Pressure Tank Repair & Replacement

What the pressure tank actually does

The pressure tank stores water under compressed-air pressure so your pump isn't switching on and off every time you open a faucet. Modern tanks use a rubber bladder or diaphragm to separate the water side from the air-charge side. When that bladder fails, or when the tank loses its factory air pre-charge, the tank can no longer hold pressure the way it should — and the pump starts cycling on and off far more often than it's designed to.

Short-cycling: the symptom that points here first

If your pump is turning on and off in quick bursts (every time someone runs a faucet, or even with no one using water at all), a waterlogged tank is the most likely cause — not a failing pump. Short-cycling is hard on a pump motor; a pump that's designed for maybe 20-30 cycles a day can rack up hundreds when a tank has failed, which shortens its life dramatically. This is why we always check the tank before recommending pump work.

What we check

• Air pre-charge pressure at the tank's Schrader valve, compared against the pressure switch's cut-in setting (pre-charge should typically sit about 2 psi below cut-in)
• Whether the bladder has ruptured (water coming out of the air valve is a clear sign)
• Pressure switch contacts and cut-in/cut-out settings — factory-common settings are 30/50 or 40/60 psi, but a switch can drift or fail over time
• Tank sizing relative to your pump's flow rate and household demand — an undersized tank will short-cycle even in good condition

Repair vs. replace

A lost air charge alone can sometimes be corrected by re-pressurizing the tank if the bladder is intact. Once the bladder itself has failed, the tank needs to be replaced — there's no reliable field repair for a torn bladder. Older galvanized tanks without a bladder (waterlogging by design once the internal air charge dissolves into the water over time) are usually best replaced outright with a modern captive-air tank rather than repeatedly re-charged.