any well drillers around??

[thatguy]

Our well has functioned flawlessly for the past 3.5 yrs.. BUT in the last month we have had problems. Our well is 340 feet deep, has 3 water sources, pumps about 4 gallons per minute, and waters is within 50 feet of the top.

Problem #1 - the whole house filter was getting clogged with 1 or 2 days (previously would last 1.5 to 2 MONTHS)

Solution - installed 'sand filter' around pump and raised the pump up about 15'

After this the water was VERY dirty so we used it alot and the water cleared up considerably.

we have been gone a week and thought that any remaining particles in the water would settle out during that time but it hasnt

Problem #2 - Water is still slightly brown, but the whole house filters is clogging with fine mud now after 1 day.. There is no smell to the water though.

Any thoughts or ideas on why or what do to fix this?

Brian

 

[keegs]

Sorry I can't offer any help but I'm interested in what others have to say about this.

We just had a well put in at our place in Maine and the water is cloudy brown looking. I'm hoping I don't have to filter it and that it eventually will run clear. The well is 180 feet deep and produces 15 gal/per/min.

 

[jinman]

Our well has functioned flawlessly for the past 3.5 yrs.. BUT in the last month we have had problems. Our well is 340 feet deep, has 3 water sources, pumps about 4 gallons per minute, and waters is within 50 feet of the top.

Brian, what do you mean by "3 water sources"? Are you saying that water feeds into your well from three different depths? Is your well cased all the way down to near the 340' level or is it only a partial casing? In my area, the drillers go to great lengths to seal all water sources except the deepest one that's in water producing sands. They run a casing down deep and seal around it. If you have constant mud in your water, I'd bet one of your sources is clay contaminated or your well is silting in from the bottom up at a high rate. I'm not a well driller, so my opinion is just as an observer and may be incorrect, but muddy water in a well would sure seem to indicate a new source that is washing in mud or a silting of the well. Also, is it possible that you have a long run of plumbing with sand in it? Do you maybe need to backflush between the filter and the well? If your filter is some distance from your well, it might be possible for the feed pipe to have dirt that is slowly collecting in the filter.

 

[CurlyDave]

We have always had lots of sediment. I had the well driller come out about 2 years ago and had him raise the pump about 20' which helped a lot.

He said the most sure-fire way to cure sediment was to pack the well with gravel. I was very reluctant to do this because it meant the pump could never be pulled and replaced.

I think a lot of this is local conditions and you need a local well driller. Get several opinions before you settle on one.

 

[thatguy]

Brian, what do you mean by "3 water sources"? Are you saying that water feeds into your well from three different depths? Is your well cased all the way down to near the 340' level or is it only a partial casing? In my area, the drillers go to great lengths to seal all water sources except the deepest one that's in water producing sands. They run a casing down deep and seal around it. If you have constant mud in your water, I'd bet one of your sources is clay contaminated or your well is silting in from the bottom up at a high rate. I'm not a well driller, so my opinion is just as an observer and may be incorrect, but muddy water in a well would sure seem to indicate a new source that is washing in mud or a silting of the well. Also, is it possible that you have a long run of plumbing with sand in it? Do you maybe need to backflush between the filter and the well? If your filter is some distance from your well, it might be possible for the feed pipe to have dirt that is slowly collecting in the filter.

"3 water sources" is what I understand to mean they hit 3 veins of water when drilling.. Im not sure how many are still feeding the well.

I am not sure how far down it is cased either.. I called the drilling company and the receptionist was going to contact the boss and see what he suggests.. Ill ask when i talk with them again.

When the pump man pulled the pump when the first problems came up, he said that the 'check valve' in the pump had failed and the water coming back down the water line was what caused the 'disturbance' in the water.


the sand filter had kept the bigger grains of sand/grit out of the whole house filter. but now its the mud that is the problem.. Previously we never had the mud problem in the filters..

the water comes into the expansion tank then thru the whole house filter and then to the rest of the house.. IF i wanted to try and pump out the muddy water, could i turn the valve off between the whole house filter and the expansion tank and then hook a hose to the drain valve on the expansion tank without hurting anything? That way i can keep the muddy water out of the house lines easier until it clears up.. Would that work?

thanks for the ideas

Brian

 

[dave1949]

It should work. You may rinse a lot of ook out of your pressure tank too, a good thing.
Dave.

 

[jinman]

Brian, please don't take my word as "gospel" on wells. I'm just brainstorming what and where you could have problems. I do know that like CurlyDave suggested, my well driller filled in my well void with about 1-1/2 yards of pea gravel and then concreted the top for a good seal. He listened to the sound of the gravel going down around the casing and could tell when it quit hitting water, indicating it was above the level of standing water inside and outside the casing. After that, he set my pump up about 25' above the bottom of the well and told me to pump steady for 7 to 10 hours. He had used Dawn soap as a drilling lubricant and it took awhile for suds to quit forming in the water coming out. Then, the water cleared completely and has been crystal clear since.

If your three water sources are near the bottom of the well and all part of the same aquifer, then what I'm saying could be bunk. However, if you have several sources throughout the depth of your well, then I don't see how that could ever be a good thing. How would you ever know which might be causing the problem or how to stop it?

EDIT: One other thing...
With a little research, I found out that the aquifers in your area seem to be from fractured rock and most wells are around 400' deep with production around 10 gpm. I also noted that your City Council had a recent request in January of this year regarding a housing development that could introduce many new wells into the aquifer. Have you checked with neighbors regarding similar problems with their wells? Is it possible that a recent housing development might have "stirred up" mud in the aquifer due to many water wells being drilled in the same area with your well being downstream?

 

[msb1766]

Is the "mud" gray in color?

When we had the well drilled for our house we had gray in the water it is clay
sediment. We had to put in a 300 gal water tank and inject the incoming water
with a coagulant, This caused the clay to settle to the bottom of the 300 gal
tank and we draw water from the tank about 1/2 way up the 300 gal tank.
Every month we open a valve on the bottom of the 300 gal tank to get the clay sediment out so it does not build up.

You can call a local water treatment service or call Culligain they will be able to
tell you what is in your water and how to treat it.

 

[Mousefield]

What type of ground is it drilled through?
This will help us give you better answers.
Could be something as simple as a new water vein has opened or closed. Could be sucking water from further away. Blasting in the area or an earthquake all could cause problems.

In our area lots of wells have a Sulpher smell. My well is drilled 160 feet through shale; we used to get grey water sometime so bad you could not see your finger in the middle of a glass of it and that was using a 1 micron filter. They called it rock flower or shale water. Had to finally put in a $6,000.00 filter system. Now our water is filtered to .014 micron and it's clean.

 

[The Dougster]

Three water sources.... generally speaking, a well is drilled thru layers of different type of lithologic formations.. clay, shale, sand or sandstone, etc... it is not uncommon for a well to penetrate more than one water bearing formations... see if you can find the original drillers log, which should list the formation/material drilled thru. It's possible that if the bottom of the borehole is left open hole (without casing), you could have some clay/shale sloughing off and disturbing the water in the well. Without knowing where your well is cased, the pump setting, static water level, it's all guess work.
A good well contractor should be able to diagnose your problem and come up with a solution.