Response to Concerning sand in well water

There could be a few different things going on here. First, there may have been a lot of sand settled out in your pipes, which got stirred up when the water drained out of them, then started coming out when you recharged pipes.

Second, you could have had sand clinging to the well casing, which would have been broken loose when replacing pump.

Very likely, the increased horsepower is merely flushing sand out of the aquifer. A well, particularly in a sand or gravel aquifer, will run muddy, or sandy, for some time (mine took a couple or three weeks to clear up, when new). Putting in the pump with twice the flow capacity will likely require another "break in" period for the well. If this is the case, you might think about running a lot of water to your lawn or garden, until it clears up, in order to avoid all the sand in your fixtures, which can cause a hassle, especially in washerless faucets. In addition, the one horse pump will result in a deeper "pumping level" (in other words, the well will "draw down" farther with the one horse pump.)

Without more info, I'd say that your well is probably NOT drying up. If it was ok with the half horse pump, but not now, it is also possible that the full horse pump has the capacity to pump water faster than the well can recharge. For instance, if your half horse pump's pumping level were, say, one hundred feet, and pumped twelve gallons per minute (a probable amount at that depth with a half horse pump). With a one horse pump, you'd be able to pump almost twenty gallons per minute if you drew the water all the way down to the pump level, if the pump is set at 130-135 feet. Thus, you might be pumping the well "dry" even though the well is fine. You just have too big a pump on it.

You can't get twenty gallons per minute from a fifteen gallo per minute well, in other words.

If you are pumping the well all the way down to the pump with the bigger pump, you would PROBABLY be experiencing air bubbling when turning on the faucets in your sinks, if this condition persists.

CAUTION: do not allow the pump to continue running in this situation, as you'll burn it up.

I certainly recommend measuring how deep the pumping level is; measure it after five, ten, twenty, forty-five, minutes, and then every fifteen or twenty minutes, until the level stabilizes. Assuming you know how deep the pump is, you'll then know if it is pumping the water all the way down to the pump.

If you need help in how to measure the water level, I will need more information. Feel free to drop me an email.

JOJ

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