Iron in water from bore hole

[Guffman]

I have been using a bore hole for water in my house for about 15 years. The water had always been clean until about six months ago when I changed the pump. Since then it has had iron in the water which causes stains to appear on everything. Is there any solution  to this problem? It is now so bad I don't want to use the water anymore. Any help appreciated.

 

[Brierley]

Welcome to the club! The only remedy is to drill deeper and try to get past the iron, alternatively, put a stone based, layer filter between the well output and the house inlet. It's curious that you're only now finding rust, did you change the depth of the pickup pipe or did something else change?

[Guffman]

Nothing changed apart from the pump. I don't understand how I could have clean water for so long and suddenly it has gone bad.

[Brierley]

2 minutes ago, Guffman said:

Nothing changed apart from the pump. I don't understand how I could have clean water for so long and suddenly it has gone bad.

Something changed somewhere, how deep is your pickup pipe?

[Guffman]

Not sure exactly, but about roughly 10 metres

[Brierley]

Just now, Guffman said:

Not sure exactly, but about roughly 10 metres

That's very shallow, I would expect most bores of that depth to find rust. If the new pickup pipe is the same length as the old one, I don't have an answer for you. I'm at 36 meters and I get rust but my well is only for irrigation. And 10 meters is a very shallow well for domestic water, I haven't seen any domestic water wells under about 40 meters.

[Guffman]

It's about the same as my neighbours and they don't have a problem. I had the bore hole because when the house was built the government water was too far away and would have cost too much to put in at the time. If the worst comes to the worst I can get the government water put in as they made a connection near the front of my house a few years ago. Obviously I'd rather fix what I have if it's possible.

 

Maybe try another hole on the other side of the house??

 

[bankruatsteve]

New pump or used that got rusty?

[JetsetBkk]

5 minutes ago, bankruatsteve said:

New pump or used that got rusty?

 

That's my guess.

 

 

This is what came from the "city water" supply in Phuket. A phone call to the water authority fixed it.

[Guffman]

I think I have missed out an important detail. I don't live in the house all the time. The last time the water was used was January.

I have spoken to the local builder/handyman and he suggested just turning on all the taps and see if it clears. I've already used a fair bit of water, so I'm not convinced that will help, but I'll give it a go.

[JetsetBkk]

7 minutes ago, Guffman said:

I think I have missed out an important detail. I don't live in the house all the time. The last time the water was used was January.

I have spoken to the local builder/handyman and he suggested just turning on all the taps and see if it clears. I've already used a fair bit of water, so I'm not convinced that will help, but I'll give it a go.

 

That's what the water authority guy did in my soi - they opened up the big stand-pipe and flooded the road with brown water. The iron stain is still there. I also did the same in my house - all taps open, garden taps too. Eventually got it crystal clean - not clean enough to drink obviously, but at least the washing comes out cleaner than when it went in to the machine.

[Brierley]

Ah, right!!! Well yes, letting it run might solve the problem. But you might also want to have your water tested because if that's what's happening to it because there's no flow, the level of contamination in it will be very high I imagine, even if it does appear to run clear.

[bankruatsteve]

Are you sure from rust?  Here, when the underground table gets depleted, the only thing left is very muddy.  It will filter out but stays in suspension otherwise.  A good rain will put things back in order.

[Artisi]

Is the replacement pump the same size unit, if larger unit you could be pumping at a higher rate, meaning higher flow thru' the aquifer, that could bring in iron that has been deposited in the ground over the years. 

The advice to run the system for a while might help. 

[Brierley]

At 10 meters the bore may not have even reached a strata of rock, he appears to be pumping muddy groundwater which would account for the color.

[Guffman]

I ran the water for a while yesterday and it looked ok. I checked the water in the cistern this morning and it was a bit brown, but better than before. I'm running it again now and see if it fixes it 100% 

 

The water runs clear, but if you let it sit for a while it turns a bit brown with a very thin oily film in places.