New to wells, air, sediment question

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jtaoj

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Hi, just purchased a manufactured home in SE Idaho in the mountains. The place has a well. Home is < 5 years old as is the well. The well is 320' deep, and the water flow in the original document shows 30+gpm. The house plumbing is poly/plastic and the well line is poly and looks to be 3/4"+ and is blue.

We bought this late summer. It is now winter. We have been at the place every two to three weeks and all was well until a month ago, and then this weekend.

A month ago, my family spent the night at the place and my wife said the water had a slight odor (smelly). We spent the day yesterday checking on the place and doing a roof repair on an out building. When my wife turned the kitchen faucet on, lots of air came out and the water was brownish in color. We turned on all of the inside faucets and lots of air, water, and brown water. It eventually cleared up after letting all of the faucets run for several minutes. The toilets also had similar issues, but if we ran the faucets near the toilets, it cleared most of the air out. The brown color and smell would also disappear.

We were only there for about 4 hours, and a couple of times, we would see a little bit of the same, but it all essentially was gone after running the water and letting it run.

The modular has a decent crawl space, so I climbed under. No noticeable leaks. This thing has a small holding tank (5-10 gal???) suspended from the floor joists. The water line coming in from the well/pump is blue poly. After the air and brown cleared out, the pressure was good at all points. One thing I do not know is what the pressure gauge should read. While under the house, I noticed it was at 30 psi. I did not think to watch and see if it would drop, etc. I went down to look for leaks.

We do not know any of the neighbors at this point too well, and yesterday was pretty light on activity, so we didn't get a chance to verify the well water level is fine, but it seems like after clearing the air, etc., everything was fine and water flow was good. We have been told the ground water in the area has never had any problems.

It does look like the power may have gone out at some point in the past three weeks, but we do not know how long.

Anyway, I just found this forum and it looks like there are lots of good opinions, so any help is appreciated. Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for any advice.
 
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jtaoj

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Bob,

Yes. We hit freezing temps, and we have been leaving the water on.

Thanks.

Jeff
 

Speedbump

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Do you mean you leave it running somewhere or you leave the pump turned on electrically?

If you don't drain the system down before leaving, you are asking for a real nightmare.

bob...
 

jtaoj

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No, we leave the power on the whole system, but have not left a tap running.

So, from what you are saying, we need to physically turn if off and drain it each time.

I think you are also eluding to something has cracked due to freezing? I did talk to another guy I know who has not had any issues, so I thought I was good to go.

Thoughts? Help? Yikes?
 

Speedbump

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All depends on whether you keep the house above freezing temps and all the pipes from the pump to the tank and all the plumbing beyond the tank is kept above 32 degrees. Most homes are set up this way, but cottages sometimes aren't simply because most folks don't want to pay the heating bill it would require to keep the cottage warm all winter. Many cottages are setup where you simply open a valve and a faucet to drain the entire system down the well.

bob...
 

jtaoj

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We have been keeping it at 55 degrees. If the power were to go out, then we would have a big problem.

Any thoughts on the issues I describe?

Thanks,

Jeff
 

Speedbump

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Just about anytime the power is turned off and the pressure is allowed to go to zero for a while, turning the power back on will stir the mineral in the pipes and you will experience what you described. Problem with that theory is what took the pressure to zero? A leak, maybe a slow leak in a toilet?

bob...
 

jtaoj

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Actually, we think the power may have gone off, but we do not know how long. The clock on the stove was blinking, so it may have been off long enough for what you describe to occur.

Thanks again for your help and information. This is all new and I hope to not make too many mistakes along the way.

Is there a good website anywhere to learn about wells and well maintenance? I am fairly handy, but will use a pro when it makes sense too.
 
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