Describe the well and pump system. If it is a sandpoint well, the bleach could have corroded the screen.
It is a deep well, 180'.
I think you should have run more water to the ditch to clear the chlorine and flush any sediment. You can run a hose to the drain line on the pressure tank, or to an outside faucet that is not fed thru the filter.
Also, flush the pressure tank.
Precharged Pressure tank flush:
1. Connect a hose to the sediment drain valve, and run that to where you plan to drain the water. I suggest filtering the output through a cloth if you suspect the sediment may include sand.
2. Turn off the pump.
3. Open the drain valve, and let it drain until the water stops. It would be possibly interesting to watch the first water that comes out.
4. Close the valve, and turn the pump back on, and let pressure build.
5. Repeat steps 2, 3 and 4 as needed.
Thank you for your reply, I appreciate it. You seem to be someone with plumbing and well experience so I'd like to give you some more information and background. Apologize if it is lengthy. I've attached some photos that I will explain.
I do have an outside hydrant that does not feed through any filter, which I did run for quite a while when I shocked the well. I can certainly run it again for any length of time.
As you can see from one of the photos the unprofessional who did the original home plumbing was too lazy to install a drain valve on the pressure tank, so I have no way to drain it unless I reconfigure the plumbing. In the same photo you can see where the main well water line enters through the wall, a small spin down filter, and the larger whole house filter. The spin down filter doesn't seem to get too full, but the larger whole house filter does much more frequently. I also included a pic of the old filter I just replaced so you can see what it looks like...it looked even worse when I first removed it.
The other photo shows my water-water pump-and-dump geothermal unit, which is fed by the same house well, but bypasses the domestic plumbing with a direct feed off the incoming well service line (and discharges into a pond on my property). I originally had the same smaller spin down filter installed on the geo service line, but it was really getting clobbered by the sediment problem after I shocked the well. You can see that I replaced it with a higher end filter that plugs into a wall outlet and automatically cleans and drains itself every 7 days. I was worried about the material entering the geo unit and causing damage, although my HVAC installer felt there wasn't anything to worry about. I am calling the material “sediment”, but it is not a grainy/sandy material, it leaves more of a black somewhat slimy film on the filters. (BTW, speaking of a geo pump and dump system, I could write an essay on the issues we had with mine and the many hard lessons learned.)
I have contacted my nearest commercial water testing lab that I've used in the past and requested information on how to submit a water sample for testing that includes determining what the “sediment” material actually is.
So, if part of the solution is to drain the pressure tank I will make that happen, but the fact that the geo pre-filter fed directly from the well getting so much of the sediment may tell us that draining the pressure tank wouldn't help much.
Any further thoughts and suggestions would again be much appreciated. Thanks.
I think you should have run more water to the ditch to clear the chlorine and flush any sediment. You can run a hose to the drain line on the pressure tank, or to an outside faucet that is not fed thru the filter.
Also, flush the pressure tank.
Precharged Pressure tank flush:
1. Connect a hose to the sediment drain valve, and run that to where you plan to drain the water. I suggest filtering the output through a cloth if you suspect the sediment may include sand.
2. Turn off the pump.
3. Open the drain valve, and let it drain until the water stops. It would be possibly interesting to watch the first water that comes out.
4. Close the valve, and turn the pump back on, and let pressure build.
5. Repeat steps 2, 3 and 4 as needed.
Thank you for your reply, I appreciate it. You seem to be someone with plumbing and well experience so I'd like to give you some more information and background. Apologize if it is lengthy. I've attached some photos that I will explain.
I do have an outside hydrant that does not feed through any filter, which I did run for quite a while when I shocked the well. I can certainly run it again for any length of time.
As you can see from one of the photos the unprofessional who did the original home plumbing was too lazy to install a drain valve on the pressure tank, so I have no way to drain it unless I reconfigure the plumbing. In the same photo you can see where the main well water line enters through the wall, a small spin down filter, and the larger whole house filter. The spin down filter doesn't seem to get too full, but the larger whole house filter does much more frequently. I also included a pic of the old filter I just replaced so you can see what it looks like...it looked even worse when I first removed it.
The other photo shows my water-water pump-and-dump geothermal unit, which is fed by the same house well, but bypasses the domestic plumbing with a direct feed off the incoming well service line (and discharges into a pond on my property). I originally had the same smaller spin down filter installed on the geo service line, but it was really getting clobbered by the sediment problem after I shocked the well. You can see that I replaced it with a higher end filter that plugs into a wall outlet and automatically cleans and drains itself every 7 days. I was worried about the material entering the geo unit and causing damage, although my HVAC installer felt there wasn't anything to worry about. I am calling the material “sediment”, but it is not a grainy/sandy material, it leaves more of a black somewhat slimy film on the filters. (BTW, speaking of a geo pump and dump system, I could write an essay on the issues we had with mine and the many hard lessons learned.)
I have contacted my nearest commercial water testing lab that I've used in the past and requested information on how to submit a water sample for testing that includes determining what the “sediment” material actually is.
So, if part of the solution is to drain the pressure tank I will make that happen, but the fact that the geo pre-filter fed directly from the well getting so much of the sediment may tell us that draining the pressure tank wouldn't help much.
Any further thoughts and suggestions would again be much appreciated. Let me know if you can't view the photos. Thanks.
