Water well pump

[John-MI]

Does the inflation valve on the top of the blue pressure tank that is to put air in tank supposed to have a cap on it. Someone said this is a snifter valve that takes on air when the pump turns on, so it should not be capped. Is this correct? Thanks.

 

[rustred]

seams like that someone has done too much sniffin. you have caps on your tire valves dont you?

 

[Ted in NE-OH]

Yes needs a cap

 

[Russ from MN]

Your friend is thinking of an older system, it had a diaphragm outside the tank that pumped a little air in each time the pressure changed, it didn't work very well, so you don't see them anymore.

 

[guido]

Like rustred said just a cap for the valve. It does not put air in the water usually that setup is for a bladder tank,

Guido.

 

[Steve@Advance]

Yes, cap it.

Mostly to keep bug nests out.

 

[John T]

Like others have said CAP IT to keep dirt and moisture out. Its purpose is to inflate the internal bladder to the proper pressure below the cut in pressure. Its NOT like the old air volume control systems to allow air to enter.

Finally, an answer to which all agree with no feuds or POOF lol yayyyyyyyyy

John T Home water well and pump user for 40 years HOWEVER not a professional plumber but I bet they agree ? wait n see if any are here

 

[Caryc]

(quoted from post at 16:08:02 02/28/23) Does the inflation valve on the top of the blue pressure tank that is to put air in tank supposed to have a cap on it. Someone said this is a snifter valve that takes on air when the pump turns on, so it should not be capped. Is this correct? Thanks.

The snifter valve you are referring too is on a whole different system than yours. Below is a diagram of my well system that I've been using for over 50 or so years. What you see marked as "shrader valve" is what people refer to as a snifter valve. It is on the well pipe on the well side of the check valve. When the pump stops pumping, the check valve closes so water will not run out of the tank back into the well. But, at that point the pipe from the well pump to the surface is still full of water.

This is where the snifter valve comes in, when the water in the pipe starts dropping back down into the well through the bleeder valve, it creates a vacuum in the pipe. This causes the uncapped snifter valve to open and let air into the pipe to let the water drop back down into the well. That leaves the well pipe full of air.

Ok, so when the pump starts up again, along with the water, it pumps that head of air in the pipe into the well tank. This is what maintains a head of air pressure in the well tank. You will also see the "air ejector valve". It is controlled by a float inside the tank. When there is too much air in the tank, the float opens that valve letting the pressure force that excess air out of the tank. So, the right amount of air in the tank remains constant. The pressure switch (mine is on top of the tank) controls how much pressure is in the tank. I hope I've explained this without confusing you guys.

This post was edited by Caryc on 03/01/2023 at 09:35 am.

 

[Russ from MN]

Caryc, we had that system at our last house, it worked well for the 30 years that we owned the house. The reason they used that
system in that area was that there was sometimes hydrogen gas present in the well water, and that was a way to vent out the excess
gas

 

[John T]

X2

Thats the kind I had for maybe 20 to 30 years on farms that used what we called as I noted below an air
volume control, not sure of other names. I liked the later captive air bladder tanks much better with the
fill which YES should be kept capped to keep out debris

John T NOT a plumber

 

[Dan67]

John T is on the money, I have the same system, I forgot the pressure buts right below cut in pressure.