pump running;water murky

[jonesr1]

My 15 yr old submersible pump is cycling on and off every 1-2 minutes and running about 15 seconds. For about 2 months, it was cycling on and off every 9 minutes, and staying on about 15 seconds every time. My water has been the color of peanut butter for about 2 weeks. Before this, it would get cloudy and clear up in a day of two. A friend raised the foot valve 2 feet, thinking this would solve the problem. He also replaced the pressure switch located on the tank in the crawl space. He said I have PLENTY of water in my 33 yr old bored well (has a submersible pump in it). I have been told in the past by well experts that my well is much deeper than the typical bored well. Last night I checked the toilet tank and found about 3 inches of fine, smooth mud (silt?) in the bottom of the tank. All this time I have NEVER experienced a shortage of water---no sputtering,spurting,etc. The hot water is relatively clear but is now becoming cloudier. HELP!

 

[Gary Slusser]

If you wait just a bit longer you'll end up with no water and then, then you'll have to find and fix the water leak that is causing the dirty water problem and pump running with no water being used. Man this has been going on long enough to have killed the pump so ya lucked out 'cuz it still pumps but... I strongly suggest diving in now on your time table rather than waiting until like Friday night at 10 PM to discover no water and maybe finding out later the pump fell off the drop pipe.

So, shut off the water to the house after the pressure tank. Watch the pressure gauge to see if the pressure falls. If it does, you have a water leak from the pressure tank back and down the well to the outlet of the pump somewhere. Probably under water in the drop pipe.

If the pressure doesn't fall, then you have a leak on the house side of the pressure tank.

If you pull the drop pipe/pump up a few feet out of the well, and the line down to the pump stays full of water, you may have a pitless o-ring leak or the leaking spot is under water and not able to leak without back pressure from the pressure tank.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Lakee911]

I strongly suggest diving in now

He said it was 33ft, but I assumed that he meant that was the depth and not the width. I hope he fits!

 

[Gary Slusser]

He should be fine, I think his buddy Mikey is gunna do it.