rickwhoo
Well-Known Member
What's a good water pressure gauge I should get to replace mine?
Signature 2000 Tank
- Thread starter rickwhoo
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wpns
Well-Known Member
Pretty much anything. https://www.amazon.com/MEASUREMAN-Glycerin-Pressure-0-100psi-Stainless/dp/B07T744FLZ should work fine
rickwhoo
Well-Known Member
Have you ever seen a gauge that looked like mine before?
Get something made with stainless
wpns
Well-Known Member
Corroded and rusty and leaking with a red background? No, but maybe try something different this time around?
If you have to add any air to your pressure tank, it probably means some water is getting on the air side of the bladder. When that happens the water stuck on the wrong side of the bladder will look exactly like the pressure gauge, as water has leaked behind the glass to make it look that way. Usually when you drain the tank or it drains itself like during a power outage, the red stuff will come out the pipes. Sometimes the red stuff doesn't or can't come out, but that doesn't mean it is not still contaminating the other water in the tank.
rickwhoo
Well-Known Member
If water got thru the bladder, wouldn't water come out of the air valve?
wpns
Well-Known Member
Well, yeah, eventually, go ahead and release the air out of the air valve while the pressure is on and see if after all of the air comes out, some water comes out. But that seems like a lot of work to go through, and will make your tank completely inoperable while there is no air in it (you think you’ve seen short cycling now…)
The traditional methods for determining if the bladder is leaking is to notice that your pump is short cycling a lot (which you have apparently already done), you add air to it frequently, and when the pressure is off, you can rock the tank and see if there’s any water in it.
Repair is either replace the bladder (call around and find a price on the replacement bladder, and look in the manuals and see what’s involved in replacing it), or replace the tank. I can’t easily find the bladder part number, so I have no idea what that costs, but the tank looks to be about 200 bucks.
rickwhoo
Well-Known Member
I have added air to the tank about 4 times in the 22 years of owning this house. Everytime I hear the pump not cycling normally, I go thru the process of draining the water in it and adding air to the recommended pressure. Everytime I do this I check for water in the tank.
It is possible that air is getting out the Shrader valve or from the air side of the tank. But usually the air mixes with the water as the bladder is torn. Which means some water is most likely on the air side of the bladder, and can't get out. Must be a lightly used system to last 22 years and have heard it not cycling normally more than once. I think you have the oldest one of those tanks still in existence. Lol!
rickwhoo
Well-Known Member
My thinking is, If it Ain't Broke Don't Replace It... It's not lightly used. I water my lawn, wash cars and there's 4 people living in my house. At least 4 showers everyday.
rickwhoo
Well-Known Member
I'm currently selling my house and I have a feeling that a home inspection guy is going to say that it needs to be replaced. What do you think???
wpns
Well-Known Member
Sorry, I didn’t realize you started this thread in 2010. If you only have to check in top off the air every few years, then you’re fine. I if the home inspector thinks the tank needs replacing, ask him to justify that, and/or take $200 off the price of the house. #IfItAin’tBrokeDon’tFixIt
Even 20 showers a day is nothing for the pump. The real use is the irrigation. With just a lawn to irrigate it is still probably lightly used in comparison. Now I have seen some LAWNS that would require the pump to work hard. But they are kept year round and are as big as a golf course.
I hate to say this but most home inspectors won't know what they are looking at anyway. They will do some little test to see if the water will run for a certain length of time or something, and that is usually about it.
