Hey guys I've got a shallow well at one of my rental properties that has served me well for many, many years. However it was taking longer and longer to satisfy between cycles and had gotten to almost a minute so I did an acid wash of the well and now it cycles and fills up in about 15 seconds! The problem now is after the recent acid wash im getting small Amounts of sand... not a lot... but about a quarter cup every 4 to 5 days in my filter. Is it possible this will eventually go away or is there a bigger problem here?. A little info on the well....It is a shallow well, standing water is about 8 feet from the top. There is no foot valve,, only a check valve at the top and I have a 1HP sta-rite at the wellhead. Running a 30-50 switch. Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Want to figure this out before it tears this pump up because it is fairly new as well.
Shallow well pulling small amount of sand after cleaning
- Thread starter Matt A
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Bannerman
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The acid will have dissolved minerals that accumulated and effectively reduced the size of the perforations through the screen. The acid likely also dissolved a small amount of the metal screen so the perforations are now slightly larger and permitting small sand particles through which couldn't pass through before the acid treatment.
Suggest re-developing the well by disconnecting the discharge pipe from the pump, to allow the pump to pump out water and sand to the yard at the pump's maximum flow rate for several hours until the water eventually runs clear with sand no longer evident.
With regard to the pump running for only 15-seconds to fill the pressure tank, that is actually not a good thing as it is destructive to the pump. A larger pressure tank is actually needed so the pump will operate for 60-120 seconds to raise the pressure from 30 to 50 psi. A better option to replacing the pressure tank will be to install a Cycle Stop Valve on the outlet line from the well pump.
https://cyclestopvalves.com/
Suggest re-developing the well by disconnecting the discharge pipe from the pump, to allow the pump to pump out water and sand to the yard at the pump's maximum flow rate for several hours until the water eventually runs clear with sand no longer evident.
With regard to the pump running for only 15-seconds to fill the pressure tank, that is actually not a good thing as it is destructive to the pump. A larger pressure tank is actually needed so the pump will operate for 60-120 seconds to raise the pressure from 30 to 50 psi. A better option to replacing the pressure tank will be to install a Cycle Stop Valve on the outlet line from the well pump.
https://cyclestopvalves.com/
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Excellent advice...Thank you. I have considered a cycle stop valve but this system has served me well for some time. I probably should have just left it alone. I think I'm going to put a sediment strainer in front of the whole house filter and just monitor it.
Anytime you work on a well you need to pump it out hard for a long time to clear it up. Also, just cycling the pump like that will surge a well and it will make more sand compared to when using a Cycle Stop Valve and just continually drawing a slower and steady amount from the well.
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