Dirty Water-The Story of the Pesky Hole

The voice on the other end of the phone asked, “Can you help me?”  Well, I don't shy away from questions like this, I live for them!  The gentleman caller had dirty, or turbid water coming into his home, and had called a service company to help solve his problem.  The service company informed him that his pressure tank needed replacing.  The gentleman continued.... when the old pressure tank was disconnected from the piping, mud came out of the tank.  A new pressure tank was installed, but the dirty water persisted.  The gentleman was instructed by the service company, to keep running the water, as it would eventually clear up, 3-weeks had passed, and the water had still not cleared, and numerous requests for service had gone unanswered.  I assured him that we would attempt to solve his water problem and would arrive in the morning.

When we arrived, the well pump was running, so we turned on a near-by faucet and sure enough, the water was very dirty indeed.  The pump would build sufficient pressure to shut off, but the pressure gauge was rapidly dropping, and in no time the switch re-engaged the pump.  The pump was short cycling, left in this condition, the pump would rapidly self-destruct, and in the process, drive the electric bill through the roof.  I informed the patron that we needed to find the cause of the pressure loss, and short cycling of the pump.  Alas! When we pulled the pump, the pipe that the pump was attached to had developed a hole the size of a pencil eraser, there-in lye the culprit of the short cycling, the pressure loss, and the dirty turbid water.  The water returning to the well from the hole in the pipe, was causing capillary action to take place, and was agitating the water in the well, creating a muddy condition, as whatever is in the water....the pump will pump!

All content provided on this blog is for informational purposes only. The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site.