HELP: Well Water Pressure Tank PSI?

[Lucas Tam]

Hi All,

We recently moved into a house with a well water/spetic tank system. Our well water pump started acting up today and wouldn't pump. Out of fustration I gave the pressure tank a couple of whacks and the system started working OK.

However, the pressure on the tank now reads 120 PSI. Is this a normal pressure? From what I've been reading online, it seems well water systems should be around 40 - 60PSI? The guage reading the pressure is attached to my pressure tank.

Couple of other notes:

After "whacking" my tank... the pipes no longer knock when water is pumping At 60 PSI, the Master Bedroom's tub facuet trickles out slowly At 120PSI, the household water seems like municipal water I believe we have a dug well around 300 - 350 feet deep Pump/System is ~23 years old, but there is a Hydropneumatic tank attached to the Pressure Tank that looks newer

In short - is 120PSI normal for a pressure tank? I can take a photo of the pressure tank, water system if someone could help me out.

Thanks!

[Napalm Heart]

system

normal

Any chance you could talk to the people that installed this system?

Ken

[Lucas Tam]

"Napalm Heart" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Unfortunately the system was probably installed 20 odd years ago... and the previous home owner is really old (and I don't think he knows how it works either) : (

[Duane Bozarth]

That's sage advice, Steve. I'll add it's quite possible (probable?) small line the pressure tap is on is corroded/clogged up as well as the gauge itself being kaput.

Is this a pressure tank w/ bladder or diaphragm (I'm assuming) or a pressure pump? If the former, after checking/cleaning/replacing the gauge, drain the tank (turn the well pump off, of course) and check that the tank isn't still holding water. The bladder/diaphragm eventually will get a pinhole leak so it's good to know where you stand. When empty the tank pressure should be 2 psi below the cut in pressure setting on the pressure switch.

If you don't know where it's set, you could observe a cycle once you've got the gauge working properly first. If, after all this you still have a problem your best course of action is to find a good well service company and get them to check it out and educate you on routine operation and maintenance. You'll need to know one and have one know you if (or rather when) you do have that serious problem over a weekend w/ house guests and you're w/o water completely... :(

[Steve Cothran]

It's too much if that's the true value. If that were my well, I would spend $20 for a new gauge and if that one also read 120psi, I would shut the system down until I got that pressure switch replaced...before you burn out that obviously nice pump.

You said water trickles at 60 psi which makes me suspect the gauge is lying.

My own well is on at 40 psi, off at 60. There is a relief valve set at

80 psi at the pressure tank.

[Dean Hoffman]

Your system sounds like a pretty common set up for rural water. Check the yellow pages for something like well drilling and repair. Small town plumbers should be familiar with such systems also.

Dean

[Lucas Tam]

Steve Cothran wrote in news: [e-mail]:

You guys are right on! Thanks for the info... I called a Well Water Contractor... and surprisingly he was able to make it on Boxing Day (it's a "holiday" in Canada). Total cost was only 120.00CDN or 100.00 to fix everything.

Thanks for your help : )

['Captain' Kirk DeHaan]

So what was fixed? What were the bad parts?

[Duane Bozarth]

...

Fortunately, that's quite often the case...they tend to realize that being w/o water is a serious problem to be good about service...

Our well chose Thanksgiving day a couple of years ago to spring a leak at the bottom of the hole on a year when we had all the kids and their families at home...extra usage might have precipitated the incipient failure of a cross-threaded plastic pipe section finally breaking...of course, that necessitated pulling the well and since it was obviously cross-threaded the well service folks charged a bare minimum amount since they've serviced that well since forever...

Yeah, it's always nice to hear about what actually went wrong...I'm hoping he also looked very carefully over the guy's shoulder to learn as much as possible about the well system because w/ a well, he will need that info again...

[Lucas Tam]

Duane Bozarth wrote in news:41CF3177.60007F59 @swko.dot.net:

It was a box ontop of the pressure gauge. The old box was work out and had some carbon scoring. The contractor also said our pressure gauge is inaccurate as well but we didn't replace it today.

Since the pressure box was fixed, the knocking on our pipes have stopped too : )

We're noive well owners... we always had minicipal water for years. Even in the area I live in (Markham, ON), Well/Spetic is very unusual. The neighbourhoods to the south/east/west all have minicipal water - only our neighbourhood doesn't have it.

In anycase, 120.00CDN (

['Captain' Kirk DeHaan]

Being that you said carbon scoring I will make an assumption that is was the pressure switch. Correct?

He's one to recommend to others in the area. Good service deserves good recommendations.

[Lucas Tam]

'Captain' Kirk DeHaan wrote in news:K [e-mail]:

Yes that's it. The box has 4 electrical leads in side. The contractor knew exactly what was wrong after we describe the situation to him.

Definately, I totally agree. I believe he must of done a couple of service calls in our area before because once we mentioned the general area of our house, he was like "Oh Cachet Estates right?" Generally speaking, no one in Toronto knows really knows where our neighbourhood is : )

Thanks again everyone for your comments/advice! Happy New Year!

[Harry K]

Would still like to hear what the solution/problem was with the low flow at the one outlet. Sounds like what you said, corroded pipes but at least pull the aerator screen out an clean it before panicking.

Residential well systems are really very simple. Most problems are easy to diagnose if you start at the right point. Problems with delivered pressure?, problems with low flow?, problems with pump short cycling? Doesn't matter what the problem is, first thing to do is make sure the tank has a proper pre-charge and that the switch is operating to turn the pump on/off at the pressures set.

Shut off pump, drain tank and pre-charge to 2 psi below cut-in. Doesn't hurt to replace the pressure gauge if it is old. Before proceeding, pull the pressure switch which will usually be on a 1/8" pipe. Clean the pipe - amazing how often that will totally or at least partially clear a problem. Turn on pump and monitor operation.

This has now eliminated the pressure tank (at least) from consideration (even if the bladder is blown the system will operate correctly for a time). If it is cycling correctly, you have eliminated the pump as a problem.

Low pressure/flow problem is never a problem with the tank/switch/pump as long as they are operating correctly. Most common causes are 1: corroded pipes. 2: Plugged up water filter. 3: partially closed valve.

Harry K

Harry K