"trader_4" wrote in message
...
On Wednesday, September 2, 2015 at 9:44:24 PM UTC-4, rdoc wrote:
Hello,

We are on a small farm and have horrible water that we don't drink. It
buggers and clogs plumbing something terrible.

A couple of years ago, we decided to go the fiberglass pressure tank
route
as we got tired of rusting issues. The local well and pump guy came out
and,
despite my reservations, installed one that has a vent gizmo on top
instead
of my usual draining every few months after waterlogging. My concern was
it
would plug up... after about 2 months, it did. He then added another
gizmo
in front of the tank that is the device in question:

it is about 10 inches long, has what looks like a tire valve sticking up
from it and is supposed to suck a little air into the tank every time it
runs... and it does that well (never have waterlogged since). My concern
with this item was that it has, according to him, a 3/8 orifice inside
that
hurt my flow very badly. Now that this thing has had time to gunk up a
bit
(everything always does) the flow is now almost unacceptable. Relations
with
this guy deteriorated long ago and I'm about to scream uncle and tackle
things myself as I always used to do before him.

What is this thing called?
Can it be taken apart to clean?
He mentioned that there was another version with a larger diameter
innard...
I'm wondering about swapping it since I need to do something anyhow...
does
it allow more air proportionally? I do not like the idea of even more air
in
my tank as I wish there were more drawdown than there is now.

Does anyone know anything about this gizmo?




thanks

This seems backwards. With a fiberglass tank that is a few years old,
it should have a bladder so that no periodic addition of air is needed,
ie it doesn't get water logged because the air is trapped inside the
bladder and remains constant. And with an older type of tank without
an air bladder, it should have an automatic air volume control that
maintains the correct air volume, so once again, no manual addition of
air is necessary. Further what doesn't make sense is that neither of
those should affect the water flow rate, unless it's by them not working
at all, the tank gets water logged and the pump can't keep up with the
water flow without the tank water assisting. The air volume control for
the older tanks was mounted on the side of the tank and reacted to the
air level. If there was too much water, not enough air, it would allow
the pump to suck in a little bit of air when it runs, increasing the air
in the tank.

That is not the type of tank that many folks around here use... our water
does not play well with bladders and treating it can get very costly. Around
here, many use older fashioned systems using galvanized tanks that
deteriorate rapidly and I thought it very good news to find that they now
make 'old-fashioned' 40 gal tanks in fiberglass.

Here is the previous tank I used:
http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/pro...l?cm_vc=-10005

Here is the new one:
http://www.wellmate.com/en-US/product/residential-products/hydro-pneumatic-air-water-tanks/hp-quick-connect-series/


The flow issue is, I believe, related to the 3/8" orifice in the device
inserted in the pump supply line in front of the tank (that 3/8 figure is
based on what the installer said was in it). I used to run this small house
off a 1 1/4" line into the tank and reduced it to 3/4 after. The installer
reduced it to 1" before the device and then 1" again between the device and
the tank. It seems to me that a system is only as strong as it's smallest
diameter supply and running a home on 3/8" is doomed... then add deposits
and such and the flow is brought to it's knees.

That is the crux of my questions... what the heck is this thing and is it
serviceable and what are the ramifications of using a larger one (providing
that the installer was not as wrong about that availability as he was about
so much else)?

I do not have a web page to post photos on.

Also, upon looking it over better, it really is not much longer each way
than a 1" tee... the 1" black hose make it look bigger. I see no markings on
it other than an arrow in the dirction of the air flow.


thanks for reading and replying.