HomeWell servicesPressure Tank Replacement
Short cycling, surging pressure
Pressure tank replacement before the pump pays for it
A waterlogged tank makes a healthy pump start every few seconds. The charge is checked, the switch is set to it, and the tank is replaced where the bladder has failed.
At a glance
- Symptom
- Rapid clicking, swinging gauge, surging shower
- Checked
- Air charge with the pump off and tank drained
- Sized to
- The pump's flow rate and minimum run time
The cheapest well fault to fix and the dearest to ignore
A pressure tank holds a cushion of air over the water so the pump can rest between draws. When the bladder fails or the air charge leaks away, the tank is full of water with nowhere for it to compress, so the pump starts every time a glass is filled. That is short cycling, and it is how good pumps die young.
The symptom is unmistakable once you know it: rapid clicking at the switch, the gauge needle swinging, pressure that surges and drops in the shower. A knuckle on the tank tells the story too: a healthy tank rings hollow at the top and thuds at the bottom; a waterlogged one thuds all the way up.
Call Flamingo checks the air charge with the pump off and the tank drained, sets it to match the switch, and replaces the tank where the bladder has gone.
Replaced at the same visit
Pressure switch and gauge
- Cut-in and cut-out settings checked against the tank pre-charge
- Pitted or burnt contacts replaced before they weld shut
- A gauge that reads wrong replaced so the system can be trusted
- The nipple between tank and switch cleared of the scale that blocks it
Straight answers
Questions this job raises
How do you know the tank is waterlogged?
Rapid on-off cycling at the switch, a gauge that swings, and a tank that thuds instead of ringing when tapped near the top. Confirmed by checking the air charge with the tank drained.
Can the air charge just be topped up?
If the bladder is intact, yes, and that is the first thing tried. If the charge will not hold, the bladder has failed and the tank is replaced.
Does the pressure switch need replacing with the tank?
Not always, but it is checked. A switch that has been cycling thousands of times a week has usually pitted its contacts.
Next door to this job
Work that usually comes up in the same visit
Well Pump Repair
No water, weak pressure, a pump that never shuts off: the failed part found before anything is replaced.
Well Pump Replacement
Submersible and jet pumps sized to the well's depth and recovery, not to whatever came out of it.
No Water Emergency Service
Seven days a week when the house has gone dry and nobody knows why.
Free estimate, then the work
Call Flamingo quotes well work at no charge and schedules seven days a week across the Jacksonville area.