Bad water pressure from my well. Affecting multiple homes. URGENT NEED OF HELP!


  #1  
Old 07-06-13, 08:42 AM
J
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Usa
Posts: 3
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Bad water pressure from my well. Affecting multiple homes. URGENT NEED OF HELP!

yesterday we noticed some pressure issues with our sinks. Now today we get about 30 seconds of just less then normal pressure and then barely anything and then nothing within about a minute and a half. Our neighbor is having the same issue and so is the guy next to him. Maybe more for all we know. The water is not dirty or smelly. New pump and pressure tank put in 2009. I cant tell what the pressue gauge says on the pump because the glass on gauge is really cloudy and its in a small storm shelter type deal in my yard. I live in South Bend Indiana and they have been doing a lot of digging locally. Where i live is on the county city line. Across the street is the city. They are putting in a new highway from Indianapolis to South Bend, Interstate Hwy 31. There has been a lot of digging. On the city side of my road they are putting in conduat pipe and a new bridge about a quarter mile away and tearing down homes in the other direction for the new highway. I dont know what any of that would have to do with our water tho. The only thing dug deep is the huge steel posts slammed in the ground for the bridge.
But those were put in well over a month ago. My landlord said we may have to get hooked up to city water which I don't want because of the new bill. We use a lot of water and it won't be cheap. So I want to see if its fixable first but I dont know much about this. If anyone has any ideas I would appreciate any thoughts.
 
  #2  
Old 07-06-13, 05:04 PM
lawrosa's Avatar
Super Moderator
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Galivants Ferry SC USA
Posts: 15,990
Received 84 Upvotes on 76 Posts
Yes they could have dug into two aquifers and one drained into the other...hence losing well water...

How deep are your wells??? I would say shallow since you can see the pump...

Pulling air?

You should take action asap and if so they need to pay for a deep well...
 
  #3  
Old 07-07-13, 12:27 AM
J
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Usa
Posts: 3
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Re

It does seem weird because tonight we did some driving around where they are doing some construction a d in some places there seems to be a lot of standing water. We had a good rain about 4 days ago but have had 80 degree weather since.
And im not sure how deep the well is. My guess is 20 - 30 feet. Not sure tho. In our yard is a hole in the ground about 6 feet down. Its about the size of a small storm shelter. Its where a pump, pressure tank and breaker switch is.
Also we are not getting any air coming out our faucets. If water hasent been ran for some time we fet about 30 seconds of pressure and quickly trickles down to nothing. We get about enough pressure to flush the toilet once ever 4 hours or so.
Any ideas who I can contact on monday? Maybe DOT since there doing tge construction. Or the county? Or call out a plumber? The good thing i guess is im renting so its kind of the landlords problem. And her brother owns the house next door having the same issue. But she isnt usually on the ball about stuff. I have done a lot of the maintenance on my own. And he is out of town a lot.
Also about 10 years back to keep the aquifer from to much contamination. Private wells are not aloud to be dug anymore. If an issue comes up where a new well would need dug we have no choice but to hook up to city water supply.
 
  #4  
Old 07-07-13, 04:41 AM
V
Vey
Vey is offline
Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Mid-Florida
Posts: 1,201
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
I have a post in the sticky which explains what to do if you don't have water.
http://www.doityourself.com/forum/we...ml#post1523833

"Private wells are not aloud to be dug anymore. If an issue comes up where a new well would need dug we have no choice but to hook up to city water supply."

We have had a lot of shallow wells go dry here in Florida, often from ground disturbance due to mining sand or phosphate. This is rather common and doesn't attract much attention from the government officials since shallow wells are prone to pollution anyway.

There is not much a tenant can do. If you complain to the government, then they are likely to send someone out to test the water. If it doesn't pass, then they could pull the Certificate of Occupancy (although most officials take pity on tenants and won't do that -- it depends on the state) or send a letter to the landlord threatening further action. Your brother/sister team needs to get on the ball before things get out of hand.

City water isn't all that expensive. The reduction in your electricity bill will offset the cost. Sewer is another matter. For economy, the city water/septic tank situation, I think is the best deal.
 
  #5  
Old 07-08-13, 09:42 PM
J
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Usa
Posts: 3
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
New Issue

Well I got a call from my neighbor today and he said. He turned of the power with the switch next to the pump and the flipped the breaker switch in the house and then kicked power back on next to the pump. He waited for a half hour and it worked. I did the same thing and for a couple hours it worked. But this evening we lost pressure again. I went out to check the pump and it was so freaking hot. I touched it and burnt my finger. I spit on it and it sizzled. I did some looking online and what im getting to is that the pump is clogged. Ive read a few blogs about houses next to each other having there pumps get clogged at the same time and my neighbor is gone all night so i cant ask right now how his is doing. But does anybody agree with my thoughts that it is a clogged pump screen? And does anyone know how hard it is or how to clean the pump? Is it expensive? The pump is very accessible. Any help would be appreciated.
 
  #6  
Old 07-09-13, 05:03 AM
V
Vey
Vey is offline
Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Mid-Florida
Posts: 1,201
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Congrats. You may have ruined the pump.

Your landlady needs to call a well man. It's like calling any other tradesman when something is broken.
 
 

Thread Tools
Search this Thread
 
Ask a Question
Question Title:
Description:
Your question will be posted in: