Well yield/iron issues
We are having well issues and aren’t sure the best way to remedy. Would love advice since we’ve gotten different suggestions from well companies. Short version is that the water turns brown/orange after heavy/moderate usage, and also the well can’t sustain a professional pressure washer. Details at the bottom.
Without actually inspecting the well, these are some suggestions we’ve gotten:
-Iron has clogged up the veins and we need to clean and blast the well to restore the yield.
-Blasting risks collapse, so we should brush, surge, and bail sediment from the well tank.
-Might need to deepen the well, or even drill an entirely new well.
Thoughts on these? Is blasting or surging too risky? We don’t want to jump to an extreme option, but are willing to do/pay what is needed to have reliable, quality water. FYI records show the test rate when drilled in 2017 was 15 gpm, and the pump is set at 140 ft. We have a water softener and a whole house sediment filter (which gets absolutely caked in iron) and water is usually clear. Thanks in advance!
Details:
After heavy (or even moderate) usage, the water will run brown from iron for 1-3 days. ie trying to fill our small fish pond, trying to use my residential pressure washer, running the hose to water newly planted trees. This used to happen more in the dry summer months but it has happened twice during this extremely wet spring. Our neighborhood has lots of iron, but none of neighbors have this same issue. Are we reaching the bottom of the well and stirring up the iron down there? Why does it happen so easily?
We had a professional pressure washer come do our small deck, and he kept having to pause because the pressure was dropping to zero. By the end of the job the water had turned brown. He estimated he had used maybe 100 gallons, and said he very rarely sees wells struggle like this. Not sure if our well is low capacity or what, but it seems like it should be able to handle a small power washing job. This is the only time the pressure has dropped like this…usually the water flows fine, it just turns brown.