Help me with my well pressure tank please

[Jimbrown]

You can parrallel tanks if I was worried I would just go buy another tank and hook it up. It would double the draw down time.

 

[speedbump]

Lots of good advice already. Tank pressure two pounds less than cut in. Running your faucet (assuming it's a water saver witn a 1.6 gpm flow) and it taking five minutes to turn the pump on from a full tank is eight gallons which for the sizes you gave is about right for that tank.

If your concerned with it cycling, there is a constant pressure valve which goes between the pump and tank/pressure switch. As long as your using a couple of gallons per minute or better, the valve will keep the pump running until water usage stops.

If you want to learn more than you ever wanted to know about bladder tanks, go here

 

[troutsqueezer]

It is the on-and-off cycling that will shorten the life of the pump, not how long it runs. The windings heat up and cool down for every cycle and after so many cycles the wires will fatigue and break. When you bend a metal rod back and forth to get it to break, you are doing the same thing, the rod breaks from fatigue, not from your super-human strength. It is the same thing that kills microprocessors in your computer, they are happiest when the temperature never changes, either off all the time or on all the time. Being turned on continuously doesn't shorten their life span (unlike tubes).

Many people around here hook up several small bladder tanks in parallel to keep the pump running longer. It is not uncommon to see clusters of four tanks instead of one large one.

 

[Craig Clayton]

I am back to the shop for lunch. On the pressure gauge I would suspect it is of the standard quality ( cheaper ). So if you are using it to think ie 25 PSIG it could really be more or less. It does not matter because the cutout at 50 PSIG is also equally more or less wrong. If you want an accurate pressure gauge you can check yours ( not possible without a master gauge ). Or you can buy a new one gylercin filled at your local auto supplier.
I have a master gauge in the shop that you can blow on and causes it to read.
We have flow meters in the plant from 1/4" to the largest at 6' yes you can walk through this pipe.
From the beginning I was always thinking flow which is volume and that is why I was off handed about pressure Quote ( without checking ).

When you are drawing water in a tap you set the faucet handle to a nice flow. So with a100 PSI supply you would hardly open the handle , with 30 PSI you open the handle wider for less pressure drop.

Lets see, I do not see any real problems and neither does anyone else.

Craig Clayton

 

[General Lee]

I appreciate all the advice and comments. I think I'll let it be for the time being. Makes me feel better that everyone seems to agree all seems normal. To my knowledge, all well components (pump, pressure tank etc) are original. I'm the second owner of the house, built in 1999. Its just a matter of time before I'll be replacing something at which time I'll upgrade to a larger tank for more capacity.

 

[Steve_Miller]

FYI, I bought one of these for my sprinkler system several years ago and was always intending to use it in my house when that one crashed but it never has. I used it temporarily on a holding tank when I cleaned my well a month or two ago and it worked perfect. No need for a pressure tank at all.

Steve

 

[lilranch2001]

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.

is there ever an issue with to much bladder tank capacity?
I am thinking about adding a second one, simmilar to the OPs tank