New well drilled- muddy water

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irisheyes920

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We had a new well drilled yesterday and the pump company hooked it up today. The new well is at 123 ft (not sure if that's relevant or not). When the pump people left, they said to run the cold water in the bath tub for "a while", turn it off "for a while" and repeat this until the water runs clear. The hot water runs clear, but the cold looks like mud and leaves a film in the bath tub. I've let it run for approximately an hour, on and off at twenty minute increments, and it's still muddy in appearance.

Can anyone tell me how long it will take until we get clear water???
 

NHmaster

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Yet another driller that is too damn busy to develop the well before pulling off the hole. Is the economy really that good that they could not take the time to do it right. I'd be pissed.
 

irisheyes920

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Do I call the drilling company or the water well pump company??


Not that this is pertinent to the question at hand, but our old well partially collapsed about three weeks ago. We didn't know why we had murky water that didn't settle when it sat in a glass on the counter, so we called a water well/pump company. They came out a few days later and said that we needed a new well. The drilling company that they recommended came out the next day and said that they would be here Thursday, Friday or Monday at the latest (this was on a Tuesday). They showed up yesterday (Thursday- a week late). When they were finished, the well/pump company dug a huge trench, hooked up all of the pipes and put in a new reservoir tank in the basement. They shoved some of the extra dirt around in the yard, but I have mounds and mini-hills all over. They said "It will settle back down."

I'm so frustrated that I just want to cry. We've been unable to use the water for almost three weeks now. I have two three year old boys and sponge baths aren't cutting it. It's been so cold up here in NY that taking them to a friends or relatives house to bathe and bringing them back out in the frigid temperatures is ludacris. Thankfully we have a Culligan water dispenser for drinking and I've been buying gallons of water at the store to cook and bathe with.

Thank you all for your help.
 

Waterwelldude

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Yet another driller that is too damn busy to develop the well before pulling off the hole. Is the economy really that good that they could not take the time to do it right. I'd be pissed.


You hit the nail on the head Mr Griffin
I hate reading these kind of post.
When some so called driller is to lazy or in too big of a hurry to HIS job.
That kind of workmanship make all well drillers look bad.

Some of the crap some drillers tell there costumers.

Let it run for a few days, it will clear up.
Its ok for a little mud, just let the pump do the rest.

Just some of the ways the bad drillers get out of doing THERE job.
In-turn, the costumer gets a bad well, premature ware on the pump,the waste of electricity running the pump just out on the ground, and the bad rap all well people get from the bad ones that are out there.



Travis
 

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Muddy water!

I haven't seen a Lawyer yet that could fix a well:).

I recommend that you call the driller and the pump installer and advise them that THEY have a problem that needs to be rectified immediately.

Don't even mention legal action yet!

NY York drillers (and I think pump installers) are required to be state licensed well drillers/pump installers http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/5345.html and should be members of their state well drillers association http://www.nywelldriller.org/. It's not required but they should also be members of the National Ground Water Assn. www.ngwa.org.

There are usually state regulations and fines against drillers/installers that do unprofessional work.

I have a problem drillers doing less than a professional job.

This driller/pump installer should rectify the problem immediately. The driller may have to return and drill you a new well again.

If they have been paid and refuse to return in a timely manor. . . then it's time to contact a Lawyer.

Porky Cutter, MGWC
Master Ground Water Certified by the National Ground Water Assn. www.ngwa.org.
www.dci-inc.us
 

Waterwelldude

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If the driller will not help or try and fix the problem, the ONLY people that can help you is the state water well licensing board.

Lawyers can't do anything but take your money. They have no teeth in this matter.

If you had a contract with the driller saying the driller would give you a perfect well, then a lawyer may help. Other than that' a lawyer cant give you much help in this matter.

If you start saying the word lawyer or lawsuit, that may put the driller in a defencive mode, and may end up costing you more money than a complete new well. On top of that, it could take years to get anything done.

There are some trashy drillers out there. If you got one of them, good luck.

There are some good ones. If you got one of them, they will have no problem with making the well right and taking care of there costumers.


Travis
 

irisheyes920

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I can't even begin to thank you all for your help and suggestions. It's really sad when complete strangers, with no face-to-face contact, can help me and answer my questions, while two different companies shrug their shoulders and point to the other guy.

We called the pump installation company back after I posted my query and over an hour and a half later, one of the contractors finally called back. Granted it's a weekend so he would be "on call", there's no excuse for a delay like that. He said to take a sample of the water and leave it sit and that he would be back the next morning (Saturday) between 8:30-9am. 9:15am, he came back and said that he "wasn't sure what the problem is." He tinkered with some things around the tank in the basement, said that he drained the tank and it may or may not clear up. He said to again run the bathtub cold water for ten minute increments and "it should clear up." He said that he had another job to get to and he'd call back later. (It's now Sunday mid-morning and we have yet to hear from him.) I asked him what that would do to my septic system and he said "At ten minute time periods, nothing. I told you twenty before and that may have been too much." (thanks :rolleyes:)

We also brought up the several mounds of dirt that are partially blocking our sidewalk and stairs to get into the house (they're over 3 feet high in some areas) and asked if they were going to level them out. He said no, that it was too close to the house and the mounds "should" settle out by next winter. I tried to shovel out at least the sidewalk and the stairs so that we don't have to climb over the mound to get to our cars and it's too heavy for me to do. I have taken pictures of the mounds from multiple angles and measured them (in the photos) to show the owner.

I should state that the owner of this pump/well company is "on a business related trip" to Mexico for a drilling seminar of some sort, so it's his employees that are supposed to be taking care of things while he's gone. I have documented the whole ordeal with dates, times, issues, pictures, etc. in the event that I need to use the information.

I think that the easiest way to describe what the water looks like now is in weather terms. Our water looked like an impending hurricane sky when they left on Friday and now it's partly cloudy.

I think that not being properly informed as to what would go on and what to expect is my major problem, aside from the fact that I feel like I'm getting blown off and told to fix the water problem on my own.

But again, thank you all!!! :D
 
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