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Except in summer, faucets sputter and spit. What could be letting air into the system?

In this case the setup is in the Northeast USA, New York State, with a pressure bladder tank, and shallow well. It looks like the image below. The pipes leading up are the distribution. The pipes into the wall are distribution and pump inlet. The pump does not appear to short cycle.

enter image description here

I found a possible answer, but it does not explain the winter/summer dichotomy.

Bryce
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  • maybe part of your circuit freezes? – ratchet freak Oct 17 '14 at 10:42
  • Do you do anything like shutoff exterior sillcocks for the winter to keep them from freezing and bursting pipes? – rjbergen Oct 17 '14 at 12:26
  • Updated question to specify it's the problem goes away in summer, but comes back before any freeze. Also the tank moves easily, has pressure, and it's not a broken air bladder. – Bryce Oct 19 '14 at 15:31
  • What's the silver thing with the two white hoses and why is the yellow handled valve somewhat off? – Mazura Oct 24 '14 at 03:54
  • The silver thing is a disconnected ultraviolet light. Dunno about the yellow handle. – Bryce Oct 24 '14 at 07:19

1 Answers1

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If the pump does not short cycle, that means the bladder in the tank is OK, assuming you have seldom needed to refill it with air.

A shallow well could be the root of your problem. Especially if summer coincides with your rainy season. At the beginning of last winter, along with most of the rest of it, the Northeast USA was in a drought:

enter image description here

Upgrading our summer home, we sunk two additional well-points (with a jackhammer), as the pump we got to handle our four new bathrooms was to powerful for the existing single well-point. Evening being located five feet above, and 200' away from a lake we had supply problems; it would cavitate/aerate.

Does your faucet spit and sputter? -JohnDee.com, people suggesting low water table or bad pump seals. Possibly yours fail with a drop in incoming temperature.

Mazura
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  • The air tank has NEVER been refilled with air. I did not have a good pressure gauge, but it did have pressure seemingly in the 20-60 psi range. – Bryce Oct 20 '14 at 03:37
  • The new link suggests running a garden hose right at the pump to see if air still comes out; then it's either the pump or the point. @Bryce – Mazura Oct 20 '14 at 04:49