Yucky, brown, dirt water

Hi, I have recently had my well pump go out and when I replaced it, I finally got our pressure tank aired up and installed a check valve this time because I could hear the water siphoning back down the well, so.. I turned off the pump and drained as much water as I could out of the pressure tank, then put air in the valve up to ~36psi and now there is dirt coming in with my water, to where it leaves a thick layer sometimes, and I am wondering what I can do to clean it up.

oh yeah I had a bit of air in the tank for awhile and it was working quite well once I got the check valve in, but I assumed the pump would be clicking on/off too often still when water was running inside. Could all this be a result of not having totally emptied the pressure tank?

Advice would be appreciated very much.

Is it a bladder tank? You might just need to run the water for a few hours to flush the system out.

You can't just add a check valve above ground when water is siphoning back down the well. An above ground check valve will cause negative pressure and contamination to enter your water lines. Just think about that check valve you installed above ground. Why is water no longer siphoning back down the well? It is just like holding your finger over the top of a straw full of water. Water doesn't fall out the bottom of the straw because of the negative pressure. And negative pressure will draw in contamination from other places. You need a good check valve in the well. You could also have a hole in the pipe down in the well, which will stir up the "dirt".

so if I am losing pressure back towards the well then I need a check valve down that way farther? It is possible water is being sucked out by the other houses between me and the well. I ran water for hours and it keeps coming out dirty after it's ben off awhile.

The only check valve needed should be installed right above the pump.

cacher_chick said:

The only check valve needed should be installed right above the pump.

Click to expand...

assuming a submersible otherwise the checkvalve is the footvalve in the bottom of the well.