water pressure problems

**plumbingstupid** · 12-20-2011, 01:24 PM

Hope someone can help me! Several weeks ago we started having no water pressure! If you took a shower or ran the garden hose you would all at once have no water pressure! After waiting a moment you would have water again.
Thinking it could be the pressure switch we replaced the old one. The old one was a 40 60. We could only find a 30 50 so we installed the 30 50 and adjusted it so it would click on at 40. The problem we still have is that when the water pressure drops to about 37 you can hear a click and then the guage drops down to 0 before the pump kicks on. The pressure quickly rises to 70 and then the pump kicks off! I shut off the pump drained all the water pressure to 0 and then checked the air in the cold storage tank and adjusted the pressure to 35.
We still have a problem when taking showers etc the water pressure will drop to almost 0 for about 2 seconds and then quickly go to full pressure!
Do i need to install a 40-60 switch or is there a problem with the pump or cold storage tank?
The cold storage tank has some age on it. Could the bladder have a hole in it? When we replaced the switch we clean out corrosion on the inside of the pipes and tried to make sure everything was open!
I appreciate any help anyone can give! Thanks in advance!

**LLigetfa** · 12-20-2011, 01:28 PM

Calibrate the air pressure gauge to the water pressure gauge. Setting the air to 5 PSI less than the kick-in is fine as long as both gauges are calibrated. It sounds to me like they are not.

Turn off the pump and drain the tank just until you hear the switch click on. Then read the air pressure on the bladder and compare that to the water pressure gauge. Set the kick-in based on the air pressure reading to ensure it is 5 PSI higher.

**plumbingstupid** · 12-20-2011, 01:45 PM

the air pressure guage would be where i put air in the top of the cold storage tank? right?

**valveman** · 12-20-2011, 02:03 PM

Originally Posted by plumbingstupid

the air pressure guage would be where i put air in the top of the cold storage tank? right?

Yeah! And it sounds like you have too much air in the tank. If the air pressure on top of the bladder keeps increasing by itself, you have a hole in the bladder and need a new tank.

**plumbingstupid** · 12-20-2011, 02:09 PM

I tried what you said. shut the pump off and drained the tank till i heard the swith click! the water pressure tank showed 35 and the air pressure read 36 so adjusted the air pressure to 33 and turned the pump back on! the water pressure went to 70 and the pump shut off! I started draining the tank and the pump didnt kick on till the water pressure switch showed 30. Also as soon as the pressure hit 30 i heard the switch click but the water pressure guage dropped quickly to 0 and then the pump kicked on and the pressure started to quickly rise! the old pressure switch was a 40-60 and the new one a 30-50. could this be a problem also? my brother and i tried to adjust the 30-50 to a 40-60. is this possible as we still couldnt get the pump to click on at 40?