Pressure tank problems ?

Thanks in advance for any help with this. A couple of days ago we started having surging water pressure (5-40lbs several times a minute) from all the faucets. When I attempted to check the air pressure in the tank water rather than air shot out the Schrader valve. Does this indicate a ruptured bladder or diaphram in the pressure tank ? It is a 20 gallon tank factory pressurized to 30 psi. If the tank needs replaced I was thinking of going to a larger tank. Any advice on this route if we do have a ruptured pressure tank ?

thanks again !!

Jim Cooper
Caballo, New Mexico

Turn off the pump, drain that tank, check if there is any pressure in the bladder, if not try to pressurize it, if it doesn't hold pressure, time to replace the tank. Size matters, bigger is better, buy what you can afford, or use a CSV to temper the number of starts.

Rancher

If your tank has a bladder and you are getting water out of that schrader valve the bladder has ruptured and you need to replace it. The size tank you need depends on what the pump discharges for water. If you don't know what size pump you have and the depth that its set at,you could do a flow test by running a garden hose off your tank and measure the GPM with a 5 gallon bucket.Open the spigot all the way and time how long it takes to fill the bucket.The time it takes to fill the bucket should be divided into 60 and then multiplied by 5. That will give you your GPM. With that info we can size a tank for you. Or someone can give you info on a CSV.

SAM