Domestic Well and/or Well Pump issues

I recently bought a house in rural Brighton / unincorporated Adams County. For the first time in my life, I am dealing with a well and septic system.

The water smelled like sulpher, so a friend suggested I flush the Well with bleach. I did that a couple of days ago. The smell is almost gone and seems to be getting better each day. In the process, I managed to dork something up.

My pressure accumulator and well pump seems to regulate the system to between 53 psi and 65 psi when I’m using household faucets and the shower. However... when I try to run the sprinkler system, the pressure drops to 20 psi and the well pump can’t regain the pressure. 20 psi isn’t enough to run the sprinkler system so the heads kinda just gurgle rather than actually shooting water. (All these sprinkler issues happen even when there’s no other water running anywhere in the system.)

Does anyone have any suggestions for troubleshooting? In the alternative, is anyone on this forum a Well expert who has time to come help me out. Not asking for a freebie. I’d just rather hire someone on a referral rather than throwing darts at Google.

Thanks in advance. I’m near Bromley and Gun Club Road.

Rod

I'm no expert, but do you have sprinkler heads that aren't fully sealing and don't allow the pressure to rebuild? Have you verified your flow rate from the pump?

I know that getting my sprinklers to pressurize is the greatest demand on my utility water.

With your pressure dropping so much i wonder if there aren't too many sprinkler zones open or too many sprinklers on the zone you're trying to water. It also suggests you might have a leak in the sprinkler line pouring water into the ground unseen.

I don't have a well but we have pressurized water systems from a spring that include a pump and pressure tank. Do you have a pressure tank on the system to boost pressure? Your faucet pressure is pretty high at 53-65 lbs., enough to cause more problems with faucet seals in time.

I would be concerned about water safety given the sulfur smell. Do you use an ultraviolet sterilizer? A water test would be a good idea.

Pm'd

Pressure seems high. Most wells are 30-50 or 40-60. (I.e. the pump kicks on at 40 and shuts off at 60.)

How big is your pressure tank? If you push the fill valve (most look like a bicycle tire fill valve.) What comes out? Water or air? It should be air.

sound like the sprinkler system and house water are on the same line. Outside of pressure issues if there's no backflow preventer you run in to other issues. Find a good & affordable person versed in well systems or irrigation place.

They can split the system off at the well to run 1 to house and a separate feed for sprinklers.

Ours is set up on 2 different feeds, or we'd be dealing with the same thing.

regarding the sulfur smell. You did have the well tested prior to purchase, yes? Just because there's pressure and a good flow, doesn't mean there's ecoli or other contaminate in the system

http://wellwatertalk.com/microbes-in...li-well-water/


There are many ways that coliforms can enter your well water. Heavy rainfall, spring runoff, and flooding events are often high on the list of causes – overwhelming even newly-constructed wells, and introducing surface contaminants, including e.coli, into the well. If you have an older well, there are even more potential avenues for surface contamination (including coliforms) to enter your water.

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions.

From a troubleshooting perspective, it’s important to realize that this sprinkler system has been in place and working for over a decade. If there was a design problem such as too many heads on one zone, it would’ve shown up years and years ago.

Everything was working fine up until I circulated bleached water through the pump several days ago. I also opened the sediment filter and found a bunch of sediment and a very dirty filter. I replaced the filter before I put the cap back on the well head and put the well back into service.

The bleach seems to have taken care of the sulpher smell. I haven’t had the well tested for all the nasty stuff wells can contain, but plan to do so soon. People lived in the house up until weeks before closing, so I’m using them as a bit of the canary in a coal mine. The wife was 78 years old and still running mini marathons, so I don’t think the water was killing them.

I’ve got a new water softener, a 3 filter system, and a UV disinfectant do-dad to install, but want to get the well pump pressure issue resolved before I start introducing new variables. I’ll probably replace the anode in the hot water heater, too, at some point as this can be the source of foul smelling water.

To be clear though, my issue is one of inability to maintain adequate pressure when using a hi-draw item. The system worked up until 3 days ago. I’m wondering if I jiggled enough sediment free when I was messing with the bleach that I’ve created a partial blockage.

I’m thinking I’d like to have the pump pulled to check its condition. The well is 270 feet deep, so I think I’d like to have a professional come do this. If the pump is marginal, I’d be fine with ponying up to install a new, modern pump with fire breathing flow rates!

If anyone here is or knows a well expert who’ll come to eastern Brighton, I’m all ears!

Could be the bladder in the tank failed if you rap on the exterior it should sound light not heavy if that makes sense also flow check your pump

I grew up on a confined aquifer well in southern co during the summer sulpher was common when all the big irrigation wells where running it tapered when they stopped pumping

Did you test the irrigation system or are you assuming that it worked prior to purchase because the lawn was green?


Providing that you're 100% that the system was fine before you've got sediment in your sprinkler system or the bleach did damage or another fault. Are you using a timer to trigger each circuit? If yes, manually open it at the valve. Is there a vacuum breaker installed on the irrigation system? Have you pulled the screens in a sprinkler to check for sediment? Have you ran the system long enough to allow a broken pipe to become evident?

A broken pipe underground due to something like a moving truck would be my blind guess based on the information I have.

Sent a text to a buddy that lives a few miles from there. He has used a company a few times to fix certain issues with his stuff. Pressure tank pressure switch, control box, and a pump. He has been pleased with them. I dont remember the name, but I'll get it from him.

Hydro Resources out of Ft Lupton does good work. I am not sure how much residential work they do these days though.

My buddy used Ground Exploration for his repairs

That sulfur smell you're getting is likely H2S (hydrogen sulfide), it's naturally occurring but not great. In large doses (probably not what you're getting) it can be fatal. For your drinking water, I'd recommend a small under sink 5-stage RO (reverse osmosis) system then it doesn't much matter what's in your water, RO takes it all out. They're relatively inexpensive and not terribly difficult to install (I've done six of them).

As a side note, chlorine oxidizes H2S resulting in sulfur and HCl (hydrochloric acid). As for the water softener and UV disinfectant, you may not need either. I work at a water treatment plant right out near where you are and the wells we use produce very good water. If it wasn't municipal, we could probably get away without treating it at all. We don't get much H2S though so I'm not sure where yours is coming from. There's very little hardness in our water so the softener might be unnecessary and the UV system is used to inactivate microscopic parasites like cryptosporidium and giardia. Since your water is coming from a ground water source, there's little concern with that. It's when you're using a surface water source that you really need to be concerned with inactivating parasites.

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions and advice.

I had a well service person come out yesterday. Turns out I’ve got a pretty modern constant pressure pump and controller. The only problem is that I managed to damage the pump when I went through the process of chlorinating the well to get rid of the sulpher smell.

After adding the chlorine bleach to the well, I circulated water at the full flow rate available via a garden hose poked back into the top of the well. This apparently stirred up enough silt and I left it run way too long and managed to ruin the impellers of the well pump which reduced its pumping capabilities.

The guy extracted the pump from about 135’ deep and installed a new pump. My wallet is significantly lighter, but I now have plenty of flow and was even able to take a shower while the sprinklers were running yesterday afternoon.

The backyard sprinkler system is still messed up, but that problem is independent and I’ll just have to get busy troubleshooting starting with the old string of above-ground valves and move onward from there. Fun times! Gotta love a rural, 1975 house with tons of deferred maintenance!

Rod

At least they didn't have to redrill. Just curious how much it was, as I am on a well also.

The check I wrote this week was $2200. The guy used his truck-mounted hoist to extract the pump from about 130 feet deep. He installed a new Grundfos SQU 1-1/2hp 10gpm pump.

I probably got hosed, but I was frustrated and wanted it fixed and wasn’t in the mood to shop it to death.

Doesn't sound like you were ripped off.
You were lucky to even get someone to show up.
You should be good for another 15 years.

[Coffee]

Thanks for the note. It makes me feel better to think that I didn’t get ripped off. The company I used is Boulder Water Well. The technician actually lives within 10 minutes of my house in rural Brighton. He was there at about 8am and just drove straight from his home. He seemed very knowledgeable and proficient at his job. I have nothing bad to say about the experience and I’m a tough guy to please.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BladesNBarrels

Doesn't sound like you were ripped off.
You were lucky to even get someone to show up.
You should be good for another 15 years.

[Coffee]

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