air

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Topic :Air in the Pipes I think I have air in my water line. I live in a "tri-level" house & the kitchen sink (second level) seems to be the most affected. We have a private well w/a pressure tank & water softener in the basement. The house is about 8 years old. The cold water tap seems to be the most affected w/sputtering water & then eventually just a blast of air exiting the tap when first turning it on. I thought I had heard of people simply having "air in the pipes" & after the air is removed things should be ok. Does this sound like the answer? If so, what's the correct process to do this? Thanks for your help!
There could be a number of things going on with the air. My thoughts are that because you said the air actually blows out of a fixture now and then it should have worked itself out by now. It's hard to say what the cause may be without seeing your house, but I can think of a few items which could introduce air into the system. The first and easiest to try is the hot water tank. If it's set too high it can actually boil the water in the tank creating steam which will eventually work it's way out as air pockets. Try turning down the temp. on the tank. An expansion tank on the hot water tank can cure that too. The second thing may be that your water softener or pump may be drawing air on a vacuum from somewhere...hard to check though. The third thing is sort of unlikely, but I've heard of it happening. You may be picking up gasses from the well itself...I have a friend who at certain times of the year when the water table was low would get belches of natural gas from his faucets. (not too pleasant!) The last thing which is very unlikely, but don't rule it out is a chemical reaction. There may be a mineral or gas in your water that's reacting with the salt in the softener creating gasses. You may want to have the water tested if nothing else works.