New to wells, some questions..

We bought a bank owned property about 9 months ago and I'm still learning things about what should be a simple system for the well. This is my first house with a private well. The house is a 2.5 bathroom sitting on 5 acres, if it matters much. Pretty much from the time we moved in back in June up until last Sunday the pump has been cycling on and off rapidly (2-3 seconds on, 3-5 seconds off or so) whenever we used the water. Of course the pressure would vary as well as some interesting sounds from the pipes in one of the bathrooms (fixed with a valve repair a few months back).

We had the pressure switch give out on Sunday and I needed to replace it with one from a big box store (no names given). I really wanted to find a solid state switch, but have yet to locate one even online. When draining the pressure tank I was using an air compressor and was amazed at the amount of water that was in there, I'm nearly positive that it was waterlogged the entire time we have lived there. Pressure switch replacement went ok, and I charged the pressure tank to within 2lbs of the cut-in of the pump with all other valves shut. Now I get nice pressure at the house, Not sure exactly how long before the pump comes on when using the water but definitely longer than before. When I get a chance next I'll time the pump running time.

With the draining of the well pressure tank I noticed a bunch of rust inside, I'm guessing it's the internals of the pressure tank rusting away. I'd like to eventually replace the tank with something like a Wellmate fiberglass/composite to avoid the issue in the future (and the replaceable bladder setup is pretty nice). I've seen in posts here that there is a possibility of contamination due to the bladder system. Another question is why would the bladder system be much different than a captive air setup like a "normal" tank? I can see more surface contact area, but I don't see it as a reason for contamination. Again, this is my first well and I'm sure there are many out there with a wealth of knowledge about these that I obviously don't have.

I'm pretty sure that my next project for the well would be to install a CSV, quite possibly before even replacing the tank. I've been reading that a much smaller pressure tank is needed with the valve, and currently I believe I have a 85 or so gallon tank. Would it really matter much having that size tank with the CSV installed? Looking at the costs involved, I'm thinking I can basically pay for the valve in the savings from purchasing a smaller tank.

spdrcr said:

I've been reading that a much smaller pressure tank is needed with the valve, and currently I believe I have a 85 or so gallon tank. Would it really matter much having that size tank with the CSV installed? Looking at the costs involved, I'm thinking I can basically pay for the valve in the savings from purchasing a smaller tank.

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The CSV will work with any size tank. But you really only need a 4.4 gallon size. So yes the CSV more than offsets its cost compared to buying a large tank. The CSV and small tank will also eliminate cycling. A larger tank won't do that, it just slows down the cycling somewhat.

If there is iron in your water, the iron precipitates in the tank. When you drain and refill it, it stirs up all the iron and sediment in the bottom of the tank. With a bladder tank, this debris gets flushed through more readily, which can be a good or bad thing, depending on how you want to look at it.