Frustrated Well Newbie - Many problems, few solutions!

[Sud n Clean]

I'm new to the board, but have read many posts - and learned a lot, but a little too late, I'm afraid. Here's the low down. I have a 220' well w 6" pvc casing, 30' to the water, pump at approx 195'. Old pump - Franklin Electric submersible 1/2 hp, 230V, 2 wire. Have 30 or 40 gal pre-charged tank (broke, I think), pressure switch, sch40 down pipe. New pump - Aermotor submersible 1/2 hp, 230V, 2 wire. Old pump failed. Pulled it and replaced with new pump. Running at 50-70 on pressure switch, as 40 psi is too little to run two impact sprinklers connected to 400' of water hose. I think I just found out that my tank is bad, as the pump cycles on and off every 10 to 15 seconds at first, until it runs for a while and the pump no longer charges the system to the 70 psi kick off level. Water pressure continues to drop during the hour that I run the pump, dropping down to 40 psi and even lower. I have found that the system leaks off approx 4 psi per hour in a static state with the pump off, so I'm thinking the loss of pumping pressure isn't due to the obvious leak I have in the system. Also, the new pump will not recharge the line to the 70 psi high pressure limit when I shut off the valve (this is after it's run for a while and no longer cycles on and off). It only comes up 5 psi or so and then stops. So, I've been unplugging the pump when I turn off the water. When I let the pump sit overnight and plug it back in, it recharges the system like nothing's wrong. But something is wrong, isn't there! Can you help me?

[LLigetfa]

30' to the water, pump at approx 195'.

Ja, maybe... when the well recovers. What's happening is the table is dropping because you are drawing the water faster than it can recover. Oh, and yes, you probably have a busted bladder.

Two solutions... don't use so much water and replace the bladder. You might also consider a cycle stop valve and reduce the pressure to 40-60.

[Porky]

It sounds like the well is a low producer. As the stored water drops in the well, the pumps pumps less pressure. When you discontinue drawing water the well recovers. There isn't much that you can do about that other than drill a new well and hope it produces more water.

It also sounds as though the tank bladder is defective. I recommend that you replace the tank with a Pside-Kick http://www.cyclestopvalves.com/products.html. It includes everything you need including a new WX-102 tank. You don't need a large tank when you install a Pside-Kick. This will give you a constant pressure while delivering a required flow.

[Sud n Clean]

I had noticed that from time to time red "silt" would appear in the water. Would this be due to the water being drawn down too much?

[LLigetfa]

Red "silt" could be either precipitated iron or simply fine red clay. If it only happened when you draw lots of water from the well it is more likely to be clay that may be leaking in at the transition from the casing to the rock bore.

[valveman]

You don't have enough pump to utilize any water stored below 100'. When the water level is deeper than 100', that pump can no longer build 70 PSI at shut off. A 3/4 HP, 10 GPM series would allow you to pump two impact sprinklers (6 GPM) at 50 PSI from 190' deep. And it can still build to 70 at shut off even if the water level is at 195'. A 3/4 HP will keep the pressure and volume up as the water level drops all the way to 190', but it will pull harder on the well and may make the dirt problem worse. If you have a bigger pump, you maybe able to pump the well clean, but it is possible that it will always make dirt when you pump it hard.