Sediment From Well


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Old 04-18-17, 07:24 AM
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Sediment From Well

A week or so ago I got water from an outside spigot and the water was gray, looked like it had sediment in it.

I went inside and ran an inside faucet and noticed the same thing. Ran the water a few minutes and it cleared up and remained clear until this morning.

I was running water in the sink and noticed the water was again gray, but this time there was, what appeared to be, sand in the sink. I rubbed it between my fingers and it felt gritty like sand. After a minute or so the water ran clear.

We live in the country and have a well. My fear is the well is failing, but I have no idea where to start troubleshooting.

We have a water softner, could the material be resin from the softner? I could only hope! Much cheaper to replace a softner than drill a new well.

Any and all ideas and suggestions would be greatly appreciated!


Thanks,

Gary
 
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Old 04-18-17, 08:54 AM
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First, do NOT run your dishwasher or clothes washer until you get this figured out. You do not want the sediment to clog the appliances intake and valves which can be expensive to replace.

Go out to your well head. Is there a spigot right at the well? If so, open the valve and see if you get sediment there. If you don't have a spigot at the well do you have a spigot or sink at the house that is connected to the water line BEFORE the softener? If so check the water there. If you are seeing sediment before the softener it confirms that the problem is the well and not the softener. You can also put your softener into bypass mode and see if the problem goes away.
 
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Old 04-18-17, 09:08 AM
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Unfortunately, everything is plumbed after the water softener. I will try to bypass on it and see if it continues, but it is very intermittent. Like this morning it lasted for a minute maybe and it's flushed clear. Checked just now when I was home for lunch and it's flowing clear no sediment.
 
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Old 04-18-17, 11:04 AM
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How old is your well? Is your well casing steel or plastic? If steel it's possible the casing has rusted through and is letting sides of the well collapse into the hole. If that's the case the well can be sleeved.
 
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Old 04-18-17, 11:33 AM
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The well is 25 years old and is steel cased. I have noticed settling around the well head so I'm wondering if the casing has failed. I'll look into getting a camera down there to see what's going on.
 
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Old 04-20-17, 01:20 PM
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A water logged tank or cycling on and off can cause this to happen. Before you spend money on a camera, check to make sure your pump is not cycling on and off.
 
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Old 04-20-17, 04:02 PM
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My bladder tank is needing replaced. It loses air and I've been having to recharge it once a year or so.
 
 

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