Installing a pressure tank on your wheel well is one of the many things you can do to maintain the well. Pressurized well water tanks are extremely helpful in extending the life expectancy of your well. It performs many functions such as preventing rapid on and off cycling of the well and maintaining the suitable well water pressure. However, selecting a wheel well pressure water tank can be a risky task because it is only with the right size you will make sure that your wheel well is maintained.

If the wrong wheel well water pressure tank is chosen, it may not help in preventing rapid on and off cycling of the well. The well pressure may also be affected by the wrong type of pressure tank. In this article, we’ll be looking at what you can do to ensure that you are selecting the right kind of wheel well water pressure tank.

What is a well water pressure tank?

A well water pressure tank is used in household and commercial water wells. The main function it performs is to ensure that your water well functions for as long as it can. Whenever water is needed in your house, you turn the faucet on. By doing this, you demand some quantity of water from your well. Installing a water pressure tank makes sure that there is excess water to draw by faucets, baths, or toilet flushes.

As an alternative to turning on the water pump, water is pumped from the pressure tank. If this isn’t done, the water pump will turn every time you turn a faucet on, flush a toilet, or run a bath. This makes your well pump work again and again without giving the pump enough time to settle down. In this way, the cycle between the pump turning on, again and again, becomes shorter, which may damage the water pump.

During short cycling, the well pump is frequently activated. By allowing short cycling to your water pump, you can increase the risk of huge stress on the pump. Because of this, the water pump can prematurely fail. However, when you install a wheel well pressure tank, you can easily avoid undue wear and tear to the pump.

How does a well water pressure tank work?

Compressed air is used by the well water pressure tank. It pushes pressurized water out of the tank to wherever it is needed. The chamber of air in the pressure tank is separated from the water by a diaphragm known as a bladder. As you fill the water tank with water, the air chamber is compressed. When the water is turned on, it is pressurized by the air, which also pushes it out of the tank.

The amount of water that is stored in the wheel well water pressure tank is known as drawdown. When the pressure falls, the drawdown allows the pressure switch to come on. The size of the pressure tank that is required to produce the amount of drawdown capacity needed is known as total tank volume.

How to select a pressure tank?

It is essential that you choose the pressure tank which is best suited to your needs and the capacity of your well. In order to properly size and select your water pressure tank, you need to keep in mind the following things.

Flow rate

The flow rate can directly affect the type of pressure tank you choose. It is the number of gallons that your water pump is capable of producing. It is essential that you know the number of gallons in order to make sure that you don’t overwork your pressure tank.

Minimum runtime

With respect to this, the rule of thumb is that a pump functioning at 10 gallons per minute should produce 1 gallon of water per minute. Flow rate multiplied by minimum runtime will give you the drawdown capacity. If your flow rate is more than 20 gallons, you may need to install multiple pressure tanks.

Pressure switch setting

There is a specific setting of pressure when the pump turns on in order to fill the tank up and then shuts off when the tank is full. The most common pressure switch settings are 20/40, 30/50, and 40/60. 20, 30, and 40 are the pressure switch settings when your pump turns on. The pressure that a tank stops at has a direct effect on the drawdown capacity of the water pump.

In order to find out your drawdown capacity, you can ask the pressure tank manufacturers. You will be given a chart that explains the drawdown capacity based on the pressure switch setting.

Conclusion

Selecting the right wheel well pressure tank can be a difficult process since you need to assess a lot of things about your pump before you buy one. However, when you know the values mentioned above in the article, it will be easy for you to choose the best wheel well water pressure tank that will fulfill your needs.