The Batusi
New Member
Glad to find a forum that might help me diagnose my pretty recent issues...
Last November my pump had to be replaced. Instead of a shallow well (was told it was 100 - 150 feet) it was a 300ft well. Well let me back up for a second. No one knew where the well was. Had no above ground cap. With some creativity located it about 20 ft from the house under ground. The well casing was under 6 feet of ground and had some steel plate over a 4 X4 ft hole). Ok so had to get the locals to come and pull the pump. It was jammed in there pretty well. Pump replaced... In case this is going to matter the water line had to be spliced where it kinked during the removal process in a few sections.
Before this pump was put in the well water was perfect! I have 300 gallons of fish tanks around here and never had to change any ph / alkalinity or anything. Perfect mountain well water.
After the pump was put in place I could taste an oily substance and noticed air bubbles in the stream out of the faucet a few seconds of fine bubbles, no bubbles, bubbles, no bubbles. Figured it would clear its self up. Before the well cap got buried again we had rain and the water in the house turned brown due to the hole filling up with enough water to flow into the casing.
The petroleum smell and these bubbles never went away. But the taste and smell was not enough to stop us from drinking and using the water. Now with the snow cap melting off the water has become undrinkable. I think I have narrowed it down to being these little bubbles in the water causing this. There is no oil residue that one would expect to see if the well was contaminated that way. It literally smells and tastes like diesel fuel. Those little bubbles rush to the top of a glass of water like it is carbonated. We finally stopped using the water. I will say that over the past few months, looking back, I have had water that actually made my mouth kind of numb. This area was fracked a few years ago and there is a 10 acre holding pond about a mile from here, but asking others in the area their water appears ok.
Can anyone give me an idea of what these bubbles are and what I need to try and do? I am pretty confident in my bubble theory. If I grab a sample when those bubbles are not visible the water is not nearly as bad!
The old pump, for what its worth in troubleshooting, was replaced because she would over heat and turn off for periods of time (thermal shut off). With the new pump I am getting 40 PSI at the tank, before it was around 25 - 30.
Thanks in advance!
Last November my pump had to be replaced. Instead of a shallow well (was told it was 100 - 150 feet) it was a 300ft well. Well let me back up for a second. No one knew where the well was. Had no above ground cap. With some creativity located it about 20 ft from the house under ground. The well casing was under 6 feet of ground and had some steel plate over a 4 X4 ft hole). Ok so had to get the locals to come and pull the pump. It was jammed in there pretty well. Pump replaced... In case this is going to matter the water line had to be spliced where it kinked during the removal process in a few sections.
Before this pump was put in the well water was perfect! I have 300 gallons of fish tanks around here and never had to change any ph / alkalinity or anything. Perfect mountain well water.
After the pump was put in place I could taste an oily substance and noticed air bubbles in the stream out of the faucet a few seconds of fine bubbles, no bubbles, bubbles, no bubbles. Figured it would clear its self up. Before the well cap got buried again we had rain and the water in the house turned brown due to the hole filling up with enough water to flow into the casing.
The petroleum smell and these bubbles never went away. But the taste and smell was not enough to stop us from drinking and using the water. Now with the snow cap melting off the water has become undrinkable. I think I have narrowed it down to being these little bubbles in the water causing this. There is no oil residue that one would expect to see if the well was contaminated that way. It literally smells and tastes like diesel fuel. Those little bubbles rush to the top of a glass of water like it is carbonated. We finally stopped using the water. I will say that over the past few months, looking back, I have had water that actually made my mouth kind of numb. This area was fracked a few years ago and there is a 10 acre holding pond about a mile from here, but asking others in the area their water appears ok.
Can anyone give me an idea of what these bubbles are and what I need to try and do? I am pretty confident in my bubble theory. If I grab a sample when those bubbles are not visible the water is not nearly as bad!
The old pump, for what its worth in troubleshooting, was replaced because she would over heat and turn off for periods of time (thermal shut off). With the new pump I am getting 40 PSI at the tank, before it was around 25 - 30.
Thanks in advance!
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