Well water issues...anyone else had issues with well water?

[allanon1965]

Alright, we moved into our freshly built new home Christmas eve 2017. There were issues right away with the water and other things we wont go into detail on those other issues...suffice it to say the wife picked out the home and hates everything about it now.

the water test done at the site while building showed 129 micro grams per liter... at the time I am looking at that and saying WTF?!?! PPM is the standard measurement as far as I know and is used by all the water companies/well drillers here.. it seems to convert to .129 PPM.

the water had a yellow/tan tint to it and a slight eggy smell. I had the water tested by a water conditioning company, eco-water systems and it came back with 4.5 PPM of iron. The iron in the water was reportedly clear water iron, as it had not oxidized in the well or lines and turned rusty in the toilets after some time in them.

I had a water softener that claimed it could get rid of up to 10 PPM of iron. I found out later that didn't include clear water iron. I tried an additional air injection iron filter system that almost worked, but not quite. I finally went with the Eco Water company and their softener/iron filter system.

Initially there were issues with their system as well but it came down to the time for regeneration was 12 midnight, not 2 am as I was told and the wife was using the water a few times when the system was regenerating, unbeknownst to us at the time.

When I discovered the issue, I fixed it myself by adjusting the time it regenerated to 2 am. 2 days later we have yellow tinted water again! WTF!!!! I call the water company and they come out to test 2 days later and the water is clear by that time and no iron found. This goes on for a few days and I soon see there is a pattern to the discoloration.

The water discolors a day or so after we get rain. I call the well company to come out and check the well to make sure there is no issue with rain water infiltrating the well. They find no issues and again, after a rain the discoloration comes back. I decide I am going to install a whole house filter before the water hits the water softener/iron filter.

I install a filter from Omni Filter and put in a 5 micron poly string filter. The water seems clear enough but it wasn't discolored before I hooked up the filter. The next day we get rain...the day of the rain, no tinted water..the next morning however..its back! This crap must be related to Arnold cause it keeps coming back!

Now I am pi**ed off! I look at the filter and its not very dirty but it does have some rust in it so I figure I will trade it out for the 25 micron carbon filter that came with the housing(i was thinking 25 microns was too big and wouldn't filter out the yellow tint) and low and behold after 5 minutes of flushing the water is freakin clear!

the pic below is the yellow water in the left sink from this morning (its darker than the pic shows) and the water in the right sink is the clear water after installing the 25 micron carbon filter. The housing is clear so I can see the filter media and it got discolored real fast but I think it will last for awhile, its rated for 50,000 gallons or 9 months. Hell even if I had to change it once a month at 20 bucks a filter that's a bargain!

Kudos if you stayed with me this long and got thru reading the horribly written rant!

 

[durok]

Man, that must be awful. I've lived in an apartment long ago that had issues with the tap water.

I'll try to remember to ask my brother about this - he works for a huge water-related company and is a geologist and civil engineer.

 

[mikemcE]

I’ve done wells for years. The yellow is likely tannin. Add 5# of white mineral to the tank. I had to redo about every 5 years to keep it clear.
Iron wells use a potassium permanganate to remove iron, to eliminate rust colors. Is there tannin in your water test ?


Hang up and Drive

 

[allanon1965]

I’ve done wells for years. The yellow is likely tannin. Add 5# of white mineral to the tank. I had to redo about every 5 years to keep it clear.
Iron wells use a potassium permanganate to remove iron, to eliminate rust colors. Is there tannin in your water test ?


Hang up and Drive

they didnt test for tannins, but I talked to kinetico today and they do well systems here and they said they were sure it was tannin. I am feeling hopeful the filter I installed will help until I get something better. The rain has not stopped for the past 2 days and the water is still 99% clear to my wife and 100% clear to me lol... but I know its only temporary..


what is this white mineral and where do you get it? you add it to the salt tank?

 

[mikemcE]

they didnt test for tannins, but I talked to kinetico today and they do well systems here and they said they were sure it was tannin. I am feeling hopeful the filter I installed will help until I get something better. The rain has not stopped for the past 2 days and the water is still 99% clear to my wife and 100% clear to me lol... but I know its only temporary..


what is this white mineral and where do you get it? you add it to the salt tank?

I actually got mine at the local ACE, as it was closer than the well shop to purchase. You remove some of the resin in the conditioner , and then put in the mineral. That’s what works here....... read this , might help.

https://www.wqpmag.com/tannin-removal


Hang up and Drive

 

[wings_of_fire]

I would like to know just out of curiosity if that well has frogs in it.

 

[allanon1965]

I would like to know just out of curiosity if that well has frogs in it.

this is a drilled well, no frogs"thumbsup"

 

[FANATICRC]

Luck would have it my friend that I have worked for a well drilling and service company for several years. If you lived up here I'd say that the casing was up due to frost and not seated in the rock causing ground water penetration. However if this were the case you would have dirty water almost immediately as it rains outside not a day or two later. If you could get your hands on a driving plate you could still try driving the casing down as that's free to try. What we would do next is come out just after the rain and run our camera down into the well. We would run the camera down the well and turn the cold water on in the house and draw the water down which will bring in new water from the veins in the ground into the well.

In a well with the camera you can see the water come in and if its dirty it looks a bit like putting a couple drops of chocolate milk into a clear glass of water. You need to check top to bottom in the well. You also need to know how much water the well makes and at which depths, which you can get from a copy of the drillers log. What we do to take care of a dirty vein of water is to pull the pump out of the well. We then put a shale trap cone up on the bottom of a 4" PVC pipe bells up. You cut a small hole just below the shale trap and tie a 3/8" rope to it lowering it down adding 8' lengths of PVC until the shale trap reaches a couple feet beyond the bad vein of water. The top of the PVC should be at least a couple feet below the pitless at the top of the well. The 3/8" rope will come over and outside the top of the well and tied off holding the liner in place. You then use a homemade funnel that will fit between the 4" PVC and the exterior 6" casing. You need to fill the space with coated bentonite tablets. Moving the funnel around filling the space between the casing and the liner. The bentonite is like a clay and will seal off that vein of water. However if the dirty water is at the bottom of the well you can't line the well otherwise you'd have no water. If it is the only option is redrill or treat what you have. Theres no softener that can take the place of a proper iron filter I dont care what anyone says. Most iron filters will come with a water aerator which will take care of the sulfur smell. The problem nowadays is that no one really knows anything about water anymore. We deal with wells like this all the time up here. I wish we were closer I'd come look you up. All I can say is good luck.

 

[allanon1965]

Luck would have it my friend that I have worked for a well drilling and service company for several years. If you lived up here I'd say that the casing was up due to frost and not seated in the rock causing ground water penetration. However if this were the case you would have dirty water almost immediately as it rains outside not a day or two later. If you could get your hands on a driving plate you could still try driving the casing down as that's free to try. What we would do next is come out just after the rain and run our camera down into the well. We would run the camera down the well and turn the cold water on in the house and draw the water down which will bring in new water from the veins in the ground into the well.

In a well with the camera you can see the water come in and if its dirty it looks a bit like putting a couple drops of chocolate milk into a clear glass of water. You need to check top to bottom in the well. You also need to know how much water the well makes and at which depths, which you can get from a copy of the drillers log. What we do to take care of a dirty vein of water is to pull the pump out of the well. We then put a shale trap cone up on the bottom of a 4" PVC pipe bells up. You cut a small hole just below the shale trap and tie a 3/8" rope to it lowering it down adding 8' lengths of PVC until the shale trap reaches a couple feet beyond the bad vein of water. The top of the PVC should be at least a couple feet below the pitless at the top of the well. The 3/8" rope will come over and outside the top of the well and tied off holding the liner in place. You then use a homemade funnel that will fit between the 4" PVC and the exterior 6" casing. You need to fill the space with coated bentonite tablets. Moving the funnel around filling the space between the casing and the liner. The bentonite is like a clay and will seal off that vein of water. However if the dirty water is at the bottom of the well you can't line the well otherwise you'd have no water. If it is the only option is redrill or treat what you have. Theres no softener that can take the place of a proper iron filter I dont care what anyone says. Most iron filters will come with a water aerator which will take care of the sulfur smell. The problem nowadays is that no one really knows anything about water anymore. We deal with wells like this all the time up here. I wish we were closer I'd come look you up. All I can say is good luck.

Thanks! I will check into these things with the well driller and see what he says...I appreciate the response!!"thumbsup"

 

[FANATICRC]

Glad to help

 

[durok]

My brothers' reply, in case you still need any more info (loads of help here already!):

If he is still concerned, is he concerned with the well water or his filtration system? Possibly the issues are related if the symptoms arise after rainfall. To assess the situation, he would probably need a site map, well report (depth of well, depth to water, soil/rock description, screening, wellhead and/or annular sealing method, etc), lab test results on the well water and filtered water, schematic/details of the well and filter system.

Maybe he's done this already, but if not, he might start off by describing the symptoms to the well company - they may have seen similar problems. Also talk to the technical staff for the company that sells the conditioning system. Keep a record of when the symptoms arise (date, time, also record rainfall, if there is a way to measure their water use that may be helpful too).

If that fails, it looks like Indiana has a statewide registry for all new water wells. https://www.in.gov/dnr/water/3595.htm There are also links for community assistance/info, etc. I'd recommend collecting well and filter system info and talk to state or local groundwater officials, but he may have to hire a consultant to get answers.

I also found this site "Private Wells and Complaint Response" that looks like a good place to get information or report contamination or see if anyone else has reported contamination in the area.
https://www.in.gov/idem/cleanwater/2452.htm


hope it helps.

 

[allanon1965]

My brothers' reply, in case you still need any more info (loads of help here already!):

If he is still concerned, is he concerned with the well water or his filtration system? Possibly the issues are related if the symptoms arise after rainfall. To assess the situation, he would probably need a site map, well report (depth of well, depth to water, soil/rock description, screening, wellhead and/or annular sealing method, etc), lab test results on the well water and filtered water, schematic/details of the well and filter system.

Maybe he's done this already, but if not, he might start off by describing the symptoms to the well company - they may have seen similar problems. Also talk to the technical staff for the company that sells the conditioning system. Keep a record of when the symptoms arise (date, time, also record rainfall, if there is a way to measure their water use that may be helpful too).

If that fails, it looks like Indiana has a statewide registry for all new water wells. https://www.in.gov/dnr/water/3595.htm There are also links for community assistance/info, etc. I'd recommend collecting well and filter system info and talk to state or local groundwater officials, but he may have to hire a consultant to get answers.

I also found this site "Private Wells and Complaint Response" that looks like a good place to get information or report contamination or see if anyone else has reported contamination in the area.
https://www.in.gov/idem/cleanwater/2452.htm


hope it helps.

Thanks for the info, I have been on the DNR well website but ours isnt on the map yet...the map is 7 years out of date... I have talked to the well guy and he gave me the info on the well, I am still looking into options other than shelling out thousands for a tannin removal system. I found a Tannin filter on the US Water website and they are located 2.5 hours south of me in indianapolis. I am most likely going to get their filter and give it a try.. thanks again for all the replies and research!"thumbsup""thumbsup""thumbsup"

 

[junkman]

No real help here, but I will say my well does the exact same thing. I’ve lived in our house for 7 years, and it does it like clockwork a couple days after a hard rain. We moved in in the fall, so never noticed it until the spring rains the next year. I guess I noticed it when the kids would take a bath and not drain the water, the next morning it would have the yellow tint. We would notice it in a bathroom toilet if it didn’t get used for a couple days as well. Then it would go away and be perfectly clear again. Initially I figured the casing had a leak, but the people I had talked to about it said that would be more of a cloudy or sediment issue, and it was tannin. It’s always clear, but just has the yellow tint after sitting. My hokey long term fix was bottled water, basically just to make me feel better. We still use the well for everything else but to drink. It seemed odd to me when we moved in there is no filtration on it at all. It comes straight out of the ground to the tap. The well has been there for about 30 years, and the previous owners never really though anything of it.

 

[allanon1965]

I am getting a thorough water test done at a lab, its a 110 bucks but it tests for a ton of crap, including Tannins. I need to know exactly what I am up against before throwing any more money at the issue...Thanks for all the replies and suggestions, I really appreciate them!

 

[mikemcE]

After testing you should know what’s in it . Tannin comes from trees broken down over the years. Most of the wells down here are sulfur or iron, most have tannins. We bathed and cooked with it no problems


Hang up and Drive

 

[allanon1965]

well after the water test analysis I decided to tackle this myself since the water place I was renting the softener/iron removal unit from was dragging ass getting back to me on a system. I ended up going with a system from A-plus water LLC out of Illinois that had a great reputation. I had discovered that carbon filtering took out everything that was wrong with my well water. The only thing I did before all of this new equipment was to have the well chlorinated by the well drillers..that took care of the iron and sulfur bacteria..

Iron was 3.58 ppm, manganese was .294 ppm, hardness was 34 grains, turbidity was 39 NTU, and PH was 7. No nitrates or nitrites were detected.

The drawback to the filters was the fact they couldn't be washed out and reused. I got the Iron Eater Black Edition that had the Centaur GAC blend media in it. This will remove iron up to 27 ppm, Sulfur up to 10 ppm, Manganese up to 6 ppm and uses an air injected pocket to oxidize the contaminants. A daily backwash will remove accumulated iron and replenish the filter media bed. The regeneration process also adds a fresh air pocket to the system.

I had installed a 10 inch see thru filter housing inline after the water softener with the old system and within 2 hours it was filthy. After installing the new Iron Eater and back flushing it as directed I then regenerated my original water boss water softener that I reinstalled and installed a new white cartridge filter in the 10 inch housing. There has been over 400 gallons of water ran thru the filter cartridge as of today and it is still bright white!

My water is clear, clean and no odors at all. I am ready to move onto the next problem with this new home...

 

[Mike Flea]

Congrats "thumbsup"