Water problem.

[kustomd]

I'm not sure if this is the right area to post this in but decided i would try it here.

For some reason here lately I have been getting alot of sand in my well water I don't know if its because of all the rain we have gotten or what but its happening.

My well isn't real deep compared to some people I've talked to its only like 90 ft or so I think is what I was told. My father inlaw drilled the well and he told me they hit some kind of really hard rock or something when they were drilling and it broke two bits off. So they stopped but he said they hit water around I think 60 or 70 ft maybe less than that so he just left it alone.

The well has worked fine for the last 8yrs or whatever we have lived there but recently when I was washing one of my trucks it turned brown and was pumping what looked like sandy mud out of the hose which screwed up my wash job. Well I was told to let it run and it would run out but that didn't seem to happen it just seemed to get worse.

So i turned it off for a little bit and let it sit. well when I turned it back on, it ran out a bit of sand then went back to clear water again. But if i left it on for very long on wide the f open like I do when i wash my truck it goes back to mud.

I told my wife not to wash anymore vehicles untill I could find something out. Well did she listen Hell No yesterday she calls me and says that the water is muddy again so I told her not to use it and I asked what she was doing with it. Guess what she was washing her truck like I told her not to do but this time the sand got into the house. The toilets were full of sand and the sinks/showers had sand in them. So she let it sit untill I got home so i could look at it but I don't know whats causing it.

I ran the water in the house and after a little bit it turned back clear again, same in the toilets after 4 flushes.

So what do you all think? My father inlaw says I need to build a big sandtrap for it but i think something else is up other than just needing a trap.

Oh yea I live on a very sandy hill if that matters.

 

[slip knot]

Sounds like it may be time for a new well. The well casing should have a gravel pack and screens on it to help stop the sand infiltration. Sounds to me like the casing has a hole in it , allowing sand in. If you getting enough sand in to turn the water brown you will need one hell of a sand trap.
One thing you may want to look at is your check valve. Ive had a submersible pump that had a bad check valve and it was just flowing water up and back down the well pipe all night. It put out a lot of sand the next day and the pump locked up. Wound up pulling the pump replacing pump and check valve and ran pump, for 24 hours open ended onto the ground before the sand let up. The new pump was garbage after this but the well was able to be saved. Got a 55 gallon barrel of sand out of the well. Hope this helps, good luck

 

[Rudyjr]

I am not familiar with the geology in your area but I would suggest you find out what the depth of your well, the standing water level in your well and where your pump is set. It may be possible that you are pulling in water from the bottom of your well if it has filled with sediment and your pump may have twenty feet of standing water above it. If this is the case you can move your pump up if the well produces enough water. My area Ohio, there are well drillers logs that give the overall depth, the flow rate, the standing water level, and the depth of the pump. All of the information can be found online in our area.

 

[rwhite692]

Sounds like your well point has rusted out / screen collapsed.

 

[kustomd]

Thats not good. Well I guess I have some work ahead of me then. I wonder if I just let it run for a day or two and see if it will pump the sand out or do you all think it will just get worse?

 

[pcmeiners]

Agree with rwhite692....
Used to drill wells, there are ways of pulling the pipe up, replacing it with a new point/screen and pipe and sending it back down the same hole. Pulled up a few wells with a 2 ton car jack. If you do replace the screen get a stainless steel screen. Sounds like a screen break down, as the initial wash out and initial used of the well would have brought up any small sand particles around the point. Once the screen corrodes, sand just pours in.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Is this bored (large about 30 in hole), drilled (4 to 8 inch casing), driven in sand point (pipe in the ground with no other casing)?

Charles

 

[Rudyjr]

Is this bored (large about 30 in hole), drilled (4 to 8 inch casing), driven in sand point (pipe in the ground with no other casing)?

Charles

That would be the best place to start with a diagnosis of the problem.

 

[juiced10]

I had a similar problem with my well.I was getting sand coming out when I ran it for extended amounts of time.I just hooked my engine hoist to the pipe and pulled it up about 5 feet or so.Cut the pipe and reconnected it.Problem has not come back since.Been about 5 years.

 

[1320stang]

My dad has a well in his yard that he just uses for watering the grass, but the sand was clogging his Rainbird heads, so he installed an old 40 gallon water heater tank to allow the sand to drop out. Works well, he drains it during the winter and get a lot of the sand out, when it starts leaking, he drives around until he finds another heater on the curb and swaps them out.

 

[NWOhioChevyGuy]

I just had my well cleaned to reduce the amount of sand it was producing.

Basically they pump and "develope" the well again working the sand out of the bore.
My well is an OLD 5" casing and only 30 feet deep all in sand. The guy who did it said 90% of the time they start producing sand it is taken care of by this procedure.

I had my well cleaned and a new 1/2HP submersible pump installed for under $1500.

Alot cheaper than what I thought needed done, which was a new well.

FWIW: I'm in Michigan and it was done 3 weeks ago