Expansion Tank Pressure Too High

Heating boiler bladder type expansion tank compression tank pressure adjustment.

Expansion tank pressure too high.

A properly sized pressure tank ensures your household water needs are met and your pump is protected against short cycling. Check to see if your release valve is spurting water. It can seem very odd for tank pressure to increase above it s pre charge or pump cut off pressure but believe it or not it can happen. Use a bicycle pump or compressor to fill the tank to match the system pressure you noted earlier.

Start by removing the protective cover from the air valve on the tank. But there are some circumstances in which an adjustment to the pre charge may be needed. When the pre charge was not to factory specifications when the air pre charge pressure needs to be increased to. This means that whoever installed your tank was supposed to manually increase the tank s pre charge to match the water pressure at the time of install.

With a failing pressure tank you might be replacing a costly well pump much sooner than expected. Use a tire gauge to check the pressure. The air side of the tank should be checked and adjusted before adding water to the system if the tank is already installed and the system has pressure in it the pressure should be drained at the tank to 0 psi before testing the pressure on the tank. Look at the valve and see if there is any water residue on it.

The usual cause of un planned water tank bladder pressure increase is a small leak that lets water into the tank s air space. The psi on the in line psi after the prv and the precharge on the expansion tank should be the same. Too low of psi and the bladder will never squish to take up expansion. Most expansion tanks are set to a pre charge of 20 psi when they leave the factory while the majority of residential water systems have significantly higher water pressure than that.

Pressurized well tanks extend the lifespan of your well pump by preventing rapid on off cycling of the pump and maintaining water pressure throughout your home. For most installations the factory set air pre charge in an expansion tank is correct and should be left alone. If your well tank is more than 8 10 years old this is a question you ll want to know the answer to. If the pressure is too high it can wreck even a new expansion tank.

We ll tell you how this happens what you can do and how you can do your own simple diy test at home to check it. Join john woodard our master water specialist.