100% duty cycle may be picking up more clay, but it is more diluted and therefore not seen. Click Inbox, above.
New residential water well in North Texas. Running into problems
- Thread starter Dunner
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How far above the slots is the pump? Could it be that it takes that long for the clay to travel thru the slots and up to the pump?
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Dunner
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this is my working theory. So casing is 740 with a 10 foot spud then the screen. So the pump is part 100 ft above the screen.
an 80 gallon bladder tank will hold about 24 gallons of water. so if you ran it at 1/4 gpm, it would take 1 hr 36 minutes between cycles. at 1/2 gpm about 48 minutes. doing it over the course of 24 hrs will cause the pump to cycle 15 times (at 1/4 gpm), 30 times (at 1/2 gpm), 45 times (at 3/4 gpm), and 60 times (at 1 gpm). so at 1 gpm you'd cycle the pump every 25 minutes. just make sure you don't run the well dry. maybe check the water level initially (with the rock drop method), then after 8 hrs. personally, I'd stick with 1/2 gpm to cycle roughly every 50 min
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Following that theory, there would be a cloudy interval brought into the casing every pump-run. Since you find that the cloudy water does not settle out, then after a while, you should emit a band of cloudy water to the tank fill each time on average, but the cloudy band may arrive at a different time in the run.
Running the low rate water from the drain valve at the tank would keep the cloudy water out of the house plumbing. Or you could do your slow flow out at the well.
Shining your laser pointer through the flow may give a more distinct bright line during each period.
If it takes 4-5 minutes for the cloudy water to reach the surface, it would tank 6-8 big pressure tanks to keep the pump running long enough to do any good. Best to set it up on a timer and not use the pressure tank to develop the well. If it take 4-5 minutes to see cloudy water, set the timer to run the pump 6-8 minutes at a time. Then see how long it needs to stay off to repeat the cloudy water thing. Just let it run 6-8 minutes and be off 30 minutes or so until it clears up.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/TORK-120-240VAC-24-Hour-Indoor-SPDT-Percentage-Timer-Gray-EJWT/306742035 looks interesting for this.
https://www.geya.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/GRT8-S-Instruction-Manual.pdf is cheaper.. https://www.amazon.com/GAEYAELE-Asymmetric-DC12V-240V-Electronic-GRT8-S2/dp/B07B91LY1X/ref=sr_1_20
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Dunner
New Member
I ran the hose of the pressure tank at 1/2 gallon per minute over night but still cloudy. Back in the workshop today running off the well head 15 minutes on 30 minutes off.
sure hope this cleans up soon!
sure hope this cleans up soon!
either way, it may take some time to clear so don't get frustrated. like a fine wine. lol
Cloudy as it was a few days ago?
Do you still have the jar/glass of cloudy from Friday or Saturday? Any settling?
If you don't have one, take a cloudy sample in a jar, and let it sit for up to a week.
Dunner
New Member
Update: Well driller is coming out tomorrow to put a time on it. Any idea if i can still pressure the house for toilet flushes while on timer? Or at least go down to workshop a couple of times a day to allow for flushing?
Is the pressure switch still going to be in line? If so, how about closing the valve temporarily when you want to flush.
If not, how about monitoring the pressure gauge in the house to get 30 psi or more while you close, or partially close, the valve at the well.
Here is a thought experiment. Anchor a bar of soap in a 20 ft pipe. You let it sit for a few hours. You start running water out of the pipe. Water got cloudy around the soap, and after a while you see a stretch of cloud water, and then not-cloudy. There is still some soap while running the water, but it is more dilute.
Turn off the water, and wait a few hours. Repeat.
Now if you just ran the water constantly for a few days, that soap is going to dissolve even faster than if you rest between runnings. But the soap is so diluted in the continuous stream, that you no longer see soap in the stream.
Is this model applicable to your clay thing, or is it not similar and you need the cycling? I am not taking bets.
If not, how about monitoring the pressure gauge in the house to get 30 psi or more while you close, or partially close, the valve at the well.
Here is a thought experiment. Anchor a bar of soap in a 20 ft pipe. You let it sit for a few hours. You start running water out of the pipe. Water got cloudy around the soap, and after a while you see a stretch of cloud water, and then not-cloudy. There is still some soap while running the water, but it is more dilute.
Turn off the water, and wait a few hours. Repeat.
Now if you just ran the water constantly for a few days, that soap is going to dissolve even faster than if you rest between runnings. But the soap is so diluted in the continuous stream, that you no longer see soap in the stream.
Is this model applicable to your clay thing, or is it not similar and you need the cycling? I am not taking bets.
Dunner
New Member
Reach4, I am going to use this soap analogy with the well guy tomorrow. Very good thought and makes sense.
With the size of pipe and the gallons per minute I could figure the velocity in feet per second. But I am guessing less than 5 fps, which at 600' would take 2 minutes just to get the water out of the drop pipe and starts seeing what was coming in from the well. It would be good to know if the well starts making cloudy water immediately or if it flows in for a minute or so before being cloudy. With a camera you also might be able to tell where the cloudy water is coming in.
From what I find, bentonite is not sub-micron. 1 micron is 1 thousandth of a millimeter. 1 micron is 1 micrometer.
I think this is interesting http://www.hmgawater.ca/blog/settling-soil but I think figure 2 is in mm rather than microns. But the pictures are helpful.
I think this is interesting http://www.hmgawater.ca/blog/settling-soil but I think figure 2 is in mm rather than microns. But the pictures are helpful.
2stupid2fixit
Active Member
im glad i never had to worry about a bore drilled straight into a sh*t source. maybe your site sits on top of what was once a volcano thousands of years ago
Dunner
New Member
Update: Still have the well running on a timer. Still get a bit of cloudy water upon startup (aprx 2 minutes after start up).
Plan is to keep running it on timer until it clears up. Driller seems to think this is fairly normal.
Plan is to keep running it on timer until it clears up. Driller seems to think this is fairly normal.
Good. It's not harmful, but you still don't want to see it.
Did you ever save a jar of the cloudy water?
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