Sediment & mud from an existing well

A frind of mine just moved into a house that was a rental & stood for a number of months empty. They had issues with dirty water for a few days that eventually cleared up but the pressure was a bit low.

I went over & checked the pressure settings & aired up the bladder tank as it was below 10psi. There were 2 of the GE Smartwater small filters that came off the bladder tank & I suggested he replace the filters since they probably had not been replaced in years.

We took them down & they were both clogged with red mud & the rubber bases had deteriorated completely.Upon replacement the pressure had increased a lot.

A day later the pressure dropped to nothing. He pulled the filter nearest the bladder tank & it was completely clogged with mud so he removed it & just put the canister back in place. A day later the 2nd filter also clogged. He replaced both again & it ran for about 3 days & the same thing happened. Replaced them & 3 days later it happened again but this time it was a coarse black sediment. Replaced again & 3-4 days later it happened again but this time it was the mud again.

I have no knowledge of what type of well that it is or the depth. The pump is located about 80 feet from the house. The motor is in a vertical position facing down the well. The bladder tank is under his crawl space.

There is a faucet at the pump itself & seems to run directly from the well bypassing the pipes that lead to the house & the water runs clear from it & even after running it an extended period there was no evidence of mud or sediment.

What could be causing this? What else can we check or do to try & resolve the issue? We both thought that it may have been pulling harder since we cleared the water way at the filters or that there was possibly mud & sediment in the system already & this would eventually stop. This has been happening for close to 3 weeks now.

If you have any fear that the water may be contaminated in any way, have it tested. Either way, get rid of the cartridge filters. They won't prevent any kind of disease from being in your water and all they are good for is making the folks that make them wealthier.

Once removed, open all the cold water faucets you can and let the water run until clear. You may see a little more residue after doing this but it will eventually clear up just like the water at the well. All this mineral is coming off the pipes and is not uncommon.

bob...

Thanks for the tip and the quick response.

We will give this a shot tonight.

I personally have a different type of system....if I post pictures can anyone possibly give me an idea of what I have & how to increase the pressure some?

Sure, send as many as you like, we will take a look.

bob...

Well...it took a while to get everything done but we opened all the cold water valves in the house & got very little sediment.

We thought that maybe this was the end of it but 3 days later the filter stopped up again. We installed a ball valve between the tank & the filters & let the water run for a while & got a good bit of sediment out that way. So far he has been able to go 7 days before the filter clogged again which is a vast improvement over the 2-3 days that he was getting before. This time it was just the filter itself that was clogged & the entire canister wasn't filled with mud as before.

He is going to continue running water from the valve we installed on a weekly basis to try & flush it all out but it does look like we are making progress & this should clear out over time.

Thanks for the help!!

I thought you were going to get rid of the filters.

bob...

I suggested that he just leave the filters out but he is worried about the sediment getting into his washer.

If that's the case, he needs to get a real filter. Those things won't remove anything that can do any harm in any way.

bob...