Cycle Stop Valves with Standard Hydro Tank

Standard Pressure Tanks instead of bladder tanks can be used with Cycle Stop Valves when needed. Some wells may produce H2S or some other substance that requires the water to be in contact with air to prevent foul smelling water. In these cases, bladder tanks will not let the water and air come into contact with each other. Standard air over water hydro pneumatic tanks will allow the substance in the water to be expelled. In these cases a Cycle Stop Valve will work with standard pressure tanks. However, a few concerns should be addressed.

With bladder tanks the air in the bladder can never escape. With standard tanks the air will mix with the water a little at a time until all the air has exited the tank. This causes a waterlogged situation and rapid cycling will destroy the pump. A bleeder orifice installed on the discharge pipe about 5' down in the well can work in conjunction with a check valve at the top of the well. This bleeder orifice will drain the water from the top 5' of pipe each time the pump is shut off. The next time the pump is started this 5' of air will be forced into the tank. An air volume control is installed about half way up the side of the pressure tank and will release any excess air accumulated in the tank.

One of the problems when using a Cycle Stop Valve with standard pressure tanks is that the number of cycles is greatly reduced. This reduces the amount of air that could be introduced into the tank from the bleeder orifice. One solution might be to install the bleeder orifice deeper in the well. Installing the bleeder orifice at 10' or 15' below the surface instead of 5' will double or triple the amount of air injected into the tank each time the pump is started. This might be enough air injected into the tank for the system to work properly. The air injected from the bleeder orifice must also pass through the Cycle Stop Valve on it's way to the pressure tank. This is not a problem with 1.25" or smaller Cycle Stop Valves. We do not recommend using a bleeder orifice with Cycle Stop Valve that are 2" in size or larger. These larger Cycle Stop Valves will not function properly when air is injected through them.

There is still the possibility that the pump will not cycle enough for a bleeder orifice to function as needed even when installed deeper in the well. In these situations, or when using a 2" or larger Cycle Stop Valve, an air compressor or air injector could be used to inject air into the pressure tank. These air compressors generally work with a probe inside the tank and a pressure switch to start and stop the compressor as needed. The Cycle Stop Valve does not know if the tank in the system is a bladder tank or a standard tank. As long as the volume of air in the tank can be maintained there is no problem using a Cycle Stop Valve with a standard air over water pressure tank.