Well producing sediment and reddish water

[LennyS]

My understanding is the water producing area is above the unstable area. I suggested solid casing in the lower (unstable) area and slotted casing only in the water producing area above it but if the driller prefers to plug and drill through the problem area instead, he probably has good reason.

The water producing area is below the unstable area.

 

[LennyS]

It’s been many days now that the pump has been raised and the 5GPM flow valve running in the system. So the water will still starts to turn red and under the advise of the well guy, I run 1 GPM right out of the pressure tank letting it run for 24 hrs, than shut it off. After the 24 hrs, the water is near perfect but a day later it’s back to tinted again. I’ve done this 3 time and will probably keep it up for months to give it the old college try to see if it will go away completely. As of now, it’s still a problem but to a much less severity. I can live with it but I hope thst cleaning out the tainted water eventually works.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[LennyS]

Update, it’s been close to 10 months now since my well was drilled and we have never totally fixed the problem. Quick recap: 280 ft rock well. We have a fracture at 110 ft.

4 gallons pr minute coming in roughly half way down.

Well collapsed numerous times, pump stuck but eventually got it out.

Last attempt to provide good water was to raise pump above fracture and that worked great for a few months now we’re getting red tinted water again. We flushed out the pressure tank many times, keep big blue filter clean but just can’t get clear water. Now we’re talking about sleeving the well. Will keep you guys posted

 

[Reach4]

Thanks for the update.

1. What cartridge are you putting in the Big Blue filter?
2. How often do you change the cartridge
3. what does the cartridge look like when you change it?

You might benefit from a second 4.5x20 big blue cartridge with maybe a 0.5 micron cartridge. I don't think you would want that as your only filter, because I think it would clog easily. I am not speaking from experience.

If you do add in an additional filter, I would add a couple of pressure gauges while doing the plumbing.

 

[LennyS]

I use the 2 micron filter. A good friend of mine owns a water conditioning company and has instructed me that anything smaller does not perform as designed. I still may give it a try though.

I only change it when I notice the pressure dropping which in onlynon my third differ in 10 months.

The first change, the cartridge was loaded and about 1/3 of the housing filled up with sediment and it still flowed well. Since seeing that I change monthly and there is usually a few cups of sediment in the bottom so I clean that out and keep using it for another month. I tried a carbon filter in the second unit but it only lasted 2 weeks and a big drop in pressure so I pulled it out.

 

[Reach4]

I think you are saying you have two cartridges. The first one collects a lot of visible sediment, and you need to change that every month. Is that pleated? How many microns?

The second one is a 2 micron cartridge and lasts about 3 months. Is that pleated, spun, or what?

 

[Ranco]

Hello All. Found this forum while researching answers for my problem. Have read through the 5 pages and found a lot of good info. I have a relatively new well (less than 3 years)drilled to 580 feet. First pump hung at approximately 530 ft. Yield reported to be 1 gpm. Initial problem was extremely high iron content and discoloration. Testing showed 16.5 ppm ferrous (red) iron, turbidity 104 ppm. First pump failed after just less than 2 years although usage is minimal as the house is not yet occupied due to renovations. Second pump hung at 470 - 480 feet thinking sediment at bottom was entering pump. After serious research, a backwash filter system for iron and for sediment was installed to improve water quality. During the backwash the second pump failed presumably due to the higher flow drawing is more contamination.

Well driller believes the softer rock above the pump is falling into the well and being drawn into pump and clogging it. There was some accumulation on the top of the first pump noted when it was pulled, but this could have been scraped off when pulling the pump. The pump is 1 hp 5 gpm. I questioned whether that is strong enough for a 500 ft lift and the contractor said it was.

I have not yet pulled the second pump as I want to address this issue before installing a 3rd pump. I have looked into a Lakos centrifugal sand filter and the potential of using a flow inducer. Obviously the flow inducer would be cheaper but I am more interested in fixing the problem and not just using the cheapest method.

I would appreciate any suggestions that would help solve this issue. Please let me know if you need further info to evaluate. I will try to post a pic showing the discoloration.

 

[Valveman]

Best to "Post New Thread" instead of adding to one that is already 5 pages long. Nobody wants to read back all of that. 5 GPM, 1HP will produce from 600+ feet, so that is not the issue. Top feeding the pump and not having a shroud could be the main problem. If the thrust bearing is low on the motor it is a cooling flow issue, not a sediment issue. Sediment usually wears out a pump gradually. Over heated motor happens quickly.

 

[Boycedrilling]

A lakos sand separator downhole will centrifuge out sand particles down to 100 mesh. It will not take out turbidity. An above ground lakos sand separator will centrifuge out sand down to 200 mesh