Tank pressurizes Pump turns on, little to no water

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WellPumpPerson

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Howdy, I have a well pump and last winter hit hard. Pipes were frozen for over a month. No way to keep the basement warm enough. Was 28 degrees Fahrenheit down there.

Anyways, I kept expecting the well pump to turn on. Now, when I pressurize the air tank, the pump turns on and lots of air comes out the release valve. Sometimes water sprays, rust colored dirty water. I made a video, which I'm hoping to upload later.

My neighbors have a well too, we use the same aquifer, and they report no problems. I'm an amateur plumber. To give you an idea of my expertize I tried to replace the trap under the sink, and after about 5 hours and many parts from Walmart later I had to give up. I broke off the old trap, put the new one in, but the new leaked all over the place!

Water tank: Flotec 40 some gallons precharge
Well Pump: Goulds
 
The word Flotec means your tank is probably shot. Water should not come out of the schrader valve. I think that's what your calling a release valve.
 
Thanks for the speedy response. I know the bladder on my Flotec burst long ago. That's why I have to bleed the tank so often and re-pressurize. The plumbing is real old, which you can see when I get the video uploaded. So, I'm afraid I'll have to replace some of the pipes too.

Any recommendations on buying a new water pressure tank?
 
I uploaded two videos to my profile on this site. Thanks for reply, got go somewhere will read later.
 
Even though your pump motor sounds like it needs bearings, once you found the right valve, it sounds like your pump is working and you have water. However I do have a headache from watching those videos.
 
I wonder about the bearing for my motor. I don't have water, sure a tiny bit of rusty water comes out and a whole bunch of air, but that's it. If I leave the motor on like that for 5 minutes, smoke starts coming out the pipe lower than the water pump. Sorry, don't know the name of the pipe.

The noise the motor is making is not the normal noise it has made for the last decade. Its usually a loud screeching noise as opposed to the quiet gravely noise it makes in the 5 min video. Almost like somewhat is pouring gravel in a bucket or something.

I think I need to make another video, this time in the day time with more light. The problem I see is the water tank is not filling with water. Its possible the broken bladder clogged the entryway for water in the tank. I read this somewhere years ago online, not having much luck finding that info again.

Here's a question for you, if I pressurize the water tank, should air be coming out the pipes lower than the tank? If no, what's the problem the pipes or the water tank.

I looked up Schrader valve and I'm pretty sure that's where I put the air in. They are used on bicycles, tires, and well water pressure tanks. I've never seen water come out of the Schrader valve.

http://bicycling.about.com/od/glossarydefinitions/ss/schrader.htm

Thanks for your patience, I see I know almost nothing about plumbing. I don't even now what to call the pipes and valves leading from the water tank to the rest of the house.
 
Having your air tank blown for so long likely destroyed your pump. You cannot keep pressurizing a bladder tank and expect any amount of performance. If that ran until it smoked, chances are you over heated it and warped the impeller and burnt out the bearings. A new pressure tank and pump are likely in your future
 
I've been helping or all by myself re-pressurizing this water tank and another all my life, practically. The tank is at least 15 years old and the pump thirty. I just thought everyone did that.

I was hoping that the pump just had air inside, and I had to do is turn it on for like 2-3 minutes let it pump out the air, repeat enough times, and everything would work.

Its no surprise that both need replacement. I guess I better start saving up. I think I'll buy a new water tank first and see if that fixes the problem. Then, if that don't do it, I'll install a new pump. Finally, if that don't work I'll call a plumber.

First thing is first though, I need to uninstall the old water tank. I found a video on installing a water tank, I was wondering if it was any good?

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p593FRKTp3w[/ame]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll be making plenty of videos of me trying to use my hack saw to disconnect the old PVC pipes. This is going to a lot of fun.
 
Please don't pay any attention to that guy in the video. He doesn't have a clue.
Fiberglas tanks are bad out of the box.

Changing your tank isn't magically going to make your pump work. In the last video, I thought you opened up a valve and water came out. That's why I thought your pump was working. Now your saying you have no water. Which is it? Like Matt said, you may have smoked your impeller in the pump and if that's the case you won't have any water until you address that problem. You could also have well problems. If you can get the pump to produce water and make at least 50 lbs of pressure, then you can install a new tank.

If you make any more videos, please use a tripod!
 
Small amounts of water come out for a short while from the faucets closest to the tank. Seems related to the air in the Flotec tank. When the air is gone so is the water. If I turn on an upstairs faucet no water will come out even when the tank is re-pressurized and the jet pump motor is running.

I'm thinking I need more info. I plan to buy a new pressure valve for my jet pump. Maybe the pump's PSI will shed some light on the situation. My best guess now is the pump is only pumping small amounts of water or pumping at too low PSI.
 
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