cloudy water

[JimIL]

Had a new well drilled about 2 months ago. While drilling the driller hit, what he called a mud vein, quite a mess, after the well was finished it pumped very muddy water for a day or two. He has me running it two hours and off two hours when I am home and let it run all night every other night. After the the well is off for a while it runs clear for about ten minutes then clouds up then clears with a little sand looking particles, then after a hour or so the sand is gone. This has been going on for the last month. The driller keeps saying it will clear. To his credit he brought in a 1200 gallon tank and hooked it to the house. When the water is running clear I refill it. The driller doesn't seem worried and says this happens sometimes. I am looking for another opinion as winter is closing in.

 

[LLigetfa]

He has me running it two hours and off two hours when I am home and let it run all night every other night.

Instead of running it on and off, what if you ran it continuously at a higher GPM? What GPM can the well produce? What GPM can the pump produce and how many GPM are you running continuously? Maybe you are not pumping it quite fast enough.

The process is called over-pumping. The idea is to pump out onto the ground faster than you can pump into the tank. You put a ballvalve at the wellhead and slowly increase the outflow as it starts to run clear.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[JimIL]

It is pumping at about 20 gpm right of the well head even after running all night.

 

[LLigetfa]

After the the well is off for a while it runs clear for about ten minutes then clouds up...

The usual scenario for such a symptom, is that the pump draws faster than the well produces so for the first ten minutes, the level in the well is being drawn down. When that happens, there is a pressure difference and water rushes in to the well to balance the pressure. This in-rush usually carries in the silt. If the pump produced fewer GPM, in theory it should not stir up the silt.

In over-pumping, the idea is to deliberately stir up the silt to wash it away, hopefully leaving behind coarser material to act as a filter. Then under normal (lighter) GPM draw, the level in the well should not drop as much, the pressure differential not be so great, and silt should not stir up.

If/when you pump into a large tank, it is at the full GPM rate the pump can produce at the specific pressure. Generally, the lower the pressure, the more GPM the pump produces. If you increase the pressure settings it will slow the GPM somewhat. How much depends on the pump. Another option is to use a Cycle Stop Valve which will give you constant pressure and will try to reduce the GPM to the amount you actually use, filling the tank at a much slower rate. You could also simulate what a CSV does by restricting the flow before the pressure switch with a ballvalve.