woodmanbg

Ok, so this morning I went to fill the Brita and as soon as I opened the kitchen tap horrible brown water came out! I immediately closed the tap called my husband and as things usually go the water then ran clear!!! No brown water from any other tap.

We changed our filters (two of them) only a week ago and already they are looking very rusty and clogged. So as water levels are so low is our well running low, we are quite a few feet above the Elbow River, our well is quite deep and has been drawing 6 gallons per minute.

Any ideas?

Helen Parnell

Do you have a holding tank. I was told 6 gallons a minute is the minium you want without a holding tank and may be time of year etc you are less than that.

i have been having some work done by Aaron drilling based in Dewinton and they have been great. If you need someone to check it out i can recommend them.

woodmanbg

Hi Helen, yes we have a holding tank. We had to put a new one in shortly after we moved in!!! so it is only about 18 mths old. We didnt have any problems like this last year despite temperatures of -37, but I think the water levels are down on last year and that may be the problem perhaps we are scraping the bottom of the barrel!!!

OH is checking the holding tank etc., but nothing shown up yet.

iaink

Did the drilling people tell you that then

The minimum some mortgage companies look for is 4.

We actually run somewhere between 2 and 3, and we get by fine at the moment (2 adults, 2 kids age 3 and 7). The only time I ran the well dry was when I was watering a new bit of grass outside and forgot about it.

The dirty water sounds like some sediment got stirred up. I wouldnt worry about it too much at this stage.

Helen Parnell

no i heard it sometime on a real estate course. The acerage I look after has about 1gpm, but because it has a big tank, is no problem at all to the residents.

iaink

We got a few grand off the cost of the house when we bought it to pay for a trickle tank if it became necessary. So far (touch wood) it hasnt been, although we have had the well descalled to increase the rate a bit.

One thing to remember is that just because you can pump 6 gal / min, thats not your wells flow rate. Thats harder to figure out, and is the rate the well refills itself. Sounds like the OP has a trickle tank anyway, so maybe the tank is getting refilled a bit too enthusiastically and sediment at the bottom of the bore hole is getting up into the tank?

Atlantic Xpat

We have 1/2 gpm and no holding tank. We do have a 300ft well which provides around 300 gallons of storage capacity in its own right. Cross fingers, we've not run it dry since we changed the washer to a front loader. If neccessary we'll install a trickle tank in the basement.

Sam-in-Okotoks

If you still continue to have problems I would also suggest you give Aaron Drilling a call and ask for Tyler or Chris. My OH (Jason) worked for Aaron Drilling and they really are a great bunch of people.

woodmanbg

Thanks for your replies. Hopefully it is just sediment stirred up, but why only one tap? Anyways it seemed to flow clear for the rest of the day and the first water out of the kitchen tap this morning is clear, so lets keep our fingers crossed that perhaps we have two dud filters downstairs that we shall have to change after only 10 days. Thanks also for the contacts, hopefully we wont need them.

GavinR

The levels in the Elbow won't be having much effect on the amount of water in the aquifer your well draws on.

woodmanbg

Thanks, shows how little I know about these things.