If water under pressure got through the bladder to the air side of the
expansion tank, couldn't it get back through and pollute your house water
supply?

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On 12/27/2014 2:44 PM, Bill wrote:
If water under pressure got through the bladder to the air side of the
expansion tank, couldn't it get back through and pollute your house water
supply?

The two mix every time you open a tap.

Paul

If there's water on the air side of your expansion tank, it means the bladder is ruptured and you need to replace that expansion tank.

I believe that using it the way it is could expose you to drinking some dirty water, but that happens every time you visit a country like Haiti or India. I expect that in most cases you wouldn't get sick because you're not drinking any kind of bacteria you haven't been exposed to a hundred thousand times, but it's still possible that you could get sick. The reason why sailors were able to eat rotten food on long voyages to places like America and Australia a few hundred years ago is because the acids in your stomach pretty well kill all the bacteria that ends up in your stomach. Basically, your stomach eats the bacteria like it was food (no different than when you eat cheeze or yogurt, both of which are full of bacteria). There are certain bacteria, like e-coli, that can survive the acid in your stomach and make you very very sick with a disease called "cholera", and that's a potentially life threatening disease.

Still, the bottom line is that if you've been drinking tap water in your house with that ruptured expansion tank bladder, and haven't gotten sick yet, then you're probably safe to continue what you're doing. But you still should have that expansion tank replaced anyway.

nestork presented the following explanation :
If there's water on the air side of your expansion tank, it means the
bladder is ruptured and you need to replace that expansion tank.

I believe that using it the way it is could expose you to drinking some
dirty water, but that happens every time you visit a country like Haiti
or India. I expect that in most cases you wouldn't get sick because
you're not drinking any kind of bacteria you haven't been exposed to a
hundred thousand times, but it's still possible that you could get sick.
The reason why sailors were able to eat rotten food on long voyages to
places like America and Australia a few hundred years ago is because the
acids in your stomach pretty well kill all the bacteria that ends up in
your stomach. Basically, your stomach eats the bacteria like it was
food (no different than when you eat cheeze or yogurt, both of which are
full of bacteria). There are certain bacteria, like e-coli, that can
survive the acid in your stomach and make you very very sick with a
disease called "cholera", and that's a potentially life threatening
disease.

Still, the bottom line is that if you've been drinking tap water in your
house with that ruptured expansion tank bladder, and haven't gotten sick
yet, then you're probably safe to continue what you're doing. But you
still should have that expansion tank replaced anyway.

There never was any water on the wrong side of the bladder until it
leaked and then the water was only clean from the good side.
The big problem is the pump will destroy itself from short cycling.

--
John G Sydney.

On Sat, 27 Dec 2014 22:44:01 +0000, Bill
wrote Re If an
expansion tank has stinky water in the air side, can't it pollute the
good:

If water under pressure got through the bladder to the air side of the
expansion tank, couldn't it get back through and pollute your house water
supply?

Yes