Well Water Has Suddenly Gone Brown

[Travelover]

You have a galvanized tank with an air release?
Submersible pump?
That means there is a bleeder in the well.

I don't know if tank is galvanized, but it has an automatic air bleeder valve on the side. There is a valve that looks like a tire valve on top of the well cap.

 

[Travelover]

If there is a check valve (or even the foot valve) the springs can rust...

The check valve seems to be good as I can turn off the pump and come back a day later and still have pressure.

 

[/pine]

The check valve seems to be good as I can turn off the pump and come back a day late and still have pressure.

Didn't mean that it was necessarily bad...just that sometimes the rust/crust on a steel spring can break loose...
just an off the wall thought if there is no obvious cause etc...

Good Luck...

 

[Neal54naa]

does it look like mud? or does it look like iron ? muddy water could be a hole in the pipe from the well to the house. rusty looking water could be a hole in the drop pipe in the well (shooting water back in the well and keeps it stirred up). i would also advise waiting a couple of days , but i would advise you to run a hose outside preferably on a hard water line and let it run ....see if it clears up or gets worse . keep us updated please

 

[ponytug]

Another voice to wait a day or two to see if things settle, as sediment can break loose underground. I would also have a look around the water heater, walk the pipe back to the well, and just generally check on things.

Any obvious ground disturbances in the area?

I would run some into a clean bottle and let it settle. You might be able to tell if it is rust versus sediment.

If it persists, then you can start thinking about water testing, etc. Meanwhile, I would boil water before drinking, or switch to bottled water.

All the best,

Peter

 

[Travelover]

does it look like mud? or does it look like iron ? muddy water could be a hole in the pipe from the well to the house. rusty looking water could be a hole in the drop pipe in the well (shooting water back in the well and keeps it stirred up). i would also advise waiting a couple of days , but i would advise you to run a hose outside preferably on a hard water line and let it run ....see if it clears up or gets worse . keep us updated please

Thanks, good tips. I will let it ride for a while and update when I find out something.
If there was a hole in the pipe from well to house, wouldn't it leak down fast when well power is shut off?
Also there is no soft water line and when I run the sprinklers, it really moves a lot of water over the hours they run, so that seems like it would have the same effect as running a hose to clear it up.

 

[steve tym]

Dirty water calls an be the worst. Normally things just clear up on their own.
Kinda stumped by air valve on top of the well.
Back in the good old days, a bleeder in the well that would allow the water to run back (automatically opens when there is no pressure), an air valve (schreader or sniffter valve)

 

[steve tym]

(Finish the thought above) The sniffter valve opens and lets air in. When the pump starts, it pushes that load of air into the tank keeping it "balanced" The air release on the side of the tank lets excess air out.

 

[Valveman]

With a regular hydro tank there is usually a Schrader on a check valve before the water gets to the tank. However, as long as there is a check valve before the tank, it would not be uncommon for the Schrader to be installed on top of the well head tee. The check valve just may not have the extra holes needed for the Schrader.

If rain is causing the dirty well water, the well needs to be sealed properly. Rain should never affect well water if the casing is sealed to the earth as it should be.

Running sprinklers is not enough to clean up a well. The sprinklers will still be holding back 30-40 PSI. Taking the pipe loose at the well head or lifting it to pump directly from the pitless half will reduce the pressure to zero and the pump can produce quite a bit more water. This will pump out crud that would never come out when the sprinklers are running.

When pumping directly from the well head, if the water is coming up dirty, that would eliminate the tank as the problem. Either the well is sluffing off or there is a hole in the drop pipe stirring up the well. A well can also be stirred up if the bleeder system is not working, causing the tank to be waterlogged. This causes the pump to cycle on and off, which also causes the well level to go up and down, which makes for dirty water.

There are also a few inches below the intake line in a hydro tank where the dirt can settle. Sometimes the dirt gets deep enough that it just starts going out the discharge line.

 

[Egon]

What test are you thinking of specifically?

Coliform's, minerals, and suspended matter.

 

[Emainiac]

Sounds to me like sediment on the bottom of the well has risen up over time, as it does on some wells. Assuming the pump was set about 20' off the bottom, every time the pimp kicks on, it stirs up the sediment and causes the discoloration. You will need to raise the pump 10-15'. You may want to check your tank inside too. If it hasn't been flushed in a couple years, there is likely some sediment in there too.

My well was drilled in 1988 and a couple years ago, I had a similar problem, and it came on very suddenly. Very fine silt being brought into the well from the fractures in the rock had built up and I needed to raise my pump. I put in a new pump at the same time since the pump was already 20 years old.

I you have at least a few GPM, raising the pump should not be a problem. If you have a drilled well with a metal casing hammered into bedrock, rain water will not affect your water unless it is not sealed properly..

 

[ponytug]

Sounds to me like sediment on the bottom of the well has risen up over time, as it does on some wells. Assuming the pump was set about 20' off the bottom, every time the pimp kicks on, it stirs up the sediment and causes the discoloration. You will need to raise the pump 10-15'. You may want to check your tank inside too. If it hasn't been flushed in a couple years, there is likely some sediment in there too.

My well was drilled in 1988 and a couple years ago, I had a similar problem, and it came on very suddenly. Very fine silt being brought into the well from the fractures in the rock had built up and I needed to raise my pump. I put in a new pump at the same time since the pump was already 20 years old.

I you have at least a few GPM, raising the pump should not be a problem.

Often the best practice depends on your local aquifer geology, but if sediment is an issue, and you are putting in a new pump, I would have suggested cleaning the well as a first step. With the old pump pulled, it is generally fairly quick and straightforward.

Raising the pump cuts into the draw down capacity of the well, i.e. how much water can be pumped out at one time. Depending on the water table height relative to the pump, and the flow of your aquifer, that may, or may not be an issue.

All the best,

Peter

 

[Travelover]

OP here. Coincidentally (I hope), my well quit today and I had the pump guy out to fix it. It was a bad capacitor in the control box. I bent his ear about the sediment. His recommendation was to wait a bit and see if it clears itself and if not, it may be a pin hole leak in the drop pipe squirting on the casing wall and stirring up sediment. That would require pulling the pump and probably replacing the pump at the same time given the labor cost.

 

[steve tym]

A bad capacitor may have been causing the tank to "bottom out". There is always sediment on the bottom of the tank and when it bottoms out it will push some of it out.
If there is no check valve on the tank, when you shut the pump off and drain the system, it will pull a vacuum back to the well. If you open the boiler drain at the bottom and put your finger over it, it will pull a vacuum. Also, when you shut the pump off the water will run back and the pressure will go down. Test is best performed with the valve off to the house.
If there is a check valve on the tank, this test will not work and you'll have to lift the pump out of the pitless adapter and see if the water goes down.
I think you found the problem with the control box. - Steve

 

[steve tym]

I'm going to add to the above: It will only draw a vacuum if the water level in the well is lower than the boiler drain on the tank.
Can you post a picture of the tank?

 

[tradosaurus]

Depending upon how old is your pump it might be a good idea to pull it and replace it. Also have your pressure tank tested.
I moved in to my place about 6 yrs ago and the pump had to have been at least 20 yrs in age. When replacing the pump we found the pressure tank was leaking.

 

[Valveman]

OP here. Coincidentally (I hope), my well quit today and I had the pump guy out to fix it. It was a bad capacitor in the control box. I bent his ear about the sediment. His recommendation was to wait a bit and see if it clears itself and if not, it may be a pin hole leak in the drop pipe squirting on the casing wall and stirring up sediment. That would require pulling the pump and probably replacing the pump at the same time given the labor cost.

OK, so do you know what causes a starting capacitor to go bad? Too much starting or "cycling". Cycling can also stir up sediment in the well, destroy tank bladders, check valves, pressure switches, and most expensively the pump/motor itself.

As steve tym said, unless there is a second check valve at the pressure tank, a hole in the pipe will cause the water in the drop pipe to drain out when the pump is off. If there is a check valve at the tank, remove it, as it should not be there, and then you can test for a leak in the drop pipe.

If there is no hole in the drop pipe, the well may just need to be pumped out for a few hours to get rid of the sediment. If pumping it out doesn't work, the pump may need to be raised a few feet, and/or the well bailed clean.

Nearly every problem with a well or booster pump is caused by the pump cycling on and off too much, which is easy to fix.

 

[bdhsfz6]

I had sediment in one of my wells after a heavy rain. It would clear after a few dry days. The problem turned out to be ground water leaking into the well due to a faulty seal between the pitless adapter and casing. Eventually, the adapter failed and the pump fell to the bottom of the well. Had to dig the whole thing up and it was a real mess.

You can read the whole story here:

How to Recover a Lost Submersible Well Pump

I suddenly lost all pressure and water began collecting around the well head. The well is +/- 500' deep with a 3/4 hp. submersible pump in a 6" casing. I dug out and exposed the pipe where it connects to the casing and found water spraying out around the pit-less adapter. I removed the pipe...

www.tractorbynet.com

 

[steve tym]

Air charge in your tank is critical to the life expectancy of every (most) componant of your system.
BTW, I'm not a fan of cyclestop valves.

 

[Valveman]

BTW, I'm not a fan of cyclestop valves.

And I thought you knew what you were talking about. Lol! There is no logical reason to "not be a fan" of Cycle Stop Valves. If you have any doubts, you just need more education on how pumps work as there isn't a fly in the ointment of a Cycle Stop Valve. If you have any specific claims besides just not being a fan, I would be glad to explain it to you. In over 30 years no one has ever proven that a Cycle Stop Valve does anything but make pump systems last longer and deliver stronger constant pressure than any other method. Pump manufacturers don't call the CSV a "disruptive product" for nothing. They know the CSV solves nearly every problem related to a pump system, which makes pumps last longer and use smaller tanks, they just hope you don't figure it out.