Tanks: The Silent Killer

What Causes your water system to fail? One of the leading killers of water pumps are storage tanks. Storage tanks come in different shapes and sizes, but they are generally all variations of the same basic shape. Most are blue, but they come in other colors as well.

Captive air tanks are designed to store water and control the cycling of your water pump. The faster the pump delivers water, the larger your tank(s) needs to be to insure a minimum run time on the pump of one to two minutes. This gives the motor a chance to dissipate the heat of starting and cool down during each off cycle. Thus extending the life of your equipment for many years. Unfortunately no tank lasts forever and as they fail they no longer provide the storage that they once did, which causes your pump to cycle more rapidly than it should, shortening its life in the process. What’s worse is that unless you happen to be near the tank when the water is being used, you’ll never know that there is a problem until the system fails. That means a big repair at a most inconvenient time for the homeowner and the repair company.

A simple method that I use to check a storage tank’s condition is to rock it (gently!) on it’s base. It should feel heavy on the bottom and light on the top, like all the weight is in the bottom third of the tank. It should rock easily, almost like it's on a pivot. The water should be in the bottom part of the tank only. The top 2/3rds / top 1/2 of the tank should be air. If the tank doesn’t feel light on top, it needs some help or replacement. If you rock your tank and it is full of water all the way to the top, the air bladder has failed completely and you should replace your tank as soon as possible.

A more accurate check is done by turning off the power to the pump and draining the tank of all water. Then check the dry air charge in the tank with an accurate air pressure gauge. The correct pressure is one pound less than the start point of the pressure switch. Most pressure switches are marked on the cover with start and stop settings. In the short term, if your tank is low on air you may add air to the tank to bring it back to factory specs then turn the pump back on, but ultimately the tank will need to be replaced to protect your pump from serious damage.

Replacing a damaged tank is a lot faster, and a lot less expensive than replacing your water pump and your tank when the pump dies from cycling too fast. Checking your tank several times a year is a quick way to ensure you catch a problem before it becomes a silent killer.

#DIY #Tank #Prevention