We recently lost power for a few days due to the storms hitting the northeast. I have a Predator generator which has worked great to get us through. During the initial outage before getting the generator up and running we flushed the toilets unfortunately by instinct but hadn't shut off the supply to either so they filled based on the pressure in the system I'm guessing.
Anyway, when I did get power going the water pressure was bad and sediment was coming out of the faucets and also into the bowls.
I checked the filter housing and it was completely full of sediment. So badly that I struggled to pull the filter element out. It was replaced back in December. I change it every three months. IIRC the last one had a decent amount of sediment but nothing like the other day.
Since Wednesday I've kept an eye on the filter housing. There's about 2 inches of sediment in the bowl that filled almost immediately, but nothing since then. I intend to replace it again tomorrow.
Over night I shut off the breaker to the well pump hoping to allow the column of water to rise as I was afraid the well was drying out/running low. It was drilled about a decade ago and they had to go down 535'. They installed an oversized column (6.25 instead of 6" diameter) as they felt bad missing the estimated 300-350 foot by so much. Gives us more in the column over that distance. The well only pushes about 2 gallons per minute when they tested it at install.
So I checked the rest of the system in the house. No leaks or problems other than a toilet with a phantom flush. So I'm fixing that tomorrow too. On Wednesday when first investigating I noticed a dripping sound coming from the system tank (not the toilet tank). The pressure at the tank reads about 40 psi now, but was above 50 then. That's when I shut the breaker to the pump off. I haven't checked it with nothing running in the house though.
The tank has a Schrader valve at the top. Can I add pressure to the tank there?
I'm wondering if the issue was caused by draining the reserve from the tank when we accidentally flushed the toilets when we had not power? Should I drain the tank? I'm assuming it's full of sediment. The filter is after the tank, but before the house service other than the external yard hose.
Here are some pics.
As it currently looks.
Filter removed on Wednesday.
Filter from Dec 17
The reserve (?) tank
Pressure gauge with current reading.
Thoughts?
Thanks
Yes to all of the above.. you probably stirred up the sediment when you ran the thing dry..
I'd recommend turning off the well pump, turn off the water supply to the house with the ball valve, and then draining it into a pan, possibly through a hose through that spigot at the front bottom. That should get the sediment out of the tank. Note if you're still dumping sediment when you run out of water, you might need to cycle in some new water to keep flushing it out Until it's empty.
Next steps will depend on what model that pressure tank is... Most of them nowadays are a bladder tank, so at the top of it is a big rubber pillow. You can check the pressure with a tire gauge and fill to the recommended amount. I don't have one but I believe it's 30ish psi. Mine is a straight pressure vessel, so I just fill it directly to 30-35psi ish. The bladder system should keep pressure indefinitely, the un-separated system like mine will have the air absorbed by the water and need to be refilled every 6 months or so.
Finally, I've never seen sediment like that in any of my well systems, but I'm far from an expert, but after you clean the system properly, if you're still seeing that kind of sediment, you may need to look into getting your well cleaned out as the sediment might be up to the pump pickup..
The bladder tank psi is not just a random number. It's supposed to be set 2psi below what your pump is set to come on. Most are on at 30, off at 50, so 28 is the magic number. Mine is 40/60 so 38 is my number. It is set with no water in the tank.
That's an incredible amount of sediment to be stirred up in that short time.
Steve_Jones said:
That's an incredible amount of sediment to be stirred up in that short time.
Yes, I agree. I was unable to get a hold of anyone at the well company to get any sort of guidance on Friday. Will try again this week.
I always get sediment under those conditions, but mine is a lot bigger pieces and less. Looks like you're pumping sand.
Keep in mind that those bladders don't last forever. If you don't get a reading and add air but it doesn't increase quickly ( they're quite small) then it's pooched. You can just add air to the top of the tank if it's waterlogged. You can tell that if the pump cycle very quickly after opening a tap
Peabody said:
I always get sediment under those conditions, but mine is a lot bigger pieces and less. Looks like you're pumping sand.
Keep in mind that those bladders don't last forever. If you don't get a reading and add air but it doesn't increase quickly ( they're quite small) then it's pooched. You can just add air to the top of the tank if it's waterlogged. You can tell that if the pump cycle very quickly after opening a tap
So there shouldn't be any water in that tank? It's just a giant bladder to support pressure?
No. It's a water tank with a small bladder at the top
In reply to Peabody :
oh. thanks. Still learning. I assume it helps even the pressure to avoid spurts and such when turning on a spigot?
In reply to vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) :
It helps you have pressure when your pump isn't running. Pump pushes pressure up to the limit of the pressure switch (often 60 PSI), by pushing water into the tank and compressing the air in the bladder, and then turns off. When you open a valve (turn on the sink), the compressed air pushes the water out until the pressure gets to 40 psi, which activates the pump again. Rinse, repeat.
That will act as an abrasive on your pump impellors which are often nylon. Talk to a well guy but when we had that issue they had to vacuum our well out and pull the sediment from around the well head. They said they sometimes push water back down to force the sediment away for a similar result.
MrJoshua said:
In reply to vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) :
It helps you have pressure when your pump isn't running. Pump pushes pressure up to the limit of the pressure switch (often 60 PSI), by pushing water into the tank and compressing the air in the bladder, and then turns off. When you open a valve (turn on the sink), the compressed air pushes the water out until the pressure gets to 40 psi, which activates the pump again. Rinse, repeat.
Hmm, that photo reminds me that I don't have a pressure relief valve on my cistern water system. For over 15 years now.
I can't help, but I'm following with interest as an owner of a drilled well that I think needs to be replaced soon... good luck!
In reply to VolvoHeretic :
You don't need a pressure relief on a system like that, and your water heater will have one anyway.
I changed the filter this morning. No change from the picture above. I replaced the internals to the tank with the phantom flush also. So far all is well. I'm going to check the on/off pressures for the system to see where they are set.
So far pressure and system has returned to normal.
Fingers crossed.
Also, and this may sound crazy, when I had to replace a bladder tank after an issue like this caused it to not clear out I chose to add a ball valve, a 50 micron pre filter before the tank, then a 50 micron and a 20 micron filter to the house and also a 5 micron filter for the drinking water circuit (water tap, ice makers, refrigerator).
In reply to Peabody :
I have a 20 gallon water heater that doesn't have an overflow port. This is in a 3 season cabin.
