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Waterlogged water pressure tank schematic (C) Carson Dunlop Associates How the Well Tank Affects Building Water Pressure & Flow

  • POST a QUESTION or COMMENT about the function of water pressure tanks & water storage tanks where private well water is supplied

Relationship between the water pressure tank and building water pressure or flow rate:

How to track down the reason for bad water pressure in a building.

This article describes how the water pressure tank or "well tank" affects water pressure and flow in a building - part of diagnosing bad or lost water pressure.

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How might a bad water pressure tank be related to water pressure or water supply loss symptoms

Bladder type Well X Trol Water Tank (C) Daniel FriedmanThe basics process of diagnosis and the costs of the repair are explained. Consumer advice on saving money on well repair costs includes a review of the parts and labor costs of a typical well pump and pressure tank replacement case. Page to sketch is courtesy of Carson Dunlop Associates, a Toronto home inspection, education & report writing tool company [ carsondunlop.com ].

  1. A bad or defective water pressure tank or water tank bladder  can cause well pump short cycling which in turn is hard on the pump (damages the pump) and, especially with an older pump, might push it over the edge of failure.

    When the water pump fails the building will lose water supply completely (unless it is served by an artesian well). Our photo (left) shows a Well-X-Trol internal-bladder well tank installed below a one-line jet pump.

    See WATER TANK BLADDERS & CAPTIVE AIR for details on how captive air or bladder type well tanks work.

    See WATER TANK BLADDER PRESSURE ADJUSTMENT if you need to adjust or fine tune the air charge in a bladder type water tank.
  2. A leaky or defective steel or glass-lined well tank (tanks without an internal bladder) often loses its air charge and leads to short on-cycles of the water pump. Water tank problems can also lead to poor water pressure or flow in a building.

    To review loss of air charge, water pump short cycling, water pump pressure control settings, and other water tank repairs
  3. see WATER TANK AIR, HOW TO ADD and
  4. also WATER PUMP & WATER TANK REPAIRS.

    Other detailed articles on this type of water tank are found at

A water pump might be at end of its life and about to burn up but still work after a cool-down cycle (some pumps have a thermal overload that shuts them off and an automatic reset - especially one that is inaccessible such as a submersible).

In this case water pressure and supply will return after the cool-down problem but the failure is likely to be recurrent. This is not a problem with the well tank.

Diagnostic Steps to Figure Out if the Problem is the Well Tank or Something Else

Water pressure tank with a leak - is it a bad well tank ?(C) Daniel FriedmanHere is a list of well and water pressure diagnostic steps that might help decide if the problem is with the well tank or something else:

 

Reader Comments & Q&A

On 2020-07-28 - by (mod) -

Re posting


AUTHOR:Michael James (no email)

COMMENT:Given a 500 gal tank full of water at sea level. What is the PSI at the very bottom of the tank??? mjames@unitysystems.net



Moderator reply

You need to state the tank depth, else there is no correct answer

On 2015-09-02 - by (mod) -

Carl there may be two problems (though Occam's razor says we ought to take the simplest explanation first)

1. the water tank is waterlogged - that causes short cycling

2. the pressure switch may be debris clogged

3. double check that there are no water leaks; there could also be a bad check valve or foot valve - if you see pressure dropping and water into the building is shut off I suspect the latter.

On 2015-09-02 by Carl

I have a well on our farm house with a 44 gal. WelTrol tank. Yesterday it started short cycling when no water was being used

. The tank feels like it is completely full of water. I can't shake it and tapping it anywhere, even at the very top, sounds solid, no metal ring like a healthy tank sounds. It cycles on and off every five (5) seconds. It runs up to about 80 cuts off then back on again at 50 and all that takes 5 seconds or so. I'm guessing the bladder has completely failed.

The tank was installed in 1992. So that makes it 23 years old. A new pump was installed about ten years ago and the tank was fine then. I'm out in the country and it will take a day or two to get a new tank.

If I add air to the tank will that let me limp by for a day or two?

Or should I let some irrigation sprinklers run (they're plumbed right off the main supply coming from the pump, and that would keep the pump running during the day until we can replace the tank. I thought I had noticed in the last week or so that the pump was coming on a little too often but I assumed someone was using water and didn't take the time to check it out. Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you. Carl in South Carolina
I was having a problem using my phone to navigate this forum. Could I please ask you to email me your response at cmubarak@earthlink.net
Thank you very much.

Question:

(June 15, 2014) Tim said:
I have a new 20 gal. water tank set with 26psi in the tank. I have a new 30-50 pressure switch. All connections appear to be correct. When I start the presure switch and hold it for awhile, the tank does not fill. The pump appears to be in working order because we can fill a bucket quite readily by using the drain and holding the switch on start. When we close the drain valve, there is no evidence of the tank filling.

(Sept 9, 2014) Brenda said:
We have the same problem and the bladder does hold air. The pump is pumping water to the tank, and it comes out with a hose but hardly any is going into the tank itself.

Reply:

Tim,

Sometimes an internal bladder type water pressure tank won't accept water because the bladder has collapsed and is stuck to itself.

See WATER TANK BLADDER REPLACEMENT


...

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WATER TANK RELATION to WATER PRESSURE at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice.


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INDEX to RELATED ARTICLES: ARTICLE INDEX to WATER SUPPLY, PUMPS TANKS WELLS & SPRINGS

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