACV) used to spit and spray on occasion letting me know the air was being equalized. Had been like that and working great for 20 years. Until last year when the tank eventually started leaking...
The supply line from the well pump to the tank has a check valve next to the well head, and there's a schrader valve on that check valve too. I understand that schrader valve is there to let the top 20 feet of well pipe drain back down and fill with air. Upon the well pump starting, that 20 feet of air is pushed up into the pressure tank to replenish the air supply and the ACV equalizes the air again. I dont know if there is another check valve anywhere else in the well pipe but I thought someone told me there should be another down at the bottom of that 20 feet section. Without the capacity to pull the well pump up my self, I wont know unless I get a rig out here.
My situation is, not long after the epoxy tank started leaking, I started getting air in the house pipes. Things got worse over time and started causing some pipes to bang in the wall on the far end of the house. I figured the leak was the culprit messing with the tanks equalization of air because if I turned on a large source of water, like a couple hoses, then the banging would stop.
Thankfully I was able to find a replacement galvanized 315 gallon tank which I installed myself in basically the same exact manner as the old leaking 220 gal tank sat. Pressure switch and relief valve in approx the same location, and ACV on top... I guess its worth noting that the 315 tank was used when I got it and had a ACV on the side of the tank about 1/2 way up. Not an external float level type ACV either but the same type as I had on the top of my original tank, so for continuity I simply installed everything as it was in my garage using the ACV I took off my old tank.
Everything worked great when I turned the well on. The ACV hissed as air was escaping out while the tank started to fill and then the hiss stopped as the water level sat about 1/3 to 1/2 of the tank. Over the following week the water level fluctuated from 1/4 of tank to about 1/2 the tank which seemed acceptable to me and the draw down time was great. Strangely though I never heard the ACV make any more noise from that day. No hissing, no spitting, nothing... But, what I did notice was that the air in the house pipes wasnt going away. I tried to bleed all the pipes by turning everything on multiple times but the air kept returning at the same faucets.
Asking this question to some one I was asked if the water level pipe was put back on the top of the tank under the ACV. I sheepishly did not see that pipe hidden within the fitting still on the top of the old tank... They said, "thats your problem". So I put the pipe in the top of the replacement tank and it hung about 2 feet from the bottom of the tank. They said, "the bottom of that pipe in the tank should be your water level".
Well sadly after installing the pipe under the ACV is when everything went wrong.
Now my water level is at least 3/4 to the top of the tank and my pump cycles much much faster than it did before. Its not horrid but its obviously wrong. I tried replacing the ACV with another I had and no difference. I tried draining and refilling the tank a few times but the water fills to the same 3/4 of the tank level.
When the tank starts to fill the ACV will start to dribble a very small amount of water once the water level gets to the pipe hanging inside (about 2 feet high) and then the dribble stops. The water level is about 1/3 high but the water level rises more and more as the air compresses, eventually stopping with the water about a foot or so from the top of the tank. What the heck??? I dont get it. I had no such water level pipe on there before and it worked perfect but allowed air in the house. Now with the water level pipe installed the water level is way too high. It doesn't make sense and trying to find info on these older "air over water" galvanized tanks with air control valves on top is almost impossible as everyone now uses bladder tanks. If anyone does have a galvanized tank then its the one without the ACV whereby they have to pressurize the tank or refill on occasion to reset the water level. I do NOT have that kind of tank system.
Any help is appreciated and sorry for the long post. I just wanted you to understand as best as I could describe.
What I have is a residential well with submersible pump about 200+ feet in the ground. The pressure tank is located in the garage about 100 feet away from the head, and was an epoxy 220 gallon tank with an air control valve on the top. Yes...on top, since that seems to puzzle a lot of people. I believe it has "Armstrong Machine Works" on it.
Pressure relief valve and pump pressure switch were on the side tank ports. From the day this whole system was installed the air control valve (ACV) used to spit and spray on occasion letting me know the air was being equalized. Had been like that and working great for 20 years. Until last year when the tank eventually started leaking...
The supply line from the well pump to the tank has a check valve next to the well head, and there's a schrader valve on that check valve too. I understand that schrader valve is there to let the top 20 feet of well pipe drain back down and fill with air. Upon the well pump starting, that 20 feet of air is pushed up into the pressure tank to replenish the air supply and the ACV equalizes the air again. I dont know if there is another check valve anywhere else in the well pipe but I thought someone told me there should be another down at the bottom of that 20 feet section. Without the capacity to pull the well pump up my self, I wont know unless I get a rig out here.
My situation is, not long after the epoxy tank started leaking, I started getting air in the house pipes. Things got worse over time and started causing some pipes to bang in the wall on the far end of the house. I figured the leak was the culprit messing with the tanks equalization of air because if I turned on a large source of water, like a couple hoses, then the banging would stop.
Thankfully I was able to find a replacement galvanized 315 gallon tank which I installed myself in basically the same exact manner as the old leaking 220 gal tank sat. Pressure switch and relief valve in approx the same location, and ACV on top... I guess its worth noting that the 315 tank was used when I got it and had a ACV on the side of the tank about 1/2 way up. Not an external float level type ACV either but the same type as I had on the top of my original tank, so for continuity I simply installed everything as it was in my garage using the ACV I took off my old tank.
Everything worked great when I turned the well on. The ACV hissed as air was escaping out while the tank started to fill and then the hiss stopped as the water level sat about 1/3 to 1/2 of the tank. Over the following week the water level fluctuated from 1/4 of tank to about 1/2 the tank which seemed acceptable to me and the draw down time was great. Strangely though I never heard the ACV make any more noise from that day. No hissing, no spitting, nothing... But, what I did notice was that the air in the house pipes wasnt going away. I tried to bleed all the pipes by turning everything on multiple times but the air kept returning at the same faucets.
Asking this question to some one I was asked if the water level pipe was put back on the top of the tank under the ACV. I sheepishly did not see that pipe hidden within the fitting still on the top of the old tank... They said, "thats your problem". So I put the pipe in the top of the replacement tank and it hung about 2 feet from the bottom of the tank. They said, "the bottom of that pipe in the tank should be your water level".
Well sadly after installing the pipe under the ACV is when everything went wrong.
Now my water level is at least 3/4 to the top of the tank and my pump cycles much much faster than it did before. Its not horrid but its obviously wrong. I tried replacing the ACV with another I had and no difference. I tried draining and refilling the tank a few times but the water fills to the same 3/4 of the tank level.
When the tank starts to fill the ACV will start to dribble a very small amount of water once the water level gets to the pipe hanging inside (about 2 feet high) and then the dribble stops. The water level is about 1/3 high but the water level rises more and more as the air compresses, eventually stopping with the water about a foot or so from the top of the tank. What the heck??? I dont get it. I had no such water level pipe on there before and it worked perfect but allowed air in the house. Now with the water level pipe installed the water level is way too high. It doesn't make sense and trying to find info on these older "air over water" galvanized tanks with air control valves on top is almost impossible as everyone now uses bladder tanks. If anyone does have a galvanized tank then its the one without the ACV whereby they have to pressurize the tank or refill on occasion to reset the water level. I do NOT have that kind of tank system.
Any help is appreciated and sorry for the long post. I just wanted you to understand as best as I could describe.
