Pressure tank problem

[demoguy]

I had a new well dug and equipped with a new submersible pump and for last two years the system has been running perfectly. A few months ago I noticed that the pump is cycling more often that it had in the beginning. The water level in my 250 gal pressure tank is near the top of the tank.
I can remember that it used to be somewhere near the middle of the tank. I'm afraid the overly frequent cycling will wear out the submersible pump. I've emptied the tank and replaced the float but it didn’t change anything. Any suggestions?

[joed]

Are you sure you emptied the tank or did you just drain the pressure down to zero? You are on the right track. Get a portable pump and pump some air into the tank through the schraeder valve.

[CraigFL]

Is the tank possibly from a previous(older) installation and it has no bladder(250 gal sounds big for a bladder type)? If so, it could be one of the air over water type and is just "waterlogged" or the pressure relief valve isn't working right...

[AllanJ]

(copied from another forum)

If you have to keep recalibrating the pressure tank (adding air), it or the calibrating valve may have developed a small leak causing loss of the air cushion.

A tank without a bladder works OK although the air cushion is gradually absorbed by the water.

Usually a tank without a bladder will reach an acceptable water/air level when it is drained completely and the system simply turned back on normally.

[Gary Slusser]

I had a new well dug and equipped with a new submersible pump and for last two years the system has been running perfectly. A few months ago I noticed that the pump is cycling more often that it had in the beginning. The water level in my 250 gal pressure tank is near the top of the tank.
I can remember that it used to be somewhere near the middle of the tank. I'm afraid the overly frequent cycling will wear out the submersible pump. I've emptied the tank and replaced the float but it didn’t change anything. Any suggestions?
Then you have a non bladder type tank and the air volume control isn't working.

[demoguy]

Thanks for all the responses. When I drained the galvanized tank I opened a faucet until the pressure went down to zero (yes I turned the pump off first). I removed the old float then I opened the valve at the bottom of the tank until hardly any more water ran out. I closed the valve, replaced the float and turned the submersible pump back on. As I'm writing this, I can't remember if I closed the two service valves that lead to the house. Would that make a differance?

[joed]

Not closing the service valves to the rest of the house should not have made any difference.

[demoguy]

Thanks. I'll try emptying the tank again during the coming week to make sure I've followed the steps correctly.

[AllanJ]

Did you get it to work right (pump not coming on too often)?

Sometimes you can stop a small leak in the air valve at the top of the pressure tank by capping the end.