In my last column, I wrote about a revolutionary solution to air control in tanks — the air separator tank that came out in the 1950s. Looking back, I would have to say this was a true revolution and a great leap forward over air pumping devices of many designs that, as I said last time, sometimes even worked. Another big advantage of the air separator tank was that, even if it failed and did not separate the air from the water, it was no real big deal. The customer was not out of water, which he could have been with some of the air pumping devices — especially those on jet pumps.
Now, it wasn’t long after the introduction of the factory made air separator tank that pump men began to wonder if a conventional tank could be made into an air separator type. The answer from several manufacturers was “yes.” While a conventional pre-1955 to 1960 pressure tank wasn’t plumbed as ideally as a later model, if an air disc could be installed in the tank it would work reasonably well. One of the first designs for an installable air disc was really quite unique. This consisted of a series of Styrofoam “boards” that, when properly assembled, made a circular disc using some type of cord to hold them together. The installer was supposedly able to assemble the disc inside the tank like building a model ship in a bottle. I never used one of these, but have to admit it was a pretty interesting solution. I don’t think this was ever very popular, as they weren’t around long in our area.