New(ish) well water issues

[Terry McCloud]

So about a year ago I built a new home in Southwest Florida, well water. The original well driller drilled significantly lower then he stated and once we moved in our sediment filter (2.5 x 20" x 20micron) that was installed prior to the whole house RO system would get a grayish almost concrete color sludge on it in days, and we were getting a lot of sand. Called, business is gone. Another driller came out drilled it and put a spin down filter on the well to help.with sand. So current setup (over a yr now) is steel well casing to spin down filter to 20 micron sediment filter to RO system. Problem I'm having is the prefilters are only lasting about 3 weeks before they are completely covered with that gray /concrete slurry. Any ideas?

 

[Reach4]

Another driller came out drilled it and put a spin down filter on the well to help.with sand.

Is the spin-down filter collecting much?

So current setup (over a yr now) is steel well casing to spin down filter to 20 micron sediment filter to RO system. Problem I'm having is the prefilters are only lasting about 3 weeks before they are completely covered with that gray /concrete slurry. Any ideas?

You could use a backwashing filter. It looks like a softener, but no brine tank. If just sediment, something like Clack Filter AG might be good media. It catches stuff like a sand filter, but it is lighter, and therefore easier to backwash. If you had iron to deal with at the same time, you could be catching sediment and treating iron and H2S in the same filter. I am not a pro.

If you got a third well, you could maybe get somebody to use really fine gravel outside of small slots in a full casing . I don't know how big your gray stuff is. If you scrape some gray stuff off of the cartridge filter, put it into a glass jar with water, and stir, how quickly does the sediment settle out?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[WorthFlorida]

Do you have a submersible pump, a above ground jet pump or a pump with the jet below ground? What size is the casting. Do you know the depth?

I'm not sure if SW Florida water table is similar to South Florida. In South Florida the hydrostatic pressure pushes the water almost five feet below grade. A 2" steel casing or larger, is used and a 1" to 1.5" PVC pipe is inserted (usually 20' length of pipe) into the casing, just like using a straw to allow water to be drawn from the top of the well. Do you know if yours set up this way? What did the second well guy drill? Did he go deeper? Are there any neighbors with wells?

 

[Terry McCloud]

The spin down filter isn't getting to much just a little sand. But it's only a 60 mesh so not very tight knit so think the other stuff just passes right through.

 

[Terry McCloud]

The well has a submersible pump and yes it has steel casing with a pvc pipe installed down the center of it to bring the water up. I purchased a finer mesh spin down filter 140 mesh (50ish micron) to see if that catches stuff. Unsure to depth believe around 70ft of casing I'll have to call health Dept to get exact numbers. But this well is not artisian in any capacity and the pump is bringing water up from depth, no natural water level pushing up. What would cause that grayish color sediment, especially enough to jam up a 20 micron filter in 3 weeks?

 

[Terry McCloud]

I'm no pro, pretty handy guy though, so if I went with a backwashing filter I just buy the head (clack?) And a resin tank sort of like water softener and fill with the suggested media to a certain point or with certain amount?

A friend recommended a water softener saying since it backwashes it would work well plus not a bad idea to soften the water pre RO. Any thoughts on the GE water softeners at HD? They run about $500 while my local water guy wants $1500 for a fleck brand one

 

[Valveman]

New wells just need to be developed. I would pump the well out, pre-filter, and let it run wide open for a few hours. Might even need to shut it off, let it recover for an hour or so, and pump it hard again. That grey stuff is probably drill debris and just needs to be pumped out.

 

[Terry McCloud]

New wells just need to be developed. I would pump the well out, pre-filter, and let it run wide open for a few hours. Might even need to shut it off, let it recover for an hour or so, and pump it hard again. That grey stuff is probably drill debris and just needs to be pumped out.

The first well was dug over a yr ago and the "new" well was dug over 10 months ago. I have let that thing run for hours on end multiple times. Wish that was it!

 

[Valveman]

Sometimes it takes weeks with turning it on and off several times during development. If it will settle to the bottom of a glass it can be filtered. If it is light and stays floating pumping it out no matter how long that takes is usually best.

 

[Terry McCloud]

More info.
Well is 140' deep and 58' casing, with saltwater intrusion.
25g hardness with .6 iron and 7.9 pH

 

[WorthFlorida]

That gray stuff could be shell rock that you see it everywhere in Florida. It's used for dirt roads and a base material for paved roads. If your casing ends at 58ft, the well driller went another 88 ft probably through shell rock (calcium carbonate, CaCO3) to hit a pocket of water. Most likely why the hardness level is very high. As valveman suggest it may just need more time. As reach suggest a backwash filter. A sand pool filter maybe a better way to go for a prefilter. Easily backwashed but you would have to do it manually. Since Florida has thousands of pool supply stores they are readily available.
GE water softeners are not made by GE. The name is licensed, just like Whirlpool softeners at Lowes. All water softeners work the same, only the controls and valving are different. Nothing wrong with a Fleck but do read this link.
https://www.flecksystems.com/

 

[Terry McCloud]

Thank you very much, all have been a big help. So final answer is I need some type of backwash filter system and since hardness is up there may as well be a softener. Now my question is, I can get the GE "branded" one at HD for ~$500 and install myself. Or have a company local put a fleck softener in for ~$1500. First is it worth the extra $1000, also does anyone know where I can buy a fleck softener or better to do a diy install? Thanks again for all the help it's much appreciated