Air in water system?

This problem has developed in our water system which I believe is due to air in the plumbing lines. faucets and particularly toilet bowls refilling are very erratic, and noisy. The water is very foggy--but the hazy color dissipates--I believe this is from tiny bubbles.

I know very little about plumbing. But I did notice that next to my submersible well is a large fitting -- which I believe is a pressure release valve and it is slowly dripping. I know that when I bought this house a year ago it was NOT dripping and the current problem did not exist. So I covered the outlet (where it was dripping) with plastic wrap tightly rubber banded (to stop, or minimize air travel in/out). This seems to have temporarily fixed the problem.

Does this make sense? This valve is before the pressure tank. The leak is slow and seems unlikely to cause all the erratic water behavior in the house, but maybe so--I really don't know. I've attached photos. Would someone please confirm this test, or educate me? The valve says 75 (psi pressure I assume) on the side. If it's the culprit--do I need it?

Thanks. What I'm really looking for is a validation of the story. Am I understanding and diagnosing the problem right? Is this leak the culprit? A friend of mine who is knowledgable about plumbing and wells said the water table was low and the pump was pulling air into the system. He said I needed to pull out the pump and add an extension to drop it down further. I think (hope?) the problem is much simpler than that.

That is not the source of your bubbles or your air in the lines. That unit is always under pressure unless someone installed a check valve between it and the pressure tank. If so, it needs to come out of line permanently. Then you can find out where the real leak is.

bob...

Thanks Bob. Your take on the idea that the well is no longer deep enough and it is taking in air? I assume that somewhere between the pump and the pressure tank there is some kind of valve that provides a pressure seal and prevents backflow. After this valve I would think the whole system is under pressure and I don't understand how air would get into the system.

If the check valve is installed on the house side of the PRV that leaks, that may be what is causing your air. The well depth has nothing to do with what I was explaining in my first post.

bob...

As I mentioned in the adjacent post, many wells here have air in the water without any chance of it having sucked air. You do not need a leak to get air bubbles in your water... its my guess that its a dissolved gas that gets extracted in the pump stages, or by cavitation at some restriction.

When a pump sucks air you seem to get big gulps of air, not constant fine bubbles that show up on setleing.