Water well advice / help please

[DaveB]

Most water wells are, or should have the pump suspended a few meters off the bottom to give you a sump for grit and fines to fall into. I wonder if you have this, and after your perfs are cleaned out, will you have to have that crap dump bailed or somehow pumped out of the well. You didnt mention if the well had liner all the way to the bottom, I thought it did based on perfs at 80 and again at the bottom. Worst case scenario would be sluffing in. Just looked at your pics again. There are 2 things that an RO system doesn't like.....iron and chlorine. Iron will foul the membrane and chlorine will eat it up. Careful not to over treat with CL2.

Thanks SJ. I am familiar with water treatment (outside of what "the expert" told me, LOL).....Chlorine expends itself as an oxidant in 15 min, so the cistern should have a long enough holding period to let it do it's thing. The water then goes through the carbon filter prior to going to the RO system....so I hope this is sufficient to keep the membranes healthy. I will be keeping an eye on costs and maintenance for sure....but right now, just getting water efficiently into the cistern is my main concern. (flowing outside for 11 hrs now....)

 

[senorjeem]

If you catch a sample of what you have flowing, is it still silty??

 

[DaveB]

If you catch a sample of what you have flowing, is it still silty??

I just flipped the valves and diverted to the cistern....the fine filter got darker (solids) but never plugged off. These are very fine particles. The Alken Basin guy insisted it was fine sand (and "normalish" for this area), but I think we are very near to colloidal solids. The fine filter is 250 mesh (63 micron). Cleaned filter again and resume building my skating rink outside.....

 

[Kibbels]

I just flipped the valves and diverted to the cistern....the fine filter got darker (solids) but never plugged off. These are very fine particles. The Alken Basin guy insisted it was fine sand (and "normalish" for this area), but I think we are very near to colloidal solids. The fine filter is 250 mesh (63 micron). Cleaned filter again and resume building my skating rink outside.....

Well Sh!t.. I hope it's not Colliodal from the upper zone.. As its highly probable that will never go away as it stays suspended... Calling ya...

 

[imdoo'n]

maybe ask a few of the neighbours about there wells. can't hurt, and ya can at least know what to expect.

 

[rzrgade]

Couple of points Dave.
1 you do not need a cistern.
2 I have ran many wells for a week to two
In order to clean up.
3 in terms of a sandscreen, what did the driller on site recommend .
4 how deep of sump below your pump install height ?
I would not panic yet....
IMO it takes about 3 months to know what you have!
Curious ,what kind of seal did the drillers use ?

 

[DaveB]

1 you do not need a cistern. I was told that anything less than 7 gal/min they recommend a cistern...knowing zero, I went with it.
2 I have ran many wells for a week to two
In order to clean up. daaaaammmm
3 in terms of a sandscreen, what did the driller on site recommend . No idea.
4 how deep of sump below your pump install height ? No idea
I would not panic yet....
IMO it takes about 3 months to know what you have! daaaaaammmm!
Curious ,what kind of seal did the drillers use ? Bentonite chips...that make sense?

 

[DaveB]

maybe ask a few of the neighbours about there wells. can't hurt, and ya can at least know what to expect.

Next door neighbor had the land owner provide the well with the land. Their well is 80' deep. They do not have a cistern, but have ran out of water several times and are also having silt/sand issues.

 

[rzrgade]

Sorry short on time again , but 4 gpm is lots for normal use.
The driller (on site) should advise you as to wether or not a sandscreen is needed at that time.
A sump under the pump height of 20 + feet can be vey helpful.
A bentonite seal, well popular, may not be enough to properly seal surface/sand from a higher level.
Run your water for a week and see what happens for a start....
I would live there for six months before I made any decisions in rgards to
Water improvement decisions....
Sometimes , they just wanna sell you chit you
Don't need.......

 

[sumx54]

Well WTH ... I must have misunderstood you a few weeks back... So yes flow that SOB.. Out da window starting early am and flow well into the evening Dave.. I thought Alkan did do a 24 hr cleanup as that is typical standard... Did you ever find your Drill Report & Schematic .. If a did scan and email it bud... Also I'm a bit concerned of the upper aquifer being the culprit.. When I come out we will do a fluid shot... I could also run a GR log and and look at Sand|Shale Volume and correct that back to see sand porosity on that upper zone from 60 - 80'...

Cheers

bwhahaha on the GR log.... Hell you might as well reperf that biotch with some Big Hole charges and frac. Do the cleanup with coil. Lol

 

[rsaint]

You have 2 water producing zones does the static water level come above the first zone. I see your neighbors 80' well has a silt problem and silt is almost impossible to get rid of pumping at a high rate that will not be able to control if static falls below this zone. At least you have water to treat, also agree about having the space below your pump for settling but you have to give time for it to settle and pumping at high rates will not do it if the zones are soft. Drillers in this area would seal off or not produce a zone like that if it was low producers. From what i have read here your pocket book has been picked.

 

[Central101]

I can relate. Long story short, my new well would not clean up and when it did cleanup somewhat, turn it off, and several hours later.. Back to square one. The drilling co. Came back and rigged their unit back onto well and "blew" out the casing with air and water. Tried to run it again and same thing. We ran ours for two to three days 24 hrs, no posive results. The drilling co. I used was very good to work with and did end up drilling me a new well. The only thing I paid was the difference on price from plastic casing to steel and new well was good. I would be cautious... I know for a fact with 4.5 gal per min... U don't need a cistern, that may be sign who you are dealing with???

 

[DaveB]

I can relate. Long story short, my new well would not clean up and when it did cleanup somewhat, turn it off, and several hours later.. Back to square one. The drilling co. Came back and rigged their unit back onto well and "blew" out the casing with air and water. Tried to run it again and same thing. We ran ours for two to three days 24 hrs, no posive results. The drilling co. I used was very good to work with and did end up drilling me a new well. The only thing I paid was the difference on price from plastic casing to steel and new well was good. I would be cautious... I know for a fact with 4.5 gal per min... U don't need a cistern, that may be sign who you are dealing with???

I take it this was not the same drilling co. I mentioned?

I flushed 'er outside for 24hrs and the very next tank top-up went well. This morning, back to plugged filter. Had to babysit the filling of the cistern. Might as well be hauling water for how efficient this is....

 

[rsaint]

I take it this was not the same drilling co. I mentioned?

I flushed 'er outside for 24hrs and the very next tank top-up went well. This morning, back to plugged filter. Had to babysit the filling of the cistern. Might as well be hauling water for how efficient this is....

Try pumping it at a gallon per minute since you have a cistern already with a days use in it. Your well does not like high water movement, you have all the equipment in place for a low producing well. Obviously what you have been trying is not working with your well 3 gal is to much of a pull on it.

 

[Central101]

the well driller should of choked the well down when he set the pump? i would work with the driller on this and they should see you get the water that is suitable IMO

no, dave its a different Co, andd can pm his contact if you need, but your driller should be working with you

good luck... it sucks but it will work out im sure!!!

 

[X-it]

A Water softener and no filters

 

[DaveB]

the well driller should of choked the well down when he set the pump? i would work with the driller on this and they should see you get the water that is suitable IMO

no, dave its a different Co, andd can pm his contact if you need, but your driller should be working with you

good luck... it sucks but it will work out im sure!!!

I called Alken and explained where I'm at. They seem like they are going to get things right for me, so we will see. He wants to take out the 3 gal/min flow restrictor and put in a 2.5 or 2, and maybe raise the pump in the well a bit. If this fails, they will try a blowdown (as you mentioned), but I guess in the winter, this is a messy deal.

Here is a copy of the drill report....

 

[senorjeem]

Already recommends that the pump be set at 100 ft from TOC....thats only halfway down the well isn't it?? Maybe I'm missing something

 

[rsaint]

Already recommends that the pump be set at 100 ft from TOC....thats only halfway down the well isn't it?? Maybe I'm missing something

I agree with you a low yield well you want to use as much as the casing as possible for resevior recommended pump rate 2.5 and a 3gpm orifice change it to a 2 and drop pump down 20' from bottom and try it. As long as the restrictor is easy to change out.

 

[DaveB]

They actually raised the pump up 15'....it is at 85' now and changed the restictor to 2 gpm....cleared right up. I will be monitoring for sure....