Pressure Tank Increase?

[fred patterson]

I am new to pressure tanks. We have a cabin with a 380 well and new bladder tank precharged to 30psi. I would like to increase pressure to 50-55psi and have found the bib cock to connect to. After turning the pump off and draining the tank – Do I just increase the pressure with a bike pump or compressor – or do I also have to adjust the pressure switch? And/or what is a pressure switch normaly set at and how do I change the pressure settings on the switch. There is no owners manual. Thank you for any help!!!

[Gregg SchusterParticipant]

The air pressure in the tank should be the minimum that you want to have. If for example, you put 60 pounds in the tank, a 50# pump setting would not be able to overcome the air pressure so the tank would not hold any water and the pump would cycle on and off just as if it were waterlogged. If you put 5# in the tank, it would fill with water until the air bubble is pressurized to the pump setting, but it would only eject a small amount of water until the air pressure,(and therefore, the water system pressure), would turn the pump back on. You adjust the turn off point by screwing the large adjustment screw clockwise. You control the turn on point by adjusting the small screw to the side of it. This is a differential adjustment so if the turn off point is increased, then the turn on point will also be increased by that same amount.: I am new to pressure tanks. We have a cabin with a 380 well and new bladder tank precharged to 30psi. I would like to increase pressure to 50-55psi and have found the bib cock to connect to. After turning the pump off and draining the tank – Do I just increase the pressure with a bike pump or compressor – or do I also have to adjust the pressure switch? And/or what is a pressure switch normaly set at and how do I change the pressure settings on the switch. There is no owners manual. Thank you for any help!!!

[Gregg SchusterParticipant]

This is EXACTLY what I was asking for in a message I posted several days ago. With a tire pressure gauge (the system pressure gauge stopped working a couple of years ago) and my air compressor (it takes A LOT of pumping, since the volume is quite high) I set the range from 37 to 62 psi. Just a few things I learned along the way: The precharge pressure should equal the turn-on pressure within a couple of psi. Start by turning off the pump and draining the system (just open a couple of faucets until water stops flowing). Measure the precharge pressure with a tire gauge and pump it up to the minimum pressure desired. Note the tank probably has a safe working pressure of 70 psi or so. Turn the nut atop the big screw (the turn-on pressure control)several turns clockwise just to get into the ballpark. Dont mess with the small screw at this point and maybe not at all since it will basically control the amount of water that is drawn from the high pressure turn-off point down to the low pressure turn-on point. Turn on the pump and let it re-pressurize the system. Slowly drain water from the system. I have a bib at the base of the storage tank to which I connected a hose. I was interested in how much water would be drawn from the system until turn-on so I ran the water into a 2 gallon pail. When the pump comes back on immediately turn off the main switch and measure the tank pressure with the tire pressure gauge. This is the low pressure setting controlled by the big spring. I found that I had gotten pretty close to where I wanted to be with the switch setting so I drained to system again and used the compressor to adjust the precharge pressure to exactly match the pump turn-on pressure. Of course you could also adjust the switch to match the precharge pressure. If you want to change the high pressure turn-off point, the small spring controls the difference between high and low, turning it clockwise increases the difference. I got more that 10 gallons of draw from the 25 psi range of 37-62 psi, for example. When finished, turn on pump and make one last check of turn-on and turn-off pressures. Good luck.: The air pressure in the tank should be the minimum that you want to have. If for example, you put 60 pounds in the tank, a 50# pump setting would not be able to overcome the air pressure so the tank would not hold any water and the pump would cycle on and off just as if it were waterlogged. If you put 5# in the tank, it would fill with water until the air bubble is pressurized to the pump setting, but it would only eject a small amount of water until the air pressure,(and therefore, the water system pressure), would turn the pump back on. You adjust the turn off point by screwing the large adjustment screw clockwise. You control the turn on point by adjusting the small screw to the side of it. This is a differential adjustment so if the turn off point is increased, then the turn on point will also be increased by that same amount.: : I am new to pressure tanks. We have a cabin with a 380 well and new bladder tank precharged to 30psi. I would like to increase pressure to 50-55psi and have found the bib cock to connect to. After turning the pump off and draining the tank – Do I just increase the pressure with a bike pump or compressor – or do I also have to adjust the pressure switch? And/or what is a pressure switch normaly set at and how do I change the pressure settings on the switch. There is no owners manual. Thank you for any help!!!

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