Water Storage Tank & Pressure Tank FAQs Index

Installing Water Tanks Q&A

What are the required clearances required around water tanks, pumps, treatment equipment

I'm working on finishing my basement, and trying to determine what clearances are required around my water storage tank & treatment system.

When the home was built, about 11 years ago, a bathroom was roughed-in (drains & a pump to raise drained water up to the main drain line)- and the water storage tank & treatment system are adjacent to the bathroom rough-in.

If I frame an interior wall the standard distance from the side of the toilet drain (16"), that will only leave about one foot between the wall and these components. If there's an access door at the end of the row of water treatment components, is that enough?

I'm not sure what my other options are - maybe frame it essentially as a closet with sliding doors to allow full access to these components when necessary? (Feb 13, 2014) Anonymous

Reply:

Anon,

You can squeeze in the equipment as you describe, but the problem will be servicing and repairing it; if there is not working space to all sides of equipment its repair can be very difficult.

It's common to place a water pressure tank or water softener with one side against or close to a wall, but with several feet of access from the front of the equipment and enough side room to use tools as necessary on pipes, wiring, &c. I'd consider giving more work space by sliding doors as you suggest.

Before making a final decision, take a look at the installation instructions from the manufacturer as often they will specify required clearances.

Winterizing a Water Pressure Tank - Freeze Protection Q&A

Tip: Also see BURIED / UNDERGROUND WATER TANKS - service recommendations

How do I winterize a water tank with no drain plug, the bladder tank won't drain!

I have a horizontal 5 gal water tank with no drain plug in the bottom...how do I winterize (Sept 17, 2012) John Kerr

I'm trying to drain bladder tank for winter storage, but the water tank will not drain! (Oct 14, 2012) Anonymous

Reply:

If there is a tapping, install a drain, connect it to a hose to drain water to outdoors or to a working floor drain, then open a nearby water tap - with pump turned off of course!

IF there is no tapping check that this tank is permitted to be installed horizontally. If not it will not work properly , especially if it's an internal bladder tank.

Pumping air throught the system can sometimes help winterize pipes and tanks but really the right approach is to install equipment that can be drained.

The alternative is to keep some heat in the area, just enough to keep the tank above freezing temperature.

See WINTERIZE - HEAT OFF PROCEDURE

Anonymous: open one or more nearby water valves to allow air into the piping system to help get the tank to drain.

Other possibilities:

As this is an internal bladder type tank I suspect that

. The bladder has burst and is sealing the tank outlet
. The tank has a leak or leaky air valve and you've lost the air charge that otherwise would push out the water

Is there pressure in the system?

 

Our water pressure was lost when water tank froze - how can we tell if the gauge is working?

We have a 2 year old bladder tank in the garage, about 250 feet from the house, during below zero temps we lost water pressure. Heated up the tank and it came back on, now the pressure is 90 on the tank, it has stayed there for hours and not moved.

We are not sure if the pressure gauge is working. How can we tell? I released pressure in the valve.

It is not making any noise of any sort. The pump is under ground, our well is about 300 feet down. Is this anything I should be concerned about? Can I sleep well? Thanks Stephen(Jan 29, 2014) Stephen Linturn

Reply:

Stephen,

Watch out: 90 PSI is too high - and I'd worry about blowing the tank - which could injure a bystander.

But the pressure in the tank may or may not really be 90.

The gauge may be jammed.

Or the tank may be freezing and pushing up pressure at the gauge.

I would

Turn off the pump,

Open the tank drain

and if no water comes out, the tank is frozen or the bladder is jammed.

Watch out: I would not work alone, and I'd be careful to be protected should the tank burst.

Chances are it's the gauge, but geez, writing a post online for an unseen system - it's best to be very careful.

AND

Watch out: Was the pump off when you saw that 90 psi? If not you should immediately shut the pump off.

Frost & Freeze Protection for Water Pressure Tanks

Can I drain the pressure tank to avoid freezing damage to AMTROL WX-202 pressure tank

I Just installed AMTROL WX-202 pressure tank at seasonal camp in northern Maine. Can drained tank be left in place or must it be removed and stored at above freezing temperatures? 3 Aug 2015 Tim Coffey

Reply: Amtrol Instructions for Protecting the Well Ex-Trol Tank from Freezing & Damage

Tim:

Here is what Amtrol says about their Well Ex-Trol water pressure tanks and freezing

The Well-X1® is designed for indoor and outdoor installations. The NEMA 3 enclosure can be installed in direct weather. If installed outdoors, be sure the following conditions are met:

Do not install where ambient temperatures can drop below freezing or exceed 120° F.

Watch out: Here is what Amtrol says about exposing their heating boiler expansion tanks to freezing:

RUPTURE OR EXPLOSION HAZARD. Do not expose product to freezing temperatures or temperatures in excess of 240°F.

Do not adjust the pre-charge or re-charge this Product except during installation or regular inspection.

Replace the Product and do not adjust the pre-charge if corroded, damaged or with diminished integrity.

Adjustments to pre-charge must be done at ambient temperature only.

Failure to properly size the Product or follow these instructions may result in excessive strain on the system and may lead to Product failure, serious or fatal personal injury, leakage, and/or property damage.

I take this to mean that you'd have to be sure that all water is drained from the tank before leaving it exposed to freezing. Even a small amount of water left in a valve or control could cause damage.

Tim said:
Thanks. It appears that the conservative approach would be to remove tank and store it in an above freezing environment.

Reply by (mod):

Amtrol says don't install tanks where they're exposed to freezing. I think if I were going to have to remove a tank annually to store it in a warm place I'd be sure to do my plumbing with some flexible hoses and quick disconnect fittings.

Sometimes, such as in a well pit, if we think that electrical power will be both on and reliable, we can add a small heat source, even a 75W incandescent light bulb may be enough to protect from freezing; of course loss of power (or bulb) means trouble. - Daniel F

Ontario winters & water pressure, pump & water tank Freeze-up trouble

Hi I live in Ontario, Canada and I've experiencing a strange situation over the last two years, what happens is that during the colder parts of winter February, March I loose water pressure on my bladder tank.

The pressure builds up again once I toggle the pressure switch, we are using a submersible pump about 30feet down a cast well 4ft underground lines into house the thru pressure tank into house.

As I said this only happens during winter month and thru out the summer I have no problem as I’m even able to top up swimming pool without it cutting out. Any insight as to why this happens would be appreciated. (Feb 8, 2015) Richard

Reply:

Richard,

In most areas, including Ontario, the water table drops in summer, not winter. So I suspect more that something is freezing; if your well can't send up water because the pitless adapter or well piping are not below the frost line and so are freezing that could be the trouble. Where are the controls - the pressure switch?

Here are the details:

the water supply Line and wiring is 4 to 5 foot below grade the foot valve and submersible pump is 30ft down a cast wall well and the controls and bladder tank are in my basement corner where the supply line and power come in/out.

Reply by (mod):

Richard when I had this problem in New York it was because in very cold weather, especially when there was not much snow cover (for insulation) shallow water lines were freezing.

In Ontario your frost line depth is nearly six feet (1.8 metres in Ottowa) though I've read some sources putting it up higher at 5 ft - it depends on where you live of cousre, and over in Windsor is just about 1 metre (3.3 ft) (usually).

I'm guessing first in the frost direction because of the cold-weather relationship.

There could be of course another explanation, even (rarely) wet wiring that pushes apart a wet twist-on connector that is freezing.

Richard Jones said:

Hi and thanks for replying again I was wondering about frost levels myself we change from a shallow well to a deep well setup in 2011 and the problem 1st appeared last year 2014, but the weather here in central Ontario was cold last year and we have had some good cold snaps this year also

I was wondering if the ground water was freezing and not getting into the well ?

But this week I’m going to check the pressure switch and make sure the orifice is not blocked and also replace gauge plus look into a solid state sensing device that monitors motor load and incoming power to automatically shut off the pump.

We have adapted the routine of not running two items at once to reduce load on the water supply but last night when running a bath for the grandkids we lost the pressure three times, as for pulling the pump that will have to wait to spring to look at connections as its too darn cold and the snow is covering the location.

Reply by mod:

I'd check for debris-clogging of the pressure switch sensing tube or crud in the sensor port at the switch bottom; typically we just replace a suspect switch in that case.

If the switch were outside certainly it could freeze.

Richard Jones said:

I came home to zero water tonight so started checking things a little deeper here’s what I did.

1 checked voltage had 240vac across terminal on pressure switch

2 checked the pump wiring main blk-yell wires had 4.7ohms, start red-yell had 18.2ohms, checked all wires to ground nothing shorted.

3 replaced pump control box (didn’t have means to test start capacitor)

4 checked amp draw had 5.2amps

Everything says pump is good and running but not building pressure next on list to check will be check valve to make sure it hasn’t failed and replace as a precaution, replacing the low water cutoff switch to be sure it’s not that also (doubt it is faulty). If after this I guess I’m going to have to dig 3ft of snow off well cover and gain access to well and start checking there.

...

Good news we now have water!

I changed everything in the house that could be changed and still didn’t have any water (pump was working according to clamp on meter), so off the local big boys toys store and purchased myself a fish tape.

Put fish tape down the line found a blockage 3 ft. from entry point to the house, phone local rental store see if they had a steamer they did but it was out, so did some internet reading and came across a product called “Liqui-fire” which says its safe for supply water.

Then had to make a longer pipe adapter to put on supply line and filled it with Liqui-fire which local hardware had, left it overnight and checked at 7am this morning joy of joy blockage was gone.

Put everything back together and had problems filling system as the water sounded like it was spurting, I had to hold low pressure cut off switch on manually for 10 mins till I got 30psi and it then very slowly built up to 50psi.

So recon I still need to access the well check depth and adjust pump height according to what I find but that can wait for spring. So a big thank you for walking me thru and you suggestions I appreciate your help in my dilemma.

Reply:

Good work Richard. Indeed years ago I had a similar problem during very cold weather.

The local well plumber came out, opened the well piping, and uses his home-made hot water pump to circulate hot water into the open pipe end until he could melt his way through. Outdoor well piping freeze problems are of course worse in very cold weather without snow cover.