On Wed, 10 Nov 2004 11:19:34 -0500, willshak wrote:

I'm not a plumber, so I was just commenting on the factory precharge as
listed on my tank. As a matter of fact, I do not know what the working
pressure is on my tank. It is 20 years old and has never been tested or
serviced, unless that was done by the plumber that installed it 20 years
ago.

I'm no plumber either, but have researched quite a bit on wells and their
maintenance so I could do whatever necessary plumbing-wise to get water from
the well to the house - the driller just drilled, installed the pump and
checked it. I built the wellhouse, installed the pressure switch, tank,
filter (to make sure no sand gets to the house) and the line from the
wellhouse to inside the house where the plumber took over (new construction).
As you may can tell, I like to take a hands-on approach G.

Having the proper precharge pressure (and a large enough tank for your
standard usage) just keeps pump starts to a minimum, prolonging life. All
recommendations I've seen say that the precharge pressure should be 2-3 psi
below the pump cut-on pressure. Since pressure switches come with a preset of
30/50 (there's a 20/40 and a high/low adjustable also IIRC), 30 psi precharge
would be close to right. Your plumber, when installing the system, may have
lowered the pressure in the tank a couple of psi or he could have adjusted
the pressure switch to a little higher than 30 cut-on pressure - just a
matter of turning a nut clockwise on the switch I have. Then again, he may
have done nothing but install the equipment - it appears to have served you
well no matter what the situation.

I should have it looked at, although it is working fine, as far as I can
tell. For one thing, the pressure guage is broken (needle sitting at 0),
and has been like that for many years.

Unless you're having one of the problems below, I'd just replace the gauge
and let it be.

Frequent pump cycling - Turn off water where pipe enters house, then check
pressure to see if it stays steady for at least 30 minutes. Turning off water
within the house eliminates pressure drops from leaky toilet valves and
dripping faucets.

Yes pressure drops - Could be a leak in the pipes somewhere or water is
flowing back into well when pump is off. Turn off shutoff near pump and check
pressure again after a minimum of 30 minutes. If it holds steady, there's
probably a leak between the wellhouse and the house (think you'd probably
know if it's inside the house). If the pressure drops, the valve that your
system uses to keep water from flowing back into the well is not working
properly - mine is a deep well submersible pump with foot valve.

No pressure stays steady - probably hole in tank bladder - replace tank

Low pressure - check filter, screens in faucets, holes in faucet aerators and
shower heads. If you have galvanized pipe and the system is old (probably is
if you have galvanized), the pipes may be filled with rust and need
replacing.

Replacing the pressure gauge should be a simple fix if you can operate a
crescent wrench and a pair of pliers. They're available at Home Depot and
Lowes pretty cheap. Just cut off the water and let off the pressure. Then use
the wrench to unscrew the original gauge while holding the pipe it's screwed
onto stationary with the pliers and screw on the new. Turn the water back on
and you're in business. Might want to put some plumbers putty or teflon tape
on the threads of the pipe the gauge screws onto.

If the pipe the gauge screws onto needs replacing also (might be full of
rust), they're available at HD and Lowes too.

Later, Mike
(substitute strickland in the obvious location to reply directly)
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