Black Water
New Member
Four days ago I had my pump professionally replaced. The well had been originally installed with a cap at 4 feet below grade. We excavated and had the well extended with a pitless adapter and PVC piping to above grade. We live in PA with twenty acres of undisturbed forest up the hill behind us. Beyond that is rural residential and no mining. We were instructed to wait a few days before drinking and maybe run the hose a bit. We have a EcoSytem Water filter but it is bypassed so it wouldn’t clogged after the installation. The water color has fluctuated between inky black to light grey. After running the hose for an hour on 2 separate days it started grey and went to black. We have taken samples and let them rest and they do seem to mostly settle but the water doesn’t appear totally clear. There are no large pieces present. All water is drawn from cold water taps. Most concerning is that there is a greasy film present in the toilets and all samples taken. We had no problems like this before the installation, the old pump had stopped working.
We’ve been given contradictory advice – our plumbers saying to wait and run the water and another well knowledgeable friend saying to let it stay undisturbed for a few more days.
Is it likely that the new pump is more powerful and we should run it to clean out the system? Is the grease most likely a bacteria problem? Our plumbers did not recommend shocking the system because they said it would cause our water to be orange for weeks. Is this accurate? How long should we wait to put the filter back on?
We’ve been given contradictory advice – our plumbers saying to wait and run the water and another well knowledgeable friend saying to let it stay undisturbed for a few more days.
Is it likely that the new pump is more powerful and we should run it to clean out the system? Is the grease most likely a bacteria problem? Our plumbers did not recommend shocking the system because they said it would cause our water to be orange for weeks. Is this accurate? How long should we wait to put the filter back on?