What lubricant to use for installing bladder into pressure tank?

[Joelk]

I have a pressure tank that I was going to use for another project, so I pulled the bladder out. I put dish detergent in the tank to lubricate it and let the bladder slide out.

The bladder appears to be in good condition and I would like to put it back into the tank. What lubricant should I use for installing it?

Thanks, Joel

 

[speedbump]

If you have a bladder tank that has a replaceable bladder, don't waste your time.

 

[Joelk]

I want to waste MY time.

I'm not installing a new bladder, I just want to re-install the perfectly good one I took out.

What lubricant would work well?

 

[speedbump]

I replaced one about 30 years ago. I would never go through that again. And I don't know what lubricant would work best. What ever you use is going to make the bag slippery, but will also make the bag much harder to handle.

 

[Joelk]

When I took it out, I had it lubed up very well and it came out with very little effort, just constant pressure. I hung the tank up and just applied a steady pull down on the bladder.

I assume it will go back in by reversing the process and using an extended tire valve stem puller to hold the top of the bladder up. I will then keep a constant pressure on the tank and pull it down over the bladder. I expect it to slide back in pretty easily if I have it well lubed.

 

[Joelk]

I re-installed the bladder this evening. I decided to try installing it without any lubricant so that I would not have flush out the lubricant. It may have been even easier w/lube, but it went in very easily WITHOUT ANY LUBRICANT. It was VERY easy to do and took less than 10 minutes to install.

From the little research I did, it appears that you can buy a new tank/with bladder for not much more than just a bladder(you can get big discounts on tanks, not so much with bladders), so it is probably not something you would want to pay a professional to do, but if you are a DIYer, and your tank is good, it should take less than 1 hour(perhaps less than 1/2 hour) to remove and replace a bladder once you have the plumbing disconnected.

 

[speedbump]

Well, good luck.