Help! Advice on new water well with lots of silt

[thrugoodmarshall]

I'm a new homeowner with a new water well.

There seems to be a lot of silt in the water, so I installed a whole house filter (10" housing from Lowes) with a 50 micron pleated polyester cartridge.

At this point, we've got 2 pleated poly carts. We just keep swapping them and cleaning the one just removesd. We get a good bit of mud out of this filter every week. But they don't seem to be doing the job!

We tried a 5 micron filter cartridge, which plugged solid in about half a day.

When we fill the 72 gal Jacuzzi, the water appears very dirty. It's dark gray and very cloudy. Objects are recognizable (maybe) 1/2" into the water. When we drain the bathtub, there is a lot of silt left on the bottom of the tub. We tried this with just cold water, so it's definitely NOT coming from the water heater. My wife absolutely adores this tub (I think we bought the tub and built the house around it!)--But she was not planning on mud baths!

First question-- How long should I operate this well (we estimate water usage like a

4-person household) before deciding it's not going to clear up on its own?

Second question--

*After* determining that the well is not going to purge clean through usage, we will have to buy some sort of filter. Currently, we're looking at a Sears clarifying filter. Has anybody any experience with Sears clarifying filters (Sears item #04234823000)? Do they really make filthy water like mine run clear?

Last question-- If this sediment gets into a water softener, will the softener be ruined? Or can the softener be backflushed/cleaned to get rid of the sediment once it's in there?

My wife and I are new at this home maintenance, and are really grateful for any experience and lessons learned that you might share.

Thanks for your kind assistance!

Here are the numbers reported when the water was tested:

Hardness: 8.0 grains/gal Fe: 0.5 ppm Mn: trace S: None Bacteria: None TDS: 27 ppm

[David Martel]

Marshall,

The obvious sources for your answers are the well digger who put in the well and the town or county officer who approved it.Water softeners do backflush automatically during the regeneration cycle to clear silt et c. Ask your neighbors about their water quality.

Good luck,

[Gary Slusser]

How old is the well?

How long has water been used?

What type pump: submersible in the well or jet pump?

What do you know about the well? Rock bore or screened? Where do you live?

Is the water like that all the time or only when filling the tub?

No softener, this will ruin any softener resin.

Your TDS is too low for the rest of the things in the water. Who did the analysis?

Since the 5 micron cartridge plugs so much quicker than the 50 mic pleated, your "silt" is very fine and should be invisible in a glass of water. Am I right?

Gary Quality Water Associates

Bulletin Board

[Nick Hull]

Have you tried opening up the pipe and running the pump af full capacity for some time? Maybe an hour to see if the water clears, assuming the well doesn't dry up first. The well will clear much faster at really high flow rates, then at lower household usage the water should be much clearer.

If the silt content stays high, see how long it takes to settle out. If the silt falls in a day, you could put in twin 'cisterns' to hold 2 days worth of water and fill them alternately and use alternately.