Valveman
Platinum Member
I don't understand this. Are you saying you'll have 41 psi of air in the tank but no water?
Up here we have pressure tanks (ballast tanks) that have an air bladder in them (so the air doesn't diffuse into the water). When the power goes out this will push the water out until the pressure is near zero.
Some say that a 30 gallon tank might hold 20 gallons of water and 10 gallons of air when it's pressurized ( say 50 psi cut-out (off)) and you can draw off about 10 gallons before it cuts-in (on) at 30 psi.
But if the power is out it will still push water at 30 psi and lower to almost zero psi (but at a flow rate that slows with the pressure drop)
There's good information on the charts at the bottom of this webpage: Water Tank Size - how much water is in the water pressure tank? How much water volume do we need to avoid short cycling the water pump?
With a 40/60 pressure switch setting you need 38 PSI air charge in the tank to get the maximum draw down from a pressure tank. With the correct pre-charge of air a 30 gallon size tank only holds 8 gallons of water. An 80 gallon tank only holds 22 gallons of water, and so on.
So if the pressure is at 41 PSI when the power goes off, there is only a gallon or so left in the tank. When the faucet is opened, the pressure will drop from 41 to 38 slowly as the 1 gallon of water is used. Then when the pressure gets down to 38, the bladder in the tank will hit the bottom and the pressure will drop from 38 to zero in less than a second.
There is no water in the tank below the 38 PSI air charge. The system was counting on the pump coming on at 40, but since the power is out and the pump did not start, the tank will bottom out an be completely empty at 38 PSI.