Ran out of pressure, dirty water from well.

CTyler · Oct 8, 2005

I was running two sprinklers yesterday getting new seed watered in good. After about 3 hours there was a big pressure drop. The sprinklers could be seen and hear while working in the shop. I walked over to the house and saw the pressure was about 35lbs and turned off the breaker to the well. This happened about noon yesterday.

After letting it sit for 10 min then turning on the breaker the pressure came right up. Pretty much figured the well got low on water. This is the first time this has happened. I checked the water output at the pressure tank and it was clear. Then went back out to the shop for 4 or 5 more hours, no more water usage during that time.

After being in the house and using the facilties a couple times you can't see the bottom of the toilet the water is so dirty. The well is about 300' from the house so it probably took a little while before the dirty stuff got there.

Is there anything I need know about? Like putting the water softener on bypass? Or just water the plants from the hydrant until it is clear again. Then run water out the of pressure tank.

HonourMe · Oct 8, 2005

I would immediately put the water softener on by pass, since the sediment that you are now picking up will deposit itself at the bottom of the water softener. I would also drain some water off of the bottom of the water heater a few times until the water clears. This sediment will settle at the bottom of the water heater and the heat will bake it into a rock type situation. If you can quickly install a filter on the incoming water line, that will be best. Just be prepared to be changing cartridges on a frequent basis. You pulled the well down significantly and the pump started to pull up the sediment that has been settling down at the bottom of the well. This is a common occurrence when there is heavy demand for water on a well. The extent of the turbidity that you will continue to get is dependant on how close your pump is located to the bottom of the well.

megotatractor · Oct 8, 2005

well, I think you better put the water softener on bypass till things clear, then do a manual recharge. dirt cannot build up in a bladder type pressure tank, but if you have an open type with side connection some sediment could be in there. have you had any drought? how deep is the well? ever watered that much before?

Egon · Oct 8, 2005

Suggest you leave the pump off for as long as feasable. Turn off water heater.
Flush systems when pump is turned back on.

Leaving the pump off will allow the drawdown cone in the reservoir to recharge. Use water sparingly for a few days after pump is on.

Egon

CTyler · Oct 8, 2005

The water softener is on bypass. Turned off the WH, cold water inlet and the circulating pump. I had not used any hot water so the water was clear when getting a sample from tank drains.

This is a shallow well about 80' deep with a 12" casing, don't know how far the pump is from the bottom. I don't usually run sprinklers except to start new grass. Then its' one sometimes two for an hour.

This summer watering trees I'd fill my 200+ gal tank for the tractor. We would do this a couple times week when it was really hot/dry and use about 350 gallons. Never had any problems.

This year seems wetter than last year. We still have water in my catch dam and I've pumped a couple thousand gallons out of it watering with a portable pump. Last year it was dry by july. Overall its seems it been a bit dry though.

The well was rated pretty low at 5GPM. The sprinklers are less than one each. Guess I'll let the rain take care of it from now on.

RoyJackson · Oct 8, 2005

"Guess I'll let the rain take care of it from now on. "

That would be a good idea. I've had a shallow well...they do tend to run out of water pretty easily.

CTyler · Oct 8, 2005

The good thing is the city/county is pressure testing the rural water line that was just put in this summer. The water was not going to come by our area originally. However there were a number peeps that started a petition and they had to have four houses per mile sign up. When you signed up there was a $2k+ deposit. That was a bitter pill after spending 8k on a well the year before. We are planning to run the 400' line from the road to the house next year and use the well for water etc..

I don't know if it has any affect on my well but they recently built and filled the 1 million gallon tank thats is 1 mile away.

btw...thanks to everyone for the suggestions, didn't think about the water heaters at all.

tawilson · Oct 9, 2005

I bought a Sears submersible pump last year. In the manual there was a procedure they recommend doing occasionally for the health of the well and pump. I forgot what they called it, something like purging the well, where you either have a valve or disconnect a line and just let the pump and water run. Apparently it flushes out the well and the veins to it. I don't have my manual here, so I may be all wet on this. Maybe someone will know what I'm talking about. Or maybe it was another dream. I'll get the manual later and see.

GaryQWA · Oct 9, 2005

Softener resin is a fairly good filter media, but a softener shouldn't be used as a filter. If sediment gets to the bottom of the resin bed, it will get right out of the tank up the distributor tube and into the building's plumbing. When the watr clears, do a manual regeneration of the softener and all should be well.

Dirty water sediment can't harm an electric water heater and won't harm gas or oil fired heaters although the sediment in this case will lay on the bottom. The only way to get sediment out of a water heater is to drain and then flush the tank. Just draining some water out gets a very small amount of the total volume in the tank. Turn off the power/fuel to the heater. Shut off the cold water feed line valve. Open a hot water faucet or the T/P valve and the drain valve. When the tank is empty and with the drain valve open, turn on the cold water feed for say 5 seconds (with the drain valve open) and then shut it off. Watch the last bit of water out the drain valve; it will be the dirtiest. Repeat until that water is as clear as possible. Shut off any hot water faucets and then refill the tank, bleed off any air and you're done.

Purging a well isn't done with a pump it is done with purge blocks, air lifting, and/or a bailer. It's meant to clean the bottom of the well of sediment. Your pump can't do that becasue the motor is under the inlet to the pump. And the pump isn't set on the bottom of the well; usually they are 5 to 20' off the bottom.

The cause of this dirty water is pulling the water down too far into the well and recovery water is bringing in dirt. This may clear up or not. I wouldn't allow this to happen again; grass is not as important as clear water. I wouldn't install a sediment filter, the pressure tank doesn't mind the dirt and very little remains in the tank. You can drain and flush it the same as the water heater; just turn the power on to the pump for about 5 seconds with the drain valve open. Now would be a good tiem to check and adjust the capative air pressure if you drain and flush the tank. It has to be 1-2 psi less than the cut-in pressure setting of the switch; with no water in the tak. I.E. 30/50 psi water pressure gets 29-28 psi air pressure with no water in the tank.

Gary Slusser

CTyler · Oct 9, 2005

Thanks for the info. The WH's are gas and no hot water was used so I don't know why I bothered to check it. I ran the water yesterday afternoon at about 1GPM straight off the inlet before the pressue tank. It only took a couple minutes to clear up. Then turned off the breaker and let the pressure drop all the way. Then turned on the breaker again checking the water was clear. Then turned the water back on to the house.

The HW dispenser, RO unit, softer, water heater in/out valves are all still shut off. The only water usage so far has been flushing the toilet and there hasn't been much of that. Been spending a lot of time in the shop getting that mess cleaned up and doing some framing. So the rocks get a fair amount of warm water.

Luckily the wife has been out of town since Thursday which just happens to be the last time I took a shower. So its just me until tonight. So about the only thing left to do is open the HW valves take a shower and regen the softener.

Regarding a whole house sediment/filter system...I'd been considering one for a while actually. Although the water seems clear we go thru three filters on the fridge a year at almost $30 a pop.

Before this happened I'd noticed some sediment in the toilet tanks and the water had always been clear. Our RO unti has been fine but it will back wash the filter.