Why Your Well Water is Discolored or Muddy. Explained
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- Опубликовано: 30 янв 2023
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I lived in a rural area in Indiana for 16 years and every spring I poured one gallon of Clorox down the well hole and again in fall with another one gallon of Clorox. After each treatment, I'd let the well sit for a day or two, flush it out then use as normal. Most well owners are either afraid to treat their wells or simply don't know how. Chlorine bleach is a necessary evil to maintaining a healthy well. When I first moved to the property the water was mostly dark orange and the odor so bad it could be smelled two blocks away. By the time I moved away, it was crystal clear with no odor, no bad taste. A dirty non-sanitized well is not only unhealthy, but it damages all the piping and equipment down stream which shows visibly on porcelain tubs, sinks, and toilets. A reddish-brown staining is a clear indicator a well needs attention.
What did you do for water for the two days you let the well sit every 6 months?
This video is so helpful!
I’m actually a Journeyman Plumber by trade and have over 20 years of plumbing experience but limited amount of knowledge when it comes to well systems as all my life I’ve been living and working in the City, but I just bought a new construction home in the country and the well water is doing the same thing, coming out rusty since there was no usage. I kinda thought the same thing as you explained, rust buildup from the new steel casing, etc was the culprit but since my knowledge is limited I wasn’t sure.
I did run our tub spout for about 15 minutes since it puts out about 4 gallons a minute but it only got slightly better and now I know why. Not enough run time.
Thank you so much for making this video. I will now proceed to “shock” the well and let it run for at least 3 to 4 hours and it should help. 👍👍
I ha e a great sign I saw on the wall behind a guy doing a video on old school iron drain pipe fitting with liquid lead. It said "Education is important, Plumbing is importanter." Thought you would appreciate it. Be safe.
This man has been around the well drilling and water industry a minute. Love the content.
When you grow up going to work with your dad, it's in your DNA.
I think he has more than a minute experience
13 minutes and 31 seconds it says in the video. crazy.
Great video! I’m also in North Carolina north of Winston, not too far from you. Two years ago I bought property where I found an old well from the 1970’s (determined by studying historical satellite images on Google Earth, when a structure was built.) It was an old sawmill gone by 1998. I dropped a plumb bob and measured the well 356’ deep with a 6” casing. Water level 43” below the top of the casing. It had been open with no cap for years, perhaps decades. I put a 3/4 hp pump 300’ down. Chlorinated the well for 4 days and then pumped it. At first the water looked like coffee, but cleared up quickly. The water still had a yellow tint so I ran it for an hour a day for a week. By the end the water was clear and my horses will drink it. Haven’t had it tested yet but I’ll make sure to run it several times a week to keep it fresh. Thank for the good advice!
Cant believe that casing was cut open. People dont realize they could contaminate the water source for everyone in the area, not just their home. That well is open to anything running down to the aquafer, one really good storm with flooding and that water has to go somewhere.
If you lived in my area, you'd be my waterman, for sure. I never knew you could shock a well like a swimming pool. Nice job on the video
Very cool!! Very easy to understand what is going on with this video! Thank you.
Great video, I have an old well 60 years, at my childhood home, I have the same issue, but the house is on city water, and the well is used for the garden and yard, will try the chlorine trick, just to sanitize the well. Thank you
I've got the same situation at my house except my well my be closer to 100, did this sole your problem?
Its amazing how chlorine can treat sooo many common well problems. I used to use about half a quart of bleach for my well and thought I was doing it right, but recently I tried using a full gallon (275' 6" well) it really knocked some garbage loose. Much much fresher tasting after that, but I still use a full carbon block/RO/UV filter for my drinking water. I think the regular bleach douchings are helping to extend the filters though
Thank you for the wonderful information. You know your stuff!
freaking awesome video!!!!😁
This happened to us. Water became dirty and we let it run for a few hpurs with no luck clearing up. Well company replaced the entire system tank, salt tank, chemical mixing tank and the two other tanks that do the back wash. They never checked the pump and well.
Thank you, I learned a lot from this! My well here in Texas is about 5 months old, 250 ft, lately my toilet, sinks, tubs are beginning to stain with brown. Is this a problem I'll have forever?
Valuable information. I was waiting to see how you would fix or stop the muddy water path but disappointed.
Not related to this particular video but do you have a video on making your whelk contraption to roll out the well pipe. I would like to fabricate one and have it on stand by for when my well pump goes out. Thanks!
Do they make a wider liner than a 6"? My well is like 30 or 36" wide, or will I need to just get the casings redone? I'm getting tired of changing filters every month. But keep up the great work!
Would a garden timer hooked up to a hose bib help with the yellow water?
Thank you for this video! I'm from South Africa, and just discovered a borehole with Franklin pump that the previous owners didn't even know of. I'm going to replace the pump and pipe. One question...I heard that one could use dry ice to blow out the hole. Is that also a way of doing it if the hole has been standing un-used for probably 20 years? It is about 240 feet deep, and we have quite the sandy type of ground...
Keep well!
Yes, dry-oce can be used, but its quite a violent reaction, so be careful & step away quickly from the well
What have we learned so far: Don't do that. Don't cut your well casing, flare it open and try to seal it with a screen.
where do u pour the shock into, i have a submersible pump with a 80 gallon tank, and have no idea where to pour shock or bleach into it.
my water well has an obstruction about 50 ft down that prevented the pump tobe taken out and had to hit it hard to get loose and dropped it into the well
Should I sanitize my well on a regular basis and if so, how much bleach or whatever do I add? How long do I wait before I turn on the hydrant right by the well head? Then let it run until I don't smell bleach?
Not much pressure on that system. I want a minimum of 50 psi at the shower head. Brilliant idea to encase the pump and associated mechanism in a concrete enclosure. this makes it very easy to work on the pump! I have yet to see a well system which was not jammed into an enclosure which was as small as possible. Some wells are the length of a football field from the house!!! The well should be IN the house so it is protected from vandalism.
What deep 400 plus foot pump do you recommend? Prices vary so much
Is it normal for the water to come out dirty for a second or two? We have a solar pump, so it only pumps during the day, but every morning when I turn the pump on, the water comes out a really muddy orange color, only for a couple seconds and then it's cristal clear...
We've been told our well is full of iron and to maintain it and keep the water line leading to the house from getting occluded we should put an expensive chemical and recycle for 24 hours each year. Otherwise we're would be replacing our pump every 3 years. It's there a cheaper alternative we can do to maintain our pump and keep the line clear? Thanks in advance
I recently had to bring my unconfined artesian well up to code. Meaning I had to have a well guy.raise it above ground by welding an extension pipe to raise the height above ground and capedit off. He threw some chlorine down the well to Clean it up as the well was dug in the sixties and hasn't had a problem Until recently, when the water started Slowing down to a drizzle and then coming back. Anyway, now I don't know what to do. If I should try to flush the system by opening up all the taps and flushing the toilet 10,000 times to clean out the chlorine or what ? I tried to find a well watered test kit to see if it's even safe to shower. Now we're not drinking the water, and it's been 3 days since my kids have had a shower. Please help. Any advice would be helpful. I know nothing about Wells, and I can't get ahold of the well guy that did the Work. Just want to make sure that the chlorine is gone and There's no bacteria in the water that will hurt my kids. Please help I would be immensely grateful for any advice. thanks in advance.
Not related to this but I have a 16 ft shallow dug well with a jet pump and a small pressure tank....Any insight on how to best maintain these things? Northern Ontario, Canada.....Works great so far.....
I’d ask New Hampshire USA they seem to be the state who uses them most. I’m in Connecticut and have one. There is one shallow well video chlorinating and scrub down video on RUclips. I have choliform bacteria as testing resulted in my shallow
well. I have a slimy rust colored residuals in my water even though it’s clear. Rust bacteria. I’m looking to do the same for mine. Mines 18’ deep with a 3’ concrete casing and concrete cap. Blew through two water heaters in 6 years. For us it’s pertinent to drain our water tanks yearly and likely change your water heater sacrificial zinc rod. Last heater of 3 years the rod completely corroded and fell off in the tank 😳 first heater I could t even get the brass 1-1/16” nut off top of the tank.
I have a 120" well in plastic casing. When well was serviced to replace a check-valve, the installer cut and raised the pump a few feet in an effort to eliminate rusty water from bottom of well. That did not help. I installed an indoor filter on the main, and replace the cartridge every few months. Some areas of the country have high iron. Chlorine will not permanently fix rusty water. And what are those tiny two or three white shrimp creatures that appear in my filter?????
And so if there was only 2 people from the start and it was brown then what? I have that issue now and I think we're not deep enough... what do you think?
love your videos by the way . We are retired and these days things are not cheap to do Give me city water any day even though they add chemicals to it
why? though it explains your username
Mine is 377 & still has iron. I bleach mine let the iron oxidize about 4 hours then drop in a pipe to the bottom & crank the air to it let it run for a few hours . Sadly that things a 2 incher & i have to run a jet pump instead of submersible and i have to pull out the packer assembly everytime makes it very annoying.
would a softer help
@H2o Mechanic Although I don’t think you will see this let me ask something just incase you do. I had a well drilled 215deep. We’ll pump is at 195ft. Getting 20 gallons a minute. Have a 2hp constant pressure well pump on it. It’s rated for 15 gallons a minute at my depth. I was told to let the water run to get rid of sediment. I ran it overnight 2 days so about 14-16 hours total. My water is still brown. So after looking at this video I dropped the pool shock an entire package since it’s a new well left of for 24 hours with pump turned on circulating water inside well. I then ran it a full night to get rid of chlorine and hoping it cleared up. Although it is not completely brown it’s still brown. Do wells ever run clear on their own? Or do I need filters. The plumber I got doesn’t really know he said maybe let it run longer but I don’t think it will get any better. Or did I need more pool shock maybe not enough.
It totally depends on your region and how they find water there. It could be a number of things causing the issue. Shallow casing set could be bringing in surface water.. alot of possible situations.
The best fix would be a really nice filtration system, be happy that you have alot of water & just filter it. It may be sediment, or it may be iron which are 2 completely different things but look similar to the eye. In time the well may clear up. The water needs to be tested for its mineral content, then that will determine what type of filtration system you will need
@@h2omechanic thank you so much for the response. I’ll be looking at testing the water and getting some sediment filters to start.
What if the water is only discolored for the first minute or 2 when you turn the water on after it’s been off for a few days?
I have noticed that my water is orange tinted when I get back from trips. This is most likely the issue there, isn't it?
I think you just diagnosed what's going on with my well in the first 2 minutes of your video.
35 year old well, 300 feet, supposedly 3 gpm. Never had a problem with muddy water, just a small amount of sand for the first few years. Roughly 20 years ago, pump was replaced, well was also chlorinated at that time, no problems with it until recently.
As you mentioned, the number of people and the amount of water being used has went down significantly from 10 years ago. Over that time, my father passed away, my mother quit working due to her age, and I fully retired 3 years ago.
The only regular useage of water on a daily basis now, is flushing the toilets, preparing meals, and washing the dishes. We're no longer taking showers every day due to not having to go to work, and clothes washing has also become very infrequent for the same reason.
Last week, started to get muddy water inside the house. Checking the sediment filter we installed some years ago to catch any sand, the filter was literally saturated with what looked like orange sediment, to the point it had started being pushed thru the filter element.
Thankfully, putting in a new 5 micron string wound sediment filter element has cleaned up the water inside the house for the time being. I was worried that we might be looking at some expensive repairs to the well, such as having to pull the pump and install a liner.
But now, it's possible that the only thing that is needed, is to get the well treated and purge a good amount of water out of it, to get rid of the muddy water.
Bingo! Treat the well every year.
Remember that you have 20 years of buildup to clean, so I may require a few treatments at first. Buy 2 bags of Pool Super Shock-it. 67% Calcium Hypochoride (misspelled) . Check out my Vid on Iron/bacteria well treatment. I call it Loop Chlorination. It does a thorough job. But your on the right track! I see it often in my trade, & I understand why it happens.
@@h2omechanic I watched your vid on Loop Chlorination. And now I'm rather miffed at the guys that replaced our pump and chlorinated the well 20 years ago - they just dumped in a bag of what I assume was also Pool Super Shock, installed the new pump in the well, and called it a day. They never said a word about needing to flush all that chlorine out of the well. My parents had to get by on bottled water for 2 or 3 weeks, and could barely tolerate taking a shower, because there was so much chlorine mixed in. Might as well have been getting our water from a municipal swimming pool.
I think I'm going to talk with one of our neighbors, who has been in the construction business and a friend of the family for decades, if he can recommend a good well service company, because there's a few other items that need to be addressed with our well setup besides chlorination. Our 35 year old pressure tank, a WellxTrol WX-202, is starting to rust on the outside. The installed pressure gauge doesn't even come close to showing the actual pressure any longer. And the pressure switch, whether due to age or someone misadjusting it years ago, when I checked a couple days ago with a Watts pressure gauge on an outside faucet, is operating on a 20 to 50 psi pressure band.
Basically, the whole system is in need of an old age upgrade, and being brought up to current code.
@@h2omechanic Local pool supply store has shock treatment with Calcium Hypochlorite, but it's 73%. Is that too strong a concentration, or would it be acceptable?
Only other pool shock available locally that uses calcium hypochlorite, is only 50% or thereabouts, with a bunch of other ingredients.
Does the hot water heater size play a role in what size the water pressure tank size should be in the well house. ? Cause I have replaced everything. And still can not get the water to run proper. Alot of air in line. Help
Typically air comes from one possible point. Youd have a check valve near the tank & its holding back the water pressure, you'll also have a check valve down in the pump but it'll be leaking. This creates a air pocket in the pipe.
So my question is, Do you have a check valve at the tank? Also , did you replace the pump?
I notice the company sticker on the pressure tanks.. do yall come to pittsylvania county at all for work?
The Danville line is about my max travel distance
@@h2omechanic gotcha.. I’m in Callands/Gretna area.. is that doable for you?
Hmm I never knew a 6” well seal would fit in a 5 5/8 casing learn something everyday lol. Now I’m curious about mine because I have a well drilled in 67 and I just had a 6” well seal put on it a few years ago.
pretty sure he said 6” doesn’t fit, that’s why he sells them on his website because the older 5 5/8” are hard to find.
i have a old hand dug well it has that rotten egg smell i only use it to water garden if there a fix for that
Chlorine!
Do you recommend sanitizing your well periodically to maintain it? If so how often?
6-12 months as needed
@@h2omechanic And hire a competent well driller to re-develop the well every 5 years with acid
Yes, bail and acidize!
how true as it is only my hubby and myself . But in summer because I use water more often it is clear and come winter it gets dirty . question since I am new to wells after moving from NJ in 2004 to VA why are well pressure tanks not protected from freezing like in what you are showing . My crawl space is around 7 feet deep and basement part is is 12 feet from floor to ceilng . See plumbers here scare me because I am not sure they really know what they are doing . I have a hydrant by my well and after watching this I have been running it until it clears 3 times a day and water seems to be clearing up after pump was replaced .But no one can really explain why pump drained the well and ruined my whole house filter .I finally took whole house filter out of the crawl space that was ruined and took it apart and the filter media is full of red sludge . Pressure tank was also full of red sludge and so was my water heater when I flushed them . Also pex question on fittings the band verses the clamp method . I read clamp method should not be used on white pex only on blue pex , it can void warranty . also what brand pressure tank is better I have proflow from fergusons plumbing supply . I am really trying to learn these things before another plumber messes things up . I had several water test done only showed ph at 6
How do you sanitize a well with a pitless adapter?
Remove the cap & pour chlorine in to the well. Very simple
I live in a property with a gravity reservoir I am not the only person that uses the water
I am on a lower level than the other residents that have clean water
My water I has been red brown and chunky I have complained but I am always told to run the water
Why would my water be red and brown and chunky?
When I run it it takes 10 min to get almost clear but never does
So i had a sudden browning of my water, then the pressure dropped. The pressure at the pressure switch is 0, there appears to be pressure in the bladder. I have water running but the pressure is low. I can feel water movement from the pump. The switch looks relatively new could that be sediment in the nipple? Also there is electric sparks at the switch.
Possible you were using alot of water & pulled in surface water. Or residue in the tank. Check my tank videos Playlist and learn how to diagnose the tank properly. It may be bad.
Ok so I have replaced my switch and gauge just cause it was cheap and doesn't hurt. I removed the pipe and replaced what leads to the bladder tank to make sure there wasn't something clogging it there. The water seemed to flow fine, it didn't gush at some crazy speed, but flowed at a steady pace. My gauge still reads at 0 before the switch. Unless I should be expecting much higher pressure from the pump, it seems that it must be the bladder. Only thing is, the bladders pressure seems fine and is not full of water. So A.) should I be expecting the water straight from the pump to be really high (If I had to guess I would say it could fill a gallon in probably 30 seconds or less from a 1 inch pipe. B.)is there any other way the the bladder could fail as side from busting or getting a hole and filling. Is there some mechanical aspect that the sediment could have caused failure?
Went home and tested the speed from the release nozzle and it is dramatically faster than I said. Filled a to 32 oz cup in about 2 seconds
You put in the shock, you let it cycle, then let it run. The water came out clear after a few hours. Did the well need further work done to it or was the iron bacteria problem solved?
I'll be going back soon to finish the job & give an update. The owner says the water is clean & no longer has a metal smell. I believe it's fixed
@@h2omechanic thanks for the response, I just bought a house with the same issue. A plumber around me was trying to sell me on installing a 2500 dollar filter system to fix it. I asked them about bleaching (an elderly neighbors term) the well and they said that dosnt work. I guess they haven't seen your channel.
@johnny rocket I believe it fixing the source, not filtering out the "stuff". Try to clean the source as good as possible, then you can filter it if needed. The filters life span would be way longer!.
My loop Chlorination is $375 for a 24hr treatment. They want $2500 for a filter system. In my opinion, it's worth trying for 375. But anyone can do it for $50 in parts. I just have to make 2 trips to the job .
How often should you sanitize your well?
every 6 months or yearly
Now that ya know there clear water lower down.... why wouldn't you send the camera down to find the depth of the good water vein to take some guess work out of how deep to send a liner?
My well pumps iron and sand. I was told there's nothing much that i can do about it other than put in a filtration system or drill a new well. That was with 2 adults, 3 kids and watering farm animals from the same well.
You were told correctly. Iron & sand can be filtered, but its pricey. Even if you drill a new well, you might get the same results as your current well. Unless you're well is 50+ years old, id filter the Water. If its a old well, then drill a new one
@@h2omechanic It's about 37 years old. And I'm the only one in the area with this problem. Lucky me! 😂
Pulled my pump and it came out full of mud. Where can l sent you pictures
Hwdracing@gmail.com
So we have 5 and sometimes 6 people using hours. Bored well 40ish feet. Shallow water table. Looks like concrete casing
We run out of water pretty easy.
Now my issue. Had the iron taste, so I bleached it. Only 1 quart. Didn't do anything so then I did it again 3 quarts. We have orange water now. I can only run it 15 minutes full blast so i am doing it periodically to clean it out
You'll never be able to fix Bored Well water. It's all surface water.
Your issues are typical. I'd recommend getting a Drilled well & replace the bored well.
@@h2omechanic it's cleared up now. I think the dirt or clay color was from the bleach being in there and hose splashing as I returned it to well. I don't know if the iron taste went away yet or not but will see over next day or so
Just bought a house that had one older lady living in it. My water is murky, smells metallic, and my pipes are rusty
Quick question would whole house filtration be an easier solution
Filters trap sediment, they will not stop Discolored water from iron
Just finally got a system installed after the land has been vacant and neglected for about 10-15 years.
New pump and system has been installed, turned on power and had water running but the well keeps pumping out really dirty black water. Collected a gallon of it, it can be mistaken for sweet tea.
Is this normal? Pump is down 150ft. Everything is brand new.
Should I chlorinate the water? Should I just run the well for about an hour or so?
Run the well as much as possible! Sometimes we pump a hole for 4+ hours especially if it's sat for a long time.
Flush the well, just don't let the pump run dry. Then add chlorine in a week or two and wait a day & pump it out. The more you flush it, the better it will become over time.
I treat my well with 35% peroxide with great results
I don't see how killing bacteria by chlorinating a well fixes a sediment issue or iron ,
Fill it with concrete then drill another hole
Mine isn't muddy but air in my system
Air typically comes from 1 thing. It's a bad check valve in the pump (but you'll also have a check valve near the tank) do you have a check valve at the tank? Or well head?
@h2omechanic at the head and it was replaced 2 maybe three years ago, thank you sir for your response
Do you know what's in that well stay the f*** out of my well
Why didn't you just run fresh water into the well for an hour. Before you run the camera..
Old school