Help me with my well pressure tank please

[General Lee]

According to a couple of well digger sites I read, your tank when completely empty of water should be 28 psi air pressure (2 pounds below your cut in switch). When in use, they recommend that the pump run at least 1 minute or more to fill and then be off at least 2 minutes before kicking back on. This allows for proper cooling of your pump motor. You could certainly install a larger tank to increase your useable drawdown if needed. It may be that the current drawdown is acceptable for your family use if it is not excessively cycling. If you see that you are getting less than 1 minute run time or less than 2 minute off time, then probably do need a larger tank.

I did some timing tests this morning. Pumps runs a little over a minute to fill tank. When full with one faucet running, tank takes about 5 minutes maybe a bit longer to empty where pump kicks back on. It does seem I'm a little low on air pressure, I got 25.5psi with a cut in pressure at 30psi.

 

[Egon]

To OP: to me on your first post the times sounded good = no problems.:thumbsup:

Bigger tank will increase the time between pump shutdowns.

The object is to reduce the stop/start cyles for pump longevity.

 

[Gary51]

I did some timing tests this morning. Pumps runs a little over a minute to fill tank. When full with one faucet running, tank takes about 5 minutes maybe a bit longer to empty where pump kicks back on. It does seem I'm a little low on air pressure, I got 25.5psi with a cut in pressure at 30psi.

Make sure that you are checking the air pressure with the tank EMPTY, not at cut in pressure. I think your cycle times sound OK already.

 

[Steve_Miller]

Here's my two cents. Get a tire pressure guage. Let pump fill tank, as soon as pump shuts off, turn the power off to the pump. Measure the pressure on the tank valve (cut out pressure). If you have a drain point at the pump/tank, open it and run water (measure in a bucket if you want volume) until you hear the pressure switch click, immediately shut off drain point. Measure the pressure again (cut-in pressure). Open drain again and run the water (measure again if your curious how much is left) until it stops. Measure the pressure again, this is the pressure on the empty bladder. As others have stated, this pressure should be about 2 psi below your cut in pressure. Add air until your bladder has 2 psi less than the cut-in pressure and do this test over again and see how much more volume you will get with less cycling of the pump. Make sense? Always use the same guage for pressure readings as not too many guages are identical. You get much more volume at lower pressures than at the higher pressures (laws of physics)

Steve

 

[turnkey4099]

The operation of pump/tank/flow all seems to be correct. It is the starting cycle that is hardest on pumps but it _does_ have to start/stop, no way around that. Run time that you gave is about right for that size tank, precharge is on the money.

I see no purpose in all the recommendations to check tank volume output - it is what it is and per your description all is normal.

Bottom line: A larger tank would be a good upgrade to decrease start cycles.

Harry K

 

[TheGoose]

Your tank pressure could be a little higher. Add air until your EMPTY tank pressure is right at 28 psi. Then, adjust your pressure switch so that you cut in is 30 psi. That way, just before the bladder in the tank pushes out all the water, your pump will kick on and re-fill the tank.

Also one trick I use is to up the cut out pressure to 60, which will give you a greater draw down. In order to change the cut in/cut out pressure, the big screw in the middle adjusts both cut in/cut out, the little screw to the side only adjusts cut out.

A larger tank would better, I really like the Well X Troll brand. Anything sold by a big box store is more China junk and will go bad just after the warranty expires, about 2 years.

 

[studor]

+1 on the seems normal to me -- I might boost the air a bit but not a big deal. If it were truly short cycling from a leak it would be much harder on the pump but that sounds like it is well within the normal duty cycle. -- JMHO

 

[Kays Supply]

It is intersting how different parts of the country install their pump systems. Around here the draw down isn't as much of a concern as the pump kicking on and off during use. Most of my customers don't want to be able to notice the draw down. We use smaller tanks so that the pump comes on quicker and use pressure regulators to maintain a constant flow until the use is over. Then it builds up and turns off. Most of them are city slickers that have moved out to the country and want the same service as city water. The 3phase variable speed pumps are coming into this area now also. I haven't had any experience working on that system yet. I may be too old to catch up with it.

 

[Craig Clayton]

I just got to work, and we had 6" of fresh snow. I peeked at the other posts but I need to really read them over. As I stated I work in the electrical field as a licensed electrician and also as a Industrial Instrumentation tech with a water license from the Ontario Goverment. I have about 30,000 electric HP in the plant. We have 30 pumps with the largest at 2000 HP and some at 400 HP so my HP cal is very ball park.
I adjust the machines that put Chlorine in the water also.
But I am not a well man ,but I took a course last week about submersiable pumps ( well pumps VFD).
Got to get to work.
I am like Glenn Cambell ( looking for another overload )

Craig Clayton

 

[Egon]

I am like Glenn Cambell ( looking for another overload )

Ever worry about a constant no-Load situation?