I have not had my water well on since the temps turned cold, but was working with it to run a pipe to my new greenhouse. I could not get it to work.
I had the well dug in 1996. It has worked fairly well over that time, but now has trouble staying on. I can fiddle with the switch and get it to catch but then it goes off and on, off and on, and ultimately off. I can see the pressure needle going back and forth, back and forth.
Has my pressure tank bit the dust?
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jal_ut
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 7447
- Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:20 pm
- Location: Northern Utah Zone 5
Pressure tanks are usually filled with air. Some have bladders in them so the air is trapped. However many do not have bladders and over time the air gets absorbed into the water so there is no air, or very little. So when the pump comes on it takes only a few seconds to compress the air and activate the switch to shut it off. If your tank does not have a bladder in it, you just need to drain the water out of it. Turn off the power to the pump. Open the drain valve and also open something on the top side so it can get air in to replace the water that is running out the bottom.
With the tank empty close the valves and turn the pump on. What happens is the tank begins to fill and compresses the air. When the design pressure is reached, the pressure switch shuts the power off. Of course the compressed air will push water out when you open a water valve and the pump will not come on again until the pressure falls to the preset point. Then the pump comes on.
On tanks with no bladder, draining them periodically is just routine maintenance.
If your tank is the type with a bladder and the bladder failed, you need to replace the tank.
With the tank empty close the valves and turn the pump on. What happens is the tank begins to fill and compresses the air. When the design pressure is reached, the pressure switch shuts the power off. Of course the compressed air will push water out when you open a water valve and the pump will not come on again until the pressure falls to the preset point. Then the pump comes on.
On tanks with no bladder, draining them periodically is just routine maintenance.
If your tank is the type with a bladder and the bladder failed, you need to replace the tank.
By the light of the moon (not much) and a small flashlight it looks like I have a Con Aire Controlled Air Tank something like CA42-I or J and something like 1097P after that. There is also a sticker for a Myers submersible pump.
Does that help in any way as to type of tank I have and try fix or replace?
Thanks
Does that help in any way as to type of tank I have and try fix or replace?
Thanks
Drain your tank with the pump off. Close the drain and restart the pump. When it reaches the preset pressure, the pump should shut off. Depending on the size of your volume tank or pressure vessel, it shouldn't cycle the pump often. My maximum pressure setting is 60# psi. My minimum pressure is 40# psi. My pump cycles between the two pressures. If I am watering the lawn or my garden, the pump pretty much stays on when the tank pressure drops to 40#. I think my submersible pump output is twenty gpm.
Ted
Ted