Here is a picture of my tank, as installed in 1970 or 1971:
We bought our house in 1990, and to my knowledge, the tank and pump are original. I know for a fact nothing has been changed since we took ownership.
[quote="bcpumpguy]If you system has no air volume control, it has no air release. the 16" level was probably just about right as it would have been about 1/3 of the tank. I'm guessing you are talking about a bladderless steel tank, if you no air is coming out of the tank on a pumpcylce while running a hose or a tap your aircharge is just fine. I usually charge these type of tanks to about 5 to 10 psi under the cut in point run some heavy water when the water system has recharged and make sure no air comes out when the pressure switch turns on. remember you can't compress water but you can compess air, its there for a purpose.[/quote]
Yes, it's an air over hydro steel tank. My problem was air coming out of all my faucets, taps, showers, toilets, washer, dishwasher exactly as Valveman described in his sticky post on pressure tank maintenance. I could hear air leaving the tank before cut in because the water level was so low the pressure charge in the tank was actually down to outlet level. The inlet is higher than the outlet, and the dark band at the bottom of the tank is where the water level was after draining through the outlet. Since re-establishing the air cushion, my system has been working the way it always did before and I have no air in my lines. Problem solved.
Maybe my system should have an AVC in it, but one was never installed, and I'm reluctant to add one now. Like I said earlier, if I ever need to address this in the future, it's a 15 minute job now that I know what needs to be done. When my pump finally dies, I'll ditch the steel tank in favor of a bladder design. I have an impulse sprinkler running on my vegetable garden right now. When my pump cycles on it runs for approximately 2 1/2 minutes, with a 10 minute draw down before cycling on again. Better than it has been for a long time. I'm happy.