well water tank

[themak]

I have a 40 gallon Mark IV tank (bladder type). Recently my well pump seemed to be cycling on too frequently so I called a plumber who came in tried to move the tank and said because it was so heavy the tank was shot and I needed to replace it ASAP. I did some reading and based on what i read did the following: first I pushed the pin in on the air valve and got only air ( a good sign) then I shut down the pump and water heater, opened a faucet and let it run until it stopped flowing - at that point the pressure in the tank went all the way down - then i used a compressor and filled the tank with air to about 37 psi (2/3 psi below the lower cutoff).
Now I can run the water for a much longer time before the pump kicks in though I still get only 1 flush (the toilet is very old so that might be why) but the pump used to cycle on/off twice per fluxh now it only cycles once per flush. My question is it normal to have to go through this type of maintenance or have I only fixed the problem temporarily?

[mdshunk]

You bladder likely has a slow leak. I'm sure it contains some water at this point, but is just not completely flooded so that you see it at the schrader. Your problem will recurr at some point until you replace the pressure tank.

[joed]

It could even be a leaking schraeder valve. The bladder might just fine.

[Gary Slusser]

To get the volume of precharged air right, you need to drain the tank. Leaving water in it prevents getting the correct volume in the tank.

You should set the air pressure to 1-2 psi less than the cut-in setting due to hot air volume shrinking as the water enters the tank and cooling it; reducing the air pressure. Otherwise you are going to cause premature failure of the bladder. I. E. 30/50 psi gets 29-28 psi air pressure with no water in the tank.