Question about my well

HilltopDaisy · #1 03/15/12, 03:48 PM

I watered all the outside critters with the hose just now. I came inside (and forgot to turn the water off). When I went to run the water in the kitchen sink, nothing came out. That's when I said "OH CRAP, I think I left the hose running!"

I ran outside and shut the water off. It had been running at least 30 minutes.

So, checked the pressure tank and it's good. Flipped the main circuit breaker (don't ask me why, seemed like a good idea?). Turned the faucet back on and cloudy, yellowish water came out the cold tap. Ran a basin of hot water for dishes, and as I walked away I heard the pump kick on.

What happened?

Bearfootfarm · #2 03/15/12, 03:52 PM

You may have run so much water out of the well that it stirred up sediment near the bottom

HilltopDaisy · #3 03/15/12, 03:54 PM

Thanks, but how come I had no water at all for a minute there?

**Cabin Fever** · #4 03/15/12, 04:02 PM

Depends on the recharge rate to your well versus the pumping rate of your pump, you may have completely emptied your well casing of water.

HilltopDaisy · #5 03/15/12, 04:26 PM

Cabin Fever, will it be ok? No serious damage?

Joshie · #6 03/15/12, 06:19 PM

Sounds strange to me. I let the hose run for a couple hours at a time during the summer and it's never gone dry. On the other hand, we have no water right now. The pressure switch went kaput. DH was able to get it to keep working for a while by just smacking it when it acted up.

CIW · #7 03/15/12, 06:53 PM

Its called exercising the well. Not a bad thing to run your well, as long as you don't run the pump dry. Doing so causes the well to replentish itself from the surrounding area. This in turn makes little waterways (streams) under the ground, leading to your well.
If this is done often it causes there to be more water available to pump out at any given time and your well will replantish itself quicker.
I've done this for many years. We are at a point that we can run our well continually without pumping it dry. I mean for days at a time.
My brother drills irrigation wells. He can recondition an old well by sending a small drill head down the existing casing, drilling the well deeper. He then sends a small charge to the new bottom of the well and sets it off. Then he starts to pump the well.
The charge will cause a bunch of small fractures in the surrounding ground. When he starts pulling a large amount of water from the well it causes the water to errode through the fractures.

tinknal · #8 03/15/12, 08:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joshie

Sounds strange to me. I let the hose run for a couple hours at a time during the summer and it's never gone dry. On the other hand, we have no water right now. The pressure switch went kaput. DH was able to get it to keep working for a while by just smacking it when it acted up.

This just means that your recharge rate is higher than your pump capacity. All wells are not created equal.

Bearfootfarm · #9 03/15/12, 08:32 PM

Quote:

how come I had no water at all for a minute there?

If you pumped it "dry" you would have gotten air in the lines and that would account for a period of no water flow