Clay in well

[blakesavage20]

A few years ago we began having problems with our well. Any time we use more water than a relatively normal amount of daily usage, we start getting clay in the water. This is especially challenging as we live on a farm and need to fill water on a regular basis. If we over use the water, the water will be grey for a day or so until it clears out of the system. Our well maintenance guy had us run a hose for 8 or so hours to see if it would clear the clay out. It didn't work. He also tried raising the level of the system to see if it would be above the clay issue. Any ideas as to what we could do to solve this issue? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks I'm advance!

 

[Valveman]

Sorry for the delay. Clay is hard to clear up. But running one hose is not enough. One hose is probably not enough to keep the pump from cycling on and off, which can stir up the clay even worse. I would pump the well hard for hours or days if needed. You won't have clean water until you pump the clay out. Just be careful not to let the pump run dry. If it is a weak well and does pump dry, let it recover before restarting the pump, and keep repeating the process until you get the well developed.

 

[blakesavage20]

Sorry for the delay. Clay is hard to clear up. But running one hose is not enough. One hose is probably not enough to keep the pump from cycling on and off, which can stir up the clay even worse. I would pump the well hard for hours or days if needed. You won't have clean water until you pump the clay out. Just be careful not to let the pump run dry. If it is a weak well and does pump dry, let it recover before restarting the pump, and keep repeating the process until you get the well developed.

Thank you for the response! The farmer who owned the property before us, told me that they used to use the water for a bunch of cattle, plus home use and never had any trouble running dry so hoping that won't be a problem. But if it does run dry, I need to shut off the pump breaker and let the well refill for a couple days before turning it back on? Just making sure I read that right. And it will refill right? Just stressful because I have never run dry before and not sure what to expect if that ever happened. If we are able to get rid of the clay, what are the chances that it would come back? I have the ability to run up to three hoses, would that be enough? Thanks again for your help and advice.

 

[Valveman]

Sorry I missed this. Don't want to ruin a pump dry more than a minute or so. If you are not standing there watching it you can use a dry well protector like a Cycle Sensor. It will shut the pump off when the well is dry, and has a timer that can be set for how long you want to leave the pump off, then it restarts it.

Three faucets are only enough if the pump cannot reach 60 and shut off. Usually when you get a well cleaned up it stays that way.