Several times a day, the water pressure in the house drops, drops, drops and then nothing will come out of any tap. A minute or two later, we have great pressure. Any ideas what's wrong?

-- Paul Wheaton (paul@javaranch.com), June 26, 2001

Answers

A farm we used to live on had a pressure tank that would become waterlogged. It had a valve that a bicycle tire pump would fit on and we would have to pump air into every so often so it would behave properly.

-- beckie (sunshine_horses@yahoo.com), June 26, 2001.

Paul, we just had this happen to us! After about a week--we found a tiny hole in the tank. It had become water logged and we ended up replacing the entire system-tank, pump and pipes. The system was 30 years old and we didn't want something else to go wrong in a day or two. Good luck . Debbie

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), June 26, 2001.

Paul, turn off the electricity to the pump, drain the system, be sure the air pressure is between 30 and 50 pounds with a tire gague, add air as needed, check for air leaks with soap suds, turn the system back on. This should do it, if the thing acts up again, check the air pressure again, lost air means that the bag in the tank needs to be replaced, disassamble and go in from the bottom, if there is no access plate you will proabilly need to replace the tank.

-- mitch hearn (moopups1@aol.com), June 26, 2001.

I, too, think that the pressure tank has gone bad. Follow Mitch's advice.

-- clove (clovis97@Yahoo.com), June 26, 2001.

Paul, I suggest that you raise the cut in pressure on your pressure switch. It's waiting until the pressure drops to a very low level to turn the pump back on. Raising the cut in pressure is very simple to do; the instructions are likely written inside the cover of the pressure switch. Otherwise, ask someone at your local pump dealer or plumbing store.

JOJ

-- jumpoff joe (jumpoff@ecoweb.net), July 02, 2001.