Seems like my well pressure is getting weaker and weaker. I checked the bladder and it had 10psi so I aired it back up to 32psi. The pressure switch is 30-50psi. when there is water running the pressure falls off pretty quickly, less than a minute from 50 to 30 then pumps back up to 50 ok. The pressure hold fine when the water is off, so no leaks anywhere. We do get a lot of sediment in our water so I'm thinking maybe the tank is full of trash maybe?
How old is the tank?
I don't really know. It was here when we bought the house 5 years ago.
Sounds like you have an obstruction/restriction before the tank and it takes a while to satisfy that tank pressure and shut the switch off. Do you have any filtration, pre treatment system? If so, they usually have a bypass valve for service. Trying using that bypass and see if your pressure recovery goes back to normal. That exact thing happened to me until I figured it out, and yeah, we were about 5 years in this house when that happened. Strange, right?
I had that happen and it was a bad bladder in the tank. A pinhole caused water fill the air side and the pump would constantly cycle.
Did you drain the water from the pressure tank before adding air? That's necessary for some systems.
GH, pressure recovery is not the issue and there is no filter system in front of the tank. I think it is probably as 21incher says, a pinhole in the bladder although even with 32psi on it it didn't make much difference on how quickly the pressure was falling. It did pressure up quickly when filling the bladder so it may well be waterlogged.
BT, I did drain the water first.
How to Repair or Replace a Bladder Type Water Storage / Pressure Tank (https://inspectapedia.com/water/Water_Tank_Bladder_Repair.php)
May help you Lee.
There doesn't look to be enough room at the top to get the old bladder out or a new one in, although the got one in somehow before. The tank has a bit of rust showing and will probably not last too much longer anyway. I foresee replacement in job list.
Replacement is faster and easier, Lee! ;) ;)
I never had any luck getting any extra life out of a tank. I don't even try anymore.
Pumps get tired too.
H
How long has the pump been in there? If it is pumping sand it may be worn out. When I pulled mine it was pumping sand. So I cut 25 ft off my well pipe and dumped in about 4 gal of sand blasting sand then about 4 gallons of oyster shells. Stopped the sand pumping. I run about 40/60 lbs. for pressure.
Pump is about 4 years old.
Quote from: LeeB on September 15, 2021, 06:02:33 PM
Seems like my well pressure is getting weaker and weaker. I checked the bladder and it had 10psi so I aired it back up to 32psi. The pressure switch is 30-50psi. when there is water running the pressure falls off pretty quickly, less than a minute from 50 to 30 then pumps back up to 50 ok. The pressure hold fine when the water is off, so no leaks anywhere. We do get a lot of sediment in our water so I'm thinking maybe the tank is full of trash maybe?
bladder pressure should be set
2 psi lower than cut in pressure on the pressure switch.
link shows step by step trouble shooting many tank issues.
Water tank air bladder pressure settings: How to Set or Adjust the Air Pressure in Bladder Type Water Storage & Pressure Tanks (https://inspectapedia.com/water/Water-Tank-Bladder-Pressure-Adjustment.php)
my tank's in the basement with easy access. I cut the male plug off an extension cord, used a cable tv wire shield and ran it through the floor from tv room / office back to the contact set at the tank. there on the load side tapped 120vac
from the 240 vac going to the pump.
when the pump cuts on the tapped circuit is also live and has a low watt lamp and an analog electric clock that remain on each time the contacts close, going off with the pump. i notice the pump cycle and if the light stays on longer than it should there's a problem somewhere. the clock will tell how long the pump runs to replenish the tank. a busted pipe will have the light going off and on or staying on continually.
there's more later if there's any interest.
Lee, I think that you have a bad bladder.
To troubleshoot, leave the pump on and remove the schrader fitting from the tank air valve. Once the air bleeds out, if you get water out of the valve your bladder is bad.
If no water comes out, shut the pump off and drain the tank and refill with air to 28 psi before closing the after valve and refilling the tank.
I felt sure enough that it was the bladder that I went ahead and bought a new one today. I'll install it Saturday.
Changed out the tank. That wasn't the problem. Plenty of flow at the tank. Pretty much leaves some kind of blockage in the lines. I blew back through them with air with some effect but not much. I doubt I had enough volume to do much good. Would be better to be able to backflush with water. For whatever reason, I get better flow on the hot side than the cold. The hot water heater is the first tee off the incoming line so I figure there must be build up further up the line. Changing the lines out is a nightmare proposition. I might be able to rig up a way to backflush but not even sure if that will work. Wish I could figure out some way to get something in the lines to eat away the sediment/blockage.
Are your lines PVC or iron? Is the reduced flow on the cold side just one spigot or the whole house? After the hot water tee, is there a cutoff valve on the cold side? Maybe that is partially closed or junk obstructed?
At my old ranch house, we would get black sand up from our surface well and it would block up the faucet screens.
Did the tank stop the fast draw down of the pressure and pump cycling. A new tank should give many gallons before the pump cycles on. Is there a filter hidden in the system that's overdue to be changed?
Drain the water heater, with the drain hose going into a bucket first, before it runs over the top, and see what type of sediment comes out in the bucket. Turn the power off to it first, or it will burn out the elements.
Lines are pvc at the tank but change over to copper directly past the tank. Have cleaned the screens. Low flow from the bathtub too. No cutoff valve. Low flow at all spigots, more so on the cold side. Outside spigots are on tee right out of the tank so basically a different line.
How long does it take to fill a 5 gallon bucket directly out of one of the outside faucets?
I haven't time the outside spigots but I would say less than a minute. Outside is good. Inside is the problem now.
Might be worth cutting a pipe somewhere, and backflushing it, to see if anything comes out.
We had to backflush a house once. An Electrician cut a pipe digging a trench, and the whole house got red dirt in the lines. It was next to a house I was building, and they couldn't get anyone to do it. It took at least a half day to get everything flushed out.
Is there any sediment in the toilet tanked? That might give a clue.
The connection from the pressure tank to the main line is reusable pex so I disconnected it there and rigged up a hose from the tank to the bathtub fill spigot and back flushed from there. I wasn't able to get the kitchen that way but got pretty much every thing else. I also reset the pressure switch to 40/60 psi. It's better but still not great. May be all I'm going to get out of it. Didn't see much if any sediment coming out of the line when I flushed but there had to be some because it plugged the bedroom toilet fill line. Had to unplug that one. I'm going to give up on it for now. I may try to get some scale remover in the lines at some point and see if that helps if it gets worse again.