Still workin' on the well.

Hey folks.

This is the latest update on the continuing saga of my 58" drilled well.

I cobbled together a temporary hookup to get water for tree planting until I can do a permanent install.

I lowered the pump into the well to about 3" from the bottom with a torque arrestor and a length of so cord and am getting water but it is still cloudy.

I let some water sit in a plastic barrel overnight and the cloudiness seems to be silt. the top water was clear with the grey/brown on the bottom.

I knocked together a temporary well cap out of scrap plywood, carriage bolts and duct sealing compound. It might not be perfect but at least a passing elephant will not trip and fall in!

I have pumped probably 6 to 7 hundred gallons and the cloudiness remains. It seems to me that eventually the cloudiness should go but there may be a reason why it won"t. There is no smell to the water that I can detect.

Would it help if I raised the pump a few feet?

The cap was off the well all winter so a critter may have fallen in. This water is not for drinking for the forseeable future just for irrigation but may need to be potable in a year or so.

Thanks for the help,

Brad
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Friend of mine bought a place in the mountains a few years ago. Someone had stolen the deep well pump and left the top open. I told him there were probably many possums in the well. He poured the Clorox to it and pumped for a long time. They use it all the time now.
Richard in NW SC
 
The finer the silt clay the longer it will stay in suspension in water.
Some wells never clear out, I have one like that. The clay in it is as fine as facial powder.
 
Seems to be some confusion on feet and inches (' vs.") in you post. I assume the well is 58 feet deep (I've heard of shallow wells, but 58" is the shallowest I've heard of ! LOL). So is the pump 3 inches or 3 feet off the bottom? 3 inches is too close, and you will keep stirring up sediment. But it should clear out eventually if its 3 feet.

You may want to let it set a week or so, to let the silt settle out.

What's the static height of the water column in the well (ie, if you leave it alone, how far down to the top of the water)?
 
Kinda just unfortunate people leave a well open for that long, its fine if it is just you, but aquifers feed to many other people. That sort of thing is what leads to very, very tight regulations on wells and extra costs and so forth, when people don't care about others and mess in their water..... Sorry for the soap box, more of a general musing , not meant to aim right at you..... I will guess then that your temporary setup will look about the same 3 years from now, I'm kinda a temp setup get around to it later (not!) myself so I understand that part......


I always thought it was best to keep 10 feet above the bottom of the well, if you get down to the bottom under 5 feet like you are the pump swirl always kicks up the bottom and always creates the clay swirl. You said this was a very high output well, why go so close to the bottom?

6-700 gallons is nothing, my much deeper but smaller well has pumped more than that out in the past 2 hours, on its way to filling the 2500 gallon cistern I fill every 4 days.

You need to run a lot more water, full bore (I understand back pressure and such, but just running strong), to flush the system out. You aren't even broken in yet at all.

Paul
 
Brad,
If you suspect a critter in the well,dump a gallon of bleach down the well and pump it til the bleach smell is gone.Won't hurt a thing,we bleach ours every 2 years and we're still here.lol.Same as city does to chlorinate their water supply.
LOU
 
This site has always had issues in converting the two quote symbols, when I type the single quote it always posts as a double quote. Some people have this problem, some don't. It's a 'feature" of this is site. :)

I've learned to spell out inches or feet, as it does get confusing, through no fault of the typer.

Paul
 
it's been 35 years since i worked in drilling field, but here goes what i remember. never set pump in screened area if possible. we usually finished developing well after bailing by pumping overnight or at least 2 hours after setting pump as part of well development. come on guys that are currently in the well field give some advise.
 
Pull the pump back up to at lease 3 feet, 10 feet would be better. If you have it set at 3 Inchs and the pump starts to pull in sand or silt it well get sucked all around the pump and jam it in there tight. I have pumped new well for a week to get them clear, most of the time only two day, But thats Two days steady at 20 gpm never shutting the pump off. When yo left the water set in a glass overnite and the silt when to the bottom with clear water on top That a sign that the well WILL clear up, BUT you have to pump the Ell out of it.
 
Hello Brad Buckanan,

I think you have the pump way too far down the well. If the well is low producing it may run dry unless you have the pick up way down. But having the pump that far down, it may take quite awhile to get clear water. Also I don't think you have pumped enough water yet! Good job on the whole project ........Guido.
 
Hey RN.

I have the pump set three feet from the bottom of the well. Well is 58 feet and static level is 18 feet.

I really haven't pumped the well very much. I have been busy planting some new trees and dealing with family issues. Don't want to let it run unless I can be right near in case it sucks 'er dry.

Brad
 
Thats way you test pumped it at 5gpm for 15min. then 15gpm for 15 min. then 20 gpm for 1/2 hr. or what ever it was, THAT was to show you how much you can pump from the well without pumping it dry. Once you know that then you plug the pump in and walk away for a day or two.
 
Hey Guido.

Thanks for the kind words.

I am new to this and am learning. The pump is set 3 feet off the bottom of the well. I checked the depth with a weight and a length of wire and it came back clean.

I am going to pump a couple thousand gallons and see what happens.

Brad
 
OK. Now it is beginning to sink into my noggin'. I am going to repeat that procedure and carefully note the water depth in the well.

Brad
 
Hello Brad Buchanan,

Now you're talking! My well is 90 feet, the pump is set at 40 feet, with first water at 19 feet. I have good ground volume/reservoir, and so far has been working good. I'll install a sprinkler system next week, and put it to work!

Guido.
 
Thats the nice thing about have a ball valve on the water line you can adj. it to where the water lever quits dropping, then time it to see how long it takes to fill up a five gal bucket, then you know how many gpm your well will make. some well will drop the water lever 5, 10 , 20 feet then stop dropping and hold that lever while they pump, what I alway did was start out slow so I wouldn't pick up a lot of crap and jam the pump, then open her up and pump full bore if the water droped to the bottom of the well I would start closeing the ball valve to where the water lever start to hold it's own then i would time it to see how long it took to fill a five gal bucket. good luck.
 
Brad, My well is drilled 400 feet deep but my pump is set at 260 feet.I know , not a shallow well but it seems that you are just stirring up the fine particles in the well. You may want to raise the pump 2 feet at a time until you stop pumping fines in the water. Unless you have a well driller who knows the area you can at least ask his knowledge.
also just for info check out this site.

http://www.simplepump.com/Support/Static-level.html
 
Hello Brad Buchanan,

The first piece of casing now days has many slits that function as a silt screen. The pump has the finer mesh screen on the intake side I think.
Jet well pumps had a screen right at the bottom of the pick up. I think the material was bronze or brass?

Guido.
 

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