please help with sand!

[Andy CWS]

I did the water test that was in my water softener paperwork, to determine the level of hardness. I have a whirlpool water softener. I can tell a difference in the hardness of the water.
I installed a whirlpool whole house filtration filter as well. The canister is clear, therefore I can see that within 24 hours it is over half full with sand.
I have to remove that and flush out the filter and canister to prevent the sand from moving into the water softener.
Everyone is telling me to buy another filter to add to those, but I fear that if the problem starts at my well, I will just be wasting more money. Why can't my well guy just fix this? After his last visit, there was still some sand in the water and my father helped me pull the pump up and we raised it about 10 feet. By doing that we actually had about 10 months of sand free water. Should we do that again? Could it be that the tank is water logged?

Two approaches: Mend what you have , or start all over.

Drilling a new well can be costly and is no guarantee that it will solve the sand issue. I can't say i can tell you more about the well than the well-guy, so I will defer to him. On the other hand, ask another for another opinion.

As for mending what you have, we recommend special sand separators.

http://www.lakos.com/products/ILB.html

These work very well but must be sized to flow rate and volume. They come with purge valves, optional automatically switched.

You may want to keep the clear filter housing as a final back up.

Sand will cause damage to any water treatment equipment at worst and be a major nuisance at best. Taking shortcuts will only be more frustrating. Get it right the first time. All sand filters will require some babysitting, but bet to get a device that doesn't need constant replacement parts.

It is ahrd to be more helpful while not being on site.

Andy

[Cranberry112]

Thanks Andy

Thanks for your advice. I could have had a new well dug with all of that money that I have spent. My well guy is the most reputable in the area. I don't mind the extra work, but every day is excessive. I will try to get a second opinion. Again Thanks

[Driller1]

It sounds like I am having the same problem.



I have a well that is about 5 years old. Every year I spend about $1000.00 on my well guy. I could have dug another one! I have large amounts of sand, iron, and the water is very hard. The well is over 100 ft deep. It always start the same way. I will see small amounts of sand and then within a week I can cover the bottom of my tub with sand. My little girl calls it the beach. I will call the well guy out and he will flush the lines, replace the pump, reccommend a new tank, raise the filter, or change the switch. At about $600 each visit. It will be nice and clear for about 6 months, then the cycle begins again. I am on my 4th washer in 5 years. My dishwasher no longer works. I have had pipes bust in the walls. I am desperate. What can I do? We just spent alot of $$ on a new washer, a water softener, and a filter. I am having to wash the filter off every day. The canister is over half full with sand after just 24 hours.

My original well man that dug this well has cancer and is not able to do any work anymore and I would feel horrible saying anything negative about him. I just want to have clean water.

Angie

If it has a bedrock intake I could fix it with a liner in 1/2 a day.

If it is a screened well, I could fix it with a sandblocker screen in about 2 hours.

Call some drillers that know what they are doing.