Household Well Water Pump Troubles

[Maknwine]

Looks like I might need to replace the bladder in my Sears Captive air tank, 36 gallon and about 10 years old. Pumps been coming on sooner than should and I've noticed air in the faucets( say if flush a toilet pump is on immediately. I haven't noticed any water coming out thru air valve on tank. Have switched over to our backup outside well/pump but this weekend I'll be draining air tank to check pressure. Also, changing pressure switch on the inside shallow well jet pump on top of air tank. Problems could be pressure switch related too because I can see pressure at 40 on the pressure gage but switch doesn't activate the pump to turn on. If I lightly tap the press switch contacts' plate with wood stick to click over...powers up and pumps up then turns off. Contacts look fine in other words.

I'm thinking the bladder must be worn out and leaking. Especially at my house since wife and kids use more water than a fish farm. Been in house 15 years and I've replaced the house well pump once. One that was in house had a small leak in the housing on the well side of pump. Anyway, I see the bladder is only about $65 however I'm wondering how incredibly painful getting the old out and new one in is going to be. Anyone do this particular tank bladder replacement?

I'm also, wondering about the CSV changeover (PK1A PSIDE-KICK Kit – Cycle Stop Valves, Inc). Been reading and it sounds logical but changing out a lot of plumbing right now is not on the schedule. Already have some electrical, automotive, framing, roofing etc work around the house that is taking precedent. I would like to try the CSV on the outside well pump....also a jet pump but that one has a galvanized tank. It short cycles a bit too.

Anyway, let me know if anyone has changed out a bladder.
Tks

 

[Gator6x4]

Looks like I might need to replace the bladder in my Sears Captive air tank, 36 gallon and about 10 years old. Pumps been coming on sooner than should and I've noticed air in the faucets( say if flush a toilet pump is on immediately. I haven't noticed any water coming out thru air valve on tank. Have switched over to our backup outside well/pump but this weekend I'll be draining air tank to check pressure. Also, changing pressure switch on the inside shallow well jet pump on top of air tank. Problems could be pressure switch related too because I can see pressure at 40 on the pressure gage but switch doesn't activate the pump to turn on. If I lightly tap the press switch contacts' plate with wood stick to click over...powers up and pumps up then turns off. Contacts look fine in other words.

I'm thinking the bladder must be worn out and leaking. Especially at my house since wife and kids use more water than a fish farm. Been in house 15 years and I've replaced the house well pump once. One that was in house had a small leak in the housing on the well side of pump. Anyway, I see the bladder is only about $65 however I'm wondering how incredibly painful getting the old out and new one in is going to be. Anyone do this particular tank bladder replacement?

I'm also, wondering about the CSV changeover (PK1A PSIDE-KICK Kit Cycle Stop Valves, Inc). Been reading and it sounds logical but changing out a lot of plumbing right now is not on the schedule. Already have some electrical, automotive, framing, roofing etc work around the house that is taking precedent. I would like to try the CSV on the outside well pump....also a jet pump but that one has a galvanized tank. It short cycles a bit too.

Anyway, let me know if anyone has changed out a bladder.
Tks

The bladder in the tank is probably good. I have never seen the bladder replaced in a "Bladder Tank". The bladder is usually installed before the tank is welded up. Here is a good article on how to adjust the air in the bladder and how to then fine tune the system with pressure switch adjustments. Water tank air bladder pressure settings: How to Set or Adjust the Air Pressure in Bladder Type Water Storage & Pressure Tanks

Bladder Type Water Storage & Pressure Tanks - Diagnosis & Repair

balance your pressure tank - Boulder/GNC Water Well Service and Supply Inc

 

[mcfarmall]

The bladder in my tank failed on Christmas Eve 2016. The tank was a fiberglass wound type with a 6 bolt flange on the top where the bladder is fed into the tank. My pump controller failed due to short-cylcling due to a waterlogged tank. I pumped up the bladder on Christmas day and on the morning of the 26th the pressure was at zero. $1203.00 later I had a new diaphragm style pressure tank and 2 new controllers, one on the wall and a spare for the shelf.

A few days later I extracted the bladder out of the old tank and found a 3/4" long slit where it failed. With no other water use in the house, and my Kinetico water softener in a regen cycle, the pump cycles every 16 minutes 23 seconds. Before the new tank it was just over one minute.

 

[Stimw]

Check the line to the pressure switch and opening on switch.
I have seen the line and diaphragm in switch get stopped up from sediment.

 

[PILOON]

Have replaced a few tanks over the years and changing a bladder is not feasible.
Bite the bullet and install a new tank.
Newer tanks are designed with a O-ring pop in device to make changes real easy.(very much like a hydraulic quick connect)
I found the easy way to do it was to simply hacksaw off the adapter and install the new system. Takes all of maybe 30 mins to do.

If you flexed as often as a bladder tank does, you'd also fail every 10 years. LOL!

 

[FredH]

We Were going to replace the bladder in one of Our tanks after it failed . 6 or 8 bolts on the bottom flange , A good 1/2 hour if not more , extracting old bag out of tank , only then to discover that with most tank brands , one has to Order the bladder , as no one carries the replacements in stock . :confused3:

Said screw it and bought a new tank and had well up and running an hour after returning home with new tank . Decided then that although replacing the bag is cheaper , it was far easier and faster to just replace the tank , Unless one orders the bag and has it on hand for future repair . :2cents:

Fred H.

 

[fried1765]

We Were going to replace the bladder in one of Our tanks after it failed . 6 or 8 bolts on the bottom flange , A good 1/2 hour if not more , extracting old bag out of tank , only then to discover that with most tank brands , one has to Order the bladder , as no one carries the replacements in stock . :confused3:

Said screw it and bought a new tank and had well up and running an hour after returning home with new tank . Decided then that although replacing the bag is cheaper , it was far easier and faster to just replace the tank , Unless one orders the bag and has it on hand for future repair . :2cents:

Fred H.

My 30 year old bladder tank is still working fine!
Some Friday night, or Saturday, or Sunday upcoming, it will fail though.
I bought a new tank (wholesale) several years ago, and it is just sitting in my barn .....waiting.... for that fateful Friday night, Saturday, or Sunday.

 

[speedbump]

Do yourself a favor and get a new tank. Well X Trol or Flexcon if possible. The rest in my opinion are junk. Big box stores are the worst. The tanks with the bolts on the bottom and the fiberglas tanks with replaceable bladders were done that way because they knew their bladders wouldn't last long in the first place. I do this for a living so I have lots of experience.

 

[Catman8]

Probable 20 years ago or so my parents has a Sears tank and when I took the ring off the bottom and pulled out the bladder it was nasty and split the whole inside of the tank was ruff and rusted so we just bought a new tank.

 

[speedbump]

Probable 20 years ago or so my parents has a Sears tank and when I took the ring off the bottom and pulled out the bladder it was nasty and split the whole inside of the tank was ruff and rusted so we just bought a new tank.

That's how the one I did looked and Sears also sold the Con-Aire or what ever they are calling it this week.