Well Tank and Pressure Tank Replacement in Northwest New Jersey

What the tank actually does

The tank holds a cushion of compressed air against a rubber bladder or diaphragm. That cushion is what gives you water between pump cycles and what keeps the pump from starting every time somebody opens a tap. When the air charge is gone, the tank is just a steel can full of water and the pump takes the whole job — turning on and off every few seconds until it gives up.

How to tell yours is failing

• The pump cycles on and off rapidly while a single tap runs. This is the classic sign, and it's the one that kills pumps.
• Pressure drops off almost immediately when you open a faucet.
• The tank feels heavy or sounds solid all the way to the top when you tap down the side.
• Water spits from the air valve on top of the tank.
• Visible rust at the seams, or at the bottom where it meets the stand.

Here's the important part: rapid cycling is not a nuisance, it is wear. Every start is hard on a pump motor. A tank that's been short-cycling for months can take a pump with it, and that's how a cheap problem becomes an expensive one.

Air charge — the thing that gets set wrong

The tank's air pre-charge has to be set to match the pressure switch's cut-in point. A tank charged to whatever came on the sticker from the factory will short-cycle from the day it goes in if that number doesn't match your switch. We set the air charge to the switch on your system and check it with the tank drained, because that's the only way to read it accurately.

The full T-package

The tank tee is the manifold on the side of the tank that carries the pressure switch, the pressure gauge, the relief valve, a boiler drain and the unions. On a tank that's been in place for years, those fittings are usually seized, scaled or weeping. Changing the tank while leaving twenty-year-old brass on it is how you get called back.

We'd rather quote the whole assembly than the cheapest version of the job. A new tank on old, leaking fittings is a job half done, and we don't like leaving a job half done.

Sizing, honestly

A bigger tank means fewer pump starts and longer pump life. It also means more space and more cost. The right answer depends on the pump, the well's yield, and how much room there is next to the furnace. We size it to your system rather than handing you the same tank we hand everyone.

Galvanized tanks

Older galvanized tanks with no bladder are still out there in this area. They work, they waterlog, and they're a candidate for replacement rather than repair. The bladder design came along because a tank with an air charge that can't escape holds its cushion longer and doesn't waterlog the way a plain steel tank does. We don't disparage the old tanks — we explain why the design changed, and why a bladder tank is usually the better replacement.

Where we work

Sussex County top to bottom, northern and central Warren County, and the northern Passaic County highlands. See the service area map. We don't promise a response time to any town.

Drilling a new well and sealing an old one are a different licence — a licensed well driller — and we don't do that work. See our NJ pump installer licence page. Related: our well pump replacement page and our low water pressure page.