Plumbing question - water pressure in shower is surging?

[TheGoose]

Be sure to save your receipt. The warranty on these tanks is about 2 years, and they normally go bad about that time. In about 18 months drain all the water out of the tank and check the pressure.

This one was over 30, but I don't know who made it. I replaced with one from Lowes, but I had never heard of Well Trol. I did end up going to a plumbing supply store to get some fittings. I had a 1 1/4 in coming off the well. The Homer and Lowes didn't have anything that size. I ended up buying the rest of the 3/4 and 1 inch fittings there also. The connectors are heavier, thicker copper than the big box guys, and the dialetric unions are stainless steel, vs iron at the big box. I was impressed that the guy there actually knew what he was doing - the guy at Lowes was trying, but he really didn't know as much as I did.

Btw, pressure is excellent, and no more surging. I went from a 20 / 40 switch to a 40 / 60 switch, it makes showers a lot more fun.

 

[dmccarty]

We had the same problem with our pressure tank about five years after moving into the house. The pressure tank bladder was toast and we replaced the whole tank. The tank was installed by the well drilling company and the bladder was supposed to be replacable but I could not find a new bladder to install. Called the plumber who worked on our house and he said it was the bladder and we replaced the original fiber glass tank with a metal one he recommended. I THINK it was Well X Trol brand The Goose is mentioning.

I noticed the pressure difference when running the shower and I am glad we caught the problem quickly since the problem could have impacted the well pump.

I wish I had a proper well house because I wanted a bigger pressure tank. Our pressure tank holds 10ish? gallons of water but I wish we had more storage so that we would just run the pump longer but left often.

We have low water usage toilets and our clothes and dishwasher use about 10 gallons of water. Running the sinks faucets and flushing toilets does not require many pump cycles a day nor does clothes or dish washing. Our shower heads are less than 1 GPM so in theory we only need 1-2 pump cycles per shower. I doubt we run the well 10-20 times a day but with a larger tank it would be less cycles.

Later,
Dan

 

[techman]

Another possibility is if you have a pressure balancing or temp controlling valve for the shower. As they age you can get wear and friction in the internal control piston. The piston can start to oscillate a bit and cause surging in the flow.

paul

 

[turnkey4099]

We had the same problem with our pressure tank about five years after moving into the house. The pressure tank bladder was toast and we replaced the whole tank. The tank was installed by the well drilling company and the bladder was supposed to be replacable but I could not find a new bladder to install. Called the plumber who worked on our house and he said it was the bladder and we replaced the original fiber glass tank with a metal one he recommended. I THINK it was Well X Trol brand The Goose is mentioning.

I noticed the pressure difference when running the shower and I am glad we caught the problem quickly since the problem could have impacted the well pump.

I wish I had a proper well house because I wanted a bigger pressure tank. Our pressure tank holds 10ish? gallons of water but I wish we had more storage so that we would just run the pump longer but left often.

We have low water usage toilets and our clothes and dishwasher use about 10 gallons of water. Running the sinks faucets and flushing toilets does not require many pump cycles a day nor does clothes or dish washing. Our shower heads are less than 1 GPM so in theory we only need 1-2 pump cycles per shower. I doubt we run the well 10-20 times a day but with a larger tank it would be less cycles.

Later,
Dan

You don't need to replace what you have if you have room in your house or other freeze-proof location. Just plumb in an additional tank anywhere that is convenient. Set the precharge pressure in both to the same setting (2psi under the cut-in pressure.

Harry K

 

[Xfaxman]

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I wish I had a proper well house because I wanted a bigger pressure tank. Our pressure tank holds 10ish? gallons of water but I wish we had more storage so that we would just run the pump longer but left often.

We have low water usage toilets and our clothes and dishwasher use about 10 gallons of water. Running the sinks faucets and flushing toilets does not require many pump cycles a day nor does clothes or dish washing. Our shower heads are less than 1 GPM so in theory we only need 1-2 pump cycles per shower. I doubt we run the well 10-20 times a day but with a larger tank it would be less cycles.

Later,
Dan

You don't need a bigger pressure tank, just add a cycle stop valve: Cycle Stop Valves, Inc.

Our pressure tank is in the 6" well casing, with a cycle stop valve, the pump only runs fast enough to supply the flow required, works great.