I was under the impression that by placing the pump 20 ft above the bottom instead of 10 ft, there was more time before the space under the pump got filled with sediment.
Placing the pump a set number of feet off the bottom of the well is correct, its just a question of how far you need to place it. I can't comment on all wells across the country but around here 5-10' is the norm unless you have a well that is a bad candidate for that (which is probably less than 5%) of them. Most wells I deal with will never fill even 5' of sump below the motor setting let alone 10' or 20' but it can happen. I made sure to use the phrase "as deep as they safely can" when referring to the Travis' well because I can't claim to know anything about his specific well or that the installer did anything incorrect. I would assume though in this case, unless the installer mentioned otherwise to the Travis, that dropping the pump deeper in the well is unlikely to be an issue otherwise they probably wouldn't have done it.
If my assumption is correct, and I don't know one way or the other if it is, then why didn't they just do it when they installed it initially.
I don't understand why the pump beings set higher would cause the higher sediment in the water. I guess that could occur if the area was not cased and the pump was surrounded by clean rock. The frothing might erode stuff from the walls near the pump. Is there another idea about how that symptom could occur?
I would surmise that the discoloration and sediment in the water was due to the air moving through the lines and scouring the inside of the plumbing to break that crap loose more so than coming from the well directly. Air moving in conjunction with water through pressurized plumbing is one of the most effective methods for removing mineral deposits from the inside of plumbing.