Well troubles, the saga continues

[lizziegrace]

We lost all water pressure this morning. The pressure gauge on the tank is about 25% of normal. The first of the in-line filters had an inch of mud on the bottom. The well pump was replaced 2 months ago.

This is getting very tiresome. We have 3 people in the house and the temps are in the single digits at night. Things are tough enough with this cold spell and now no water. My landlord's been called and hopefully he'll have the well guy out today, but so far, no call.

Anyone experience this before?

[Whoa_Nelly]

1. Kick for you

:hug:

Maybe repost in the DIY forum? They get a lot people there...

Hope you get answers/help soon.

[Kali]

2. not sure if I am on ignore or not but I will try

what kind of well, pump, depth? age? any other info? (steel or plastic pipe/casing etc)

a lot of dirt/mud can mean well is going dry or the casing (if there is one) is failing. It also will ruin most pumps pretty quickly - old style cylinder pumps that are run off a jack can take more - and it jsut tends to wear out leathers rather than metal. But they are mostly for shallow wells.

The well going dry could be from dropping water tables or to big/fast of a pump for the well - do you have any idea of water level and flow rates?

a dying shallow well is probably going to have to be deepened, or redrilled and recased. I sudder to think of those issues with a deep well (we just had to put in a new horse and a half pump in a 600 foot well - it was significantly over $2,500.

You say landlord, so seems to me this really is owner's responsibility and some kind of ongoing problem. Perhaps he/she needs to provide a back up system which I would say might be a potable tank of at least 250 gallons that HE can haul water to you with. It can be plumbed to hook into your existing pressure system with an additional pump. Some communities have water service where a company delivers 500 gallons on up to the homeowner's more permanent storage that is then plumbed to a pressure system. We use gravity and have a storage up on a hill so at least we have water even if electric or pumps fail, but that is an old legacy of times before pressure systems!

[lizziegrace]

3. Thanks for replying Kali

I don't have the answers to your questions about depth, etc. When the pump was replaced, he told the landlord that the well was dry. Then he came back and said there was plenty of water. After researching online, I think there's a break or a collapse going on here. The amount of mud in the first filter casing was scary. 2 inches at least. The water in the house is running clear, which means the filters are getting it but it's only time before they clog and fail too.

I love this old house. I truly do. I just wish the landlord would stop calling the buddy of a buddy to fix things.

It is the landlord's responsibility, but when the pump failed earlier this fall, we were without consistently running water for 4 days.

This is getting old. :-/

[Kali]

4. It can be hard to get a well company out even if you are the owner,

so there is always a risk of losing water when you are "independent" (and really, city folks are at risk too, on occasion) so if it is at all possible, some kind of back-up system or plan is a good idea. (she says, sitting here 15 miles from town with no running vehicles) Even rain barrels can be rigged with small pumps for toilet/laundry water and plastic pipe is so cheap you can afford to play around with routing and that sort of thing - and you can sell them or take them with you if you move.

if the well is old, there is a really good chance it needs to be redrilled (or redug if it is a shallow hand dug thing - not many in existence anymore but we were using one until a few years ago)

is your pump above ground or down in the well? If it is a jet pump above ground that would indicate you are on a shallow well and it is probably not going to be too bad of a task to go a little deeper in the same location. Depending on what kind of pipe and casing are in there it is possible to use smaller diameter stuff right inside the old.

it might be worth you while to pay a professional to get some of this information - they can do a depth check in a few minutes and flow test is pretty easy too - some have cabled video cameras the can check casing conditions - I bet it wouldn't be much money and then you might have some "ammo" to help convince the landlord to do what needs to be done.

drilling and casing with steel around here runs about $10 a foot, I have no idea about other places.

anyway, none of that helps in the short term, sorry. it can be a challenge, but living without running water for short periods of time sure wakes one up to the utter luxury that it really is! You learn how to keep you hands cleaner through the day, that is for sure!

[lepus]

5. I have worked with the well at my house

Maybe I can help.

Based on the fact that the pump was just changed out, I would start looking at the well a bit suspiciously.

You have mud in the filters to the pressurizer. That means your sucking mud. Even if the well was running dry, it should give you good water till the pump inlet is exposed.

Well pumps are not placed at the actual bottom of the well. There is generally a few foot of clearance to prevent them from sucking mud.

I do not think your well is dry, but you may have other problems:

1.The mud in the filters may be from the well being disturbed during the pump change out. Replace the filters and give it a wait and see for a while. Check your filters on a regular basis to make sure they are not getting full too quick .If this is the problem, your pressure problem will fix itself almost immediately and for a good while while the filters remain mostly clean.

2.The new pump was positioned too low and the well driller dig not pea gravel the bottom of it. Have the pump repositioned upwards by a few feet. Keep an eye on your pressure for a few weeks and check your filters also.

Thats all I've got.

Keep us updated.