Troubleshooting Well-X-Trol bladder tank

[jebber45]

Hello,

I live in a 3-story, 6-unit condo building in Chicago. We have a large Well-X-Trol pressurized bladder tank. Recently, my neighbors and I have noticed intermittent extreme increases in water pressure. So much so that the lines to my washing machine start shaking when I do a load of laundry, and that my shower drain is close to being overwhelmed. We have also noticed the noise of the tank running to be loud and frequent.

It seems to be running at least 30 minutes out of an hour. The tank is 5 years old and we never noticed this before. In the meantime, we have bypassed the booster tank and have been running just on city pressure - which is actually pretty good, I'm not even sure why we need a booster. We had someone come out to look at the tank, and said that it seemed to be working properly it is set at 40/60.

But if it is currently working "properly" - why is it running so often and why does the pressure become so extreme? It seems to be very hard to find someone who really knows about these issues, so I appreciate any help!

 

[speedbump]

There is no such thing as a booster tank. Do you mean booster pump? I would think with a three story building you would need one.

A lot of this is going to depend on how the contractor set this up. Usually tall buildings have Hydroconstant pumps that keep pressure at a desired pressure depending on flow.

If someone set your system up with a booster pump, tank and pressure switch, you might find that the tank is waterlogged (full of water). I'm not real sure how this would make strange noises or max out your pressure.

I am assuming you are on city water not a well.

 

[johnjh2o]

Many times when booster pumps are used the lower floors have pressure reducing valves. It could be that the PRV has failed.

John

 

[Valveman]

Probably a bad bladder tank. I think the shaking and noise is the pump cycling on and off. I don’t know why you would need a booster with a 40/60 setting when the city probably delivers 50 PSI or so. Usually a booster for a high rise is set at 60/80, 80/100, or even more for higher buildings.

It is hard to find a good pump man anymore. Maybe if you make a short video of the set up and pressure gauge, we can figure it out.