need help diagnosing pressure tank water leak

[terracore]

There is a small amount of water seeping from the area around my pressure tank. I have't started any diagnosis yet because I wanted to ping the PW community for ideas or experiences first. I did squirt a little air out of the air valve to see if water was mixing and no water came out.

The setup is about 7 years old.

[terracore]

There is a plastic skirt around the bottom preventing me from seeing anything. I can't see a way to remove it (why is it there?) Is there any harm if I cut part of it away?

[geochem]

If this is a typical pressure tank, the water outlet is on the bottom - the skirt is supporting the tank (?) with space for the bottom threaded connection and elbow. Sounds like you may have a leak either from the fitting at the bottom of the tank (best case) or in the tank itself. If it was me, I would drain the tank, disconnect it and then see what you have - you could cut a portion of the skirt away, but would be a major PITA trying to pull and re-tape/replace the fitting through the cut-away. The upside of the cutaway is you could diagnose it and, if you need a new tank, then have one on hand to replace immediately after pulling the leaking one...

Not sure what the life-cycle of pressure tanks is here - would depend a lot on where you live and how you maintain the pH of the water in your catchment. Some catchments have pretty acidic pH and, over time, will eat the pump and piping (do you have green staining in your sink and shower? that's copper from your piping along with a little lead if your house was built before lead-based solder was banned from use in copper piping).

[MarkP]

The ones I am familiar with have a plastic piece on the bottom held on by several bolts with the bladder sandwiched in between the plastic piece and the steel tank. You have to turn the tank upside down or on its side to get access to the bolts. As for the leaks it could be the piping connection or the seal between the plastic part and the bladder. If the bladder has failed then the steel tank is getting wet and possibly rusting, making a leak more likely.

I did not have to mess with the skirt/base to reach the bolts but I did have to turn the tank on its side.