Is my pressure tank bad?

Speedbump,

thank you so much for responding back as this is new territory for me that I have never messed with but am now since I am retired have much more time and truly appreciate all your knowledge and expertise in helping me with these questions as I have never done any of this before.

Installed new pressure tank last night and was not happy with what this water in tank looked like. Disgusting, dirty, muddy, much sediment. I bet most, if not all of this tank water was like this.

I put new tank in with old switch, as I ordered a new switch and it didn't come in yet. 40-60. Have to readjust pressure tank as old switch I am using now is 30-50 and I messed with it on the settings. Now its really screwed up but I got water.

when I replace new switch, does tank have to be emptied again? Do I pump up tank to 38 with a 40-60 tank when water is emptied out?

My initial thoughts are is that pump is not good after running water out of new pressure tank and watching how long it took to go from 40 to 60 and shut off. It went very slowly through that pressure and I initially thought it stopped at 40 so I adjusted screw, so maybe that is why it took so long. Still working but still not good water pressure but will know more after new switch is put in and pressure tank is set correctly.  As I said will repost back tonight or tomorrow on how this is turning off and turning on and pressure  I am getting out of faucet. My faucet water is clear by the way.

Is there any way to prevent this buildup in pressure tank of this much mud and sediment and iron? How often should this be cleaned out, and what is best way to do it? I cannot let this ever happen again and did not realize it was this bad. Over 18 years and probably only emptied once is not good by any standards and I did not know better but do now and will take all necessary care to do this.

Should pump be taken out and looked out for buildup of same stuff around it when weather gets nice?  I suppose this pump may need replaced sooner than later as it has reached now 18 years, and best to replace before no water at all. I no doubt put some serious stress in the pump by running it with a bad pressure tank but did not realize water would still run without pressure tank use. I want best submersible pump for my issues of my well, which is a lot of sediment, iron. I will post another question about this later, if pump allows, as pressure tank is main issue right now and getting it to work correctly at the new 40-60 switch I am putting in. I had already bought a pressure tank prior to posting here but will look at link in future. I got an Amtrol 203PA model.  I hope it is a good one.

Is replacing a submersible pump very hard? I was a carpenter all my life, built new homes as a contractor so I never had time to even know about this until now. I can see that everyone takes shortcuts. This pressure tank replacement was not as easy as it should have been as everything was connected without any slip fittings for easy removal. I had to literally cut it out and almost ruined the manifold threads in doing so. I did install a slip fitting so any further issues is only a simple removal of one nut to take out. 

Will repost later for final outcome and possible more help if not working correctly as new switch and proper pressure on last two things to do and see outcome. Hope it works OK after this.

speedbump,

Installed new pressure switch today and new pressure gauge. I bought two switches. One is 30-50.other is 40-60. Installed 40-60 and readjusted pressure in tank. When refilling back up, I noticed again at about 40 psi the gauge moved very slowly to reach the 60 cut off. I listened to water coming in line off pump and it seemed to not be coming in strong, although I really don't know for sure, but it did take a good 5 to 10 minutes to go from 40 to 60. I don't know what this means, but would like to know what you think at this point. My best guess, and that is what it is, is I should put 30-50 in to put less strain on the pump as something is not right, unless this is normal. You will have to tell me as I do not know. I figure I will have to readjust pressure again and leave it at 30-50 until good weather and call person up who drilled the well. Everything has been replaced with accurate gauges, new pressure tank, and this is what I came up with. Not what I was hoping, but appreciate what you think.

By the way, it was not a slip joint I put in but a union. I called it a slip joint as it kind of just "slipped" in. Told you I don't know anything here.

thanks as I appreciate your response and best guess at what the issue may be. Should the 30-50 be put in the take any of this strain of getting to 60 off the pump or is this normal to stay on this long? And I did  readjust pressure in tank to 38. It gets to 40 real fast than kind of like stops moving, but does move very slowly if you watch it. Is this normal or not? As I said, everything is set right up top and all is new now.

Here's some photos of what I have done. Replaced just about everything that needed replaced. I have some closeups of that old check valve that I took off. You see the gauge at 30 and my wife is using the water. It just stays there. Can use water all you want but it will not go above 30 when using water once it gets to that point and I assume pump is running all this time and reason for higher electric bills that we noticed. Hard to get off barb from connection at check valve, but I can take it off again and run pump directly out that black poly line into drain if need be. Thanks speedbump for responding.

and another

and another. can't figure out why I can't upload more than one at a time. Won't let me do it.