Hrogo
New Member
Contractor used their pump for most of the construction period. Last 2 weeks before we moved in the Flotec 1HP 20 GPM series went in and we were pumping dirty water for a week or so to clear out the well. At one point while using the big rainbird lawn sprinkler we apparently had a few of the impellers go out (husband happened to be watching it at the time and thought the sprinkler had sank or fell over due to the significant drop in pressure) pump still worked put pressure took a big hit. We continued watering with the low pressure for a few weeks and the water was crystal clear but it was now a much warmer. (We later realized it was because the pump was on continually and generating heat.) We tried switching out the pressure switch and when that failed to fix our pressure problem we knew it was probably a pump issue and started calling around. Two days later the pump died completely. I had filled our 15X48" pool for the kids before it quit. Water quality was excellent, clear and mostly cool, so I was able to use lots of water without any dirt issues.
Called the well driller out to install a new pump. He installed a Franklin 1HP 20 GPM model. The construction plumber guy had installed the last one and we had some doubts it was done properly. (There were some minor wiring issues but ultimately not the reason the pump failed.) Well guy puts in a new pump and says let it run. We did we ran it pretty hard for seven days and still had very dirty gray/brown sediment water. Called the well guy again and he suggests to put hoses on both of the frost frees (we have 2 of them) and run it full blast 24 hours straight. We did 48 hours and saw no real improvement. I don't even want my dogs to drink the water that is coming out and dogs drink lake water, but this still looks super dirty. (I grew up rural, live in a farming community, and am not a "girly-girl" furthermore, I know the minerals won't hurt them but... yuck.) So we are trying another 48 hours and we're 24 hours in and it's still the same quality. Had some power outages yesterday while trying to run it and that made things REALLY bad as the water got really dirty. Approximately 50 gallons (10 5 gallon buckets) to get the filters to even come close to a gray tea density clear. We have to drain the filters to the house after every shower and in a 5 gallon bucket we are ending up with a cup of gray brown sand. I hesitate to even call it sand as it is a very fine gray shiny powder when dry. To make matters worse I had to top off the pool as it was getting really low. Filled the top 5 inches with water (thinking maybe I can vacuum this stuff up... wrong) and destroyed the clarity of the pool which now has a good 1/4 of gray sediment on the bottom. Will be draining it and probably putting it away unless we can figure out a solution soon.
I read about a product available to help settle this material to the bottom of the well. Is that something we should even consider doing? Will changing the pressure switch to a lower setting help? We have a 40/60 now. What about letting everything sit for a couple of days? The material does seem to sink if given time. (Pool is not as clear but most of it seems to be on the bottom. I miss my clear water, but we have 3 acres and water pressure is important for the trees, pressure washer etc. I'm also concerned about burning this new pump up by running it to much. It has a 5 year warranty but really I just want to get the problem fixed. What do you think?
200 Ft. well drilled 4/11 for construction of a new house.
Casing is 6 5/8, factory screened from 180-200ft.
Poured surface sealed to 55 ft.
Gravel packed from 55-200 ft.
Static water level was 61 feet (actually has raised to 45ft a few weeks ago)
Well Test Data 30+ GPM for 7 hours (Draw down not listed, but we know that it has fast recovery based on small test when new pump was installed)
1 HP Franklin pump 20 GPM series set at 130 ft.
Brown Sand to 11 ft
Brown Clay 11-21 ft
Brown clay and sand 21 to 72 ft
Brown sand and DG 72-196 ft (Water strata is here)
Gray Sandy clay 196-200 ft.
Called the well driller out to install a new pump. He installed a Franklin 1HP 20 GPM model. The construction plumber guy had installed the last one and we had some doubts it was done properly. (There were some minor wiring issues but ultimately not the reason the pump failed.) Well guy puts in a new pump and says let it run. We did we ran it pretty hard for seven days and still had very dirty gray/brown sediment water. Called the well guy again and he suggests to put hoses on both of the frost frees (we have 2 of them) and run it full blast 24 hours straight. We did 48 hours and saw no real improvement. I don't even want my dogs to drink the water that is coming out and dogs drink lake water, but this still looks super dirty. (I grew up rural, live in a farming community, and am not a "girly-girl" furthermore, I know the minerals won't hurt them but... yuck.) So we are trying another 48 hours and we're 24 hours in and it's still the same quality. Had some power outages yesterday while trying to run it and that made things REALLY bad as the water got really dirty. Approximately 50 gallons (10 5 gallon buckets) to get the filters to even come close to a gray tea density clear. We have to drain the filters to the house after every shower and in a 5 gallon bucket we are ending up with a cup of gray brown sand. I hesitate to even call it sand as it is a very fine gray shiny powder when dry. To make matters worse I had to top off the pool as it was getting really low. Filled the top 5 inches with water (thinking maybe I can vacuum this stuff up... wrong) and destroyed the clarity of the pool which now has a good 1/4 of gray sediment on the bottom. Will be draining it and probably putting it away unless we can figure out a solution soon.
I read about a product available to help settle this material to the bottom of the well. Is that something we should even consider doing? Will changing the pressure switch to a lower setting help? We have a 40/60 now. What about letting everything sit for a couple of days? The material does seem to sink if given time. (Pool is not as clear but most of it seems to be on the bottom. I miss my clear water, but we have 3 acres and water pressure is important for the trees, pressure washer etc. I'm also concerned about burning this new pump up by running it to much. It has a 5 year warranty but really I just want to get the problem fixed. What do you think?
200 Ft. well drilled 4/11 for construction of a new house.
Casing is 6 5/8, factory screened from 180-200ft.
Poured surface sealed to 55 ft.
Gravel packed from 55-200 ft.
Static water level was 61 feet (actually has raised to 45ft a few weeks ago)
Well Test Data 30+ GPM for 7 hours (Draw down not listed, but we know that it has fast recovery based on small test when new pump was installed)
1 HP Franklin pump 20 GPM series set at 130 ft.
Brown Sand to 11 ft
Brown Clay 11-21 ft
Brown clay and sand 21 to 72 ft
Brown sand and DG 72-196 ft (Water strata is here)
Gray Sandy clay 196-200 ft.