Cloudy water after new submerged pump

[Euratte]

I have a problem. About 2 weeks ago I got a dirty taste and some sediment(little gravel) coming through my house faucets. I called a well company,They brought the well top up to the surface, placed a new submerged pump in and a new bladder tank. They told me to leave the chlorine in for 24 hours to disenfect the well. After 24 hours I flushed the well of chlorine and now, I have been getting muddy water and sometimes it looks like a glass of milk. They also pulled the old lines out and put new lines in the well. It has been 3 days and my water is still dirty. Before all of this started my water was great, never a problem. Please help!

 

[Euratte]

I also filled up our dogs water bowl and after 4 hours it was still cloudy. Could it be that they just stirred it up taking out the old lines or is something wrong.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

does not sound good

call the well guy back out and see what he thinks....

but from what you are telling me with gravel and silt.......

it sounds like you are in the market to have a new well drilled......

probably a much deeper well....



do you have some close by neighbors that have had

the same problems lately??

 

[Gary Slusser]

Yes call the well guy, you may not have run enough water off or the new pump and plumbing is stiring up dirt. Or shocking the well has caused a ater quality problem.

Before a new well.... get a water test done and buy water treatment. A new well may require water treatment anyway and you'd have much less money to buy it with.

 

[Euratte]

No problems from the neighbors. The problem I had was that there was gravel and a dirty taste. When they dug up the well top (4 foot down) I could see the water seep when I turned on the water and the pump kicked on, which made me think it was the seal. Never had a problem with the amount of water, color, or taste before this. The gravel disappeared and the water was clear before they did this work, but it was contaiminated, which I still think was the seal. This just cost me $1400. I hope I dont have to have a new well. Clear water before the work, now its cloudy. I called them, closed, but they are good about calling back when they open on Monday.

 

[Raucina]

If the old pump was good enough to pump dirt and gravel, why did you let them change to a new one? If a well is pumping dirt, no honest pump guy will put in a new pump and tank - thats absolutely the last thing you would want to do in that case. Your well guy knew that, and the well guys here know that. First you fix the seal, then you monitor the well with the existing functioning pump. When the well was open that was the time to drop a line and monitor the pumping depth to water.... utilizing the old pump. If they didnt do at least that, I would say you have been ripped off. How deep is the well? maybe you have some caving at depth and it could be lined or deepened down the old hole. Its like the mechanic that does a valve job on a engine, puts it back together and then tells you that the block was cracked all along. Tough luck!

 

[Speedbump]

I have had lots of customers tell me they are getting all kinds of things from their wells just to find out it was much smaller than they originally stated.

When you say gravel, are these pieces actually rock? If so, how big? Pump impellers can't pump very big rocks. Could you crush these rocks with your finger and thumb?

Did the well guy pump the well off outside before hooking it up to the house? If not, he should have.

No matter what the case was, you will need to run the water for quite a while to clear it up after a pump change out.

I also agree with Raucina, that he should have utilized the old pump to check out this gravel situation.

bob...

 

[Euratte]

I have been flushing the well and it is getting alot better. Someone told me it could take 6 hours before it is completely clear. The rocks are like scale off of the old lines they pulled up. The dirt I'm getting up is very fine now, when it dries it is like dust. My old well pump was very old, it was above ground in my garage, I'm glad he put in a submerged pump. From the length of the line they pulled out I'd say my well is 75- 100 ft. deep. Thanks for all of your help!

 

[Abikerboy]

I have been flushing the well and it is getting alot better. Someone told me it could take 6 hours before it is completely clear. The rocks are like scale off of the old lines they pulled up. The dirt I'm getting up is very fine now, when it dries it is like dust. My old well pump was very old, it was above ground in my garage, I'm glad he put in a submerged pump. From the length of the line they pulled out I'd say my well is 75- 100 ft. deep. Thanks for all of your help!

I helped a friend of mine replace a pump earlier in the year. We ran the new pump with the line sticking out of the well for about 3 hours, then after setting the pump in place, we allowed an outdoor faucet to run at about 1/2 flow overnight. He still had very cloudy water for about 3 days, but it cleared up well after that.

 

[Speedbump]

Ah so, it was scale not rock. That is a good thing. The scale goes away, the rocks usually don't.

If they removed a jet and replaced it with a submersible, it's even more obvious since the submersible is moving a lot more water and is going to clean the drill cuttings from the bottom of the well which the jet could never pull.

bob...