i have well water that recently just started having sand in it. what kind of filters, etc can i use to fix it?

Question

it is a relatively old well that has always had problems with sand. but usually only if we used a lot of water, but now it is just full of sand all the time. what can i do to fix this? thanks

just had it "fixed" and there was a hole in the pipe, but it still is sandy.
where would you put the filter and what would be a good filter?

Answer 1

i had something very similar happen last year. I'm not sure which area of the country you are in but since much of the country is suffering from a drought, your well may be starting to pull in sediment from the floor. Wells pull from springs underground but you can almost think of it as a water table. when water levels are low the table lowers and depending on the depth of your well you might be near the limit. i would suggest calling your well company and see if they can adjust the depth of the well. the usually drill a bit deeper than where they leave the pump. it may mean a move up or down. also cut down on consumption of water. give the well time to recharge a bit. This could mean not watering your lawn as much or laundry at the laundry mat.

if it is just the water source and not a drought then you can buy different filtration systems depending on your system. Again i would call the well company that did the well. Mine gave me lots of info on what to do and other advice for maintaining my well for free.

Answer 2

The sand in your water is a symptom, now you need to determine the cause and get that fixed. The water table your well is tapped into may be dropping. As a result there is more water turbulence stirring up the sand surrounding the well. This can also happen naturally in older wells too. Another thought is that your well pipe might be encrusted or deteriorated, and not properly filtering the sand out.

Call you local well driller. If the water table is dropping he has probably been getting more of these calls lately. If there is some other problem he should be able to tell you what is going on and what it will take to fix things.

Answer 3

If you have sand in your water then raise the pump in your well off the bottom of the well to about 18 " !
This should have been done by the company that installed your well for you on day one and if it was, then have a well tech come by and inspect your well for you!
If your pump is sucking up sand then it could also be stiring up all sorts of other debris and contaminates that won't appear obvious to the eye!!!
I moved my family into a house that had a doctored well 2 years ago.
The water appeared clean. It was cold and had no foul taste yet we all got sick after only a few weeks there!
The health dept. found E-Coli and many other contaminates in the well water.
Main reason for this was external polution from farm feilds nearby, however the pump was also broken and too close to the bottom of the well !!
This stirred up bottom sediments and all the crap that settles down there over the years...

You may not have some of or any of these troubles... but why play with your health?
In Canada the health dept. test water samples for FREE and the results take "3" days!
If you have any water contamination at all - they will phone you or send you a priority letter in the mail to warn you of any danger from drinking your water !!
I don't want to make a big deal out of it friend - but it may be more to you then sandy water, and in our case it cost us the lives of our unborn twins from the E-coli.
I hope this helps you !

Answer 4

We had this happen when we first built our house 9 years ago. I got frightened that we had problems with our well. We called the people out that put in the well and they put some kind of a filter in and it took care of the problem. Don't worry it didn't cost a lot and it happens more often than you think.

Answer 5

There is something called a sand separater. For example: http://www.deanbennett.com/lakos-sand-separators.htm

But your problem may also be time to drill a new well, the water pocket there may be drained.

I'm looking at that myself.

Answer 6

it may be a foot valve,try a good filter