Were you aware that 42 million Americans still utilize household wells for their water system nowadays? Maybe you won’t believe it when we say that the largest clusters of these families live in urban areas. Since water wells are an old piece of history, we forgot that they still have good use in urban and suburban areas.
Water wells are essential in our society. They provide reliable and enough water supply to countless households, irrigations, and industries. In regions where water scarcity is a major concern, like deserts, people use wells to get underground water to survive and thrive. However, many problems occur when your well starts pumping sand, dirt, or silt.
Some of these are:
- Loss of water pressure
- Fixtures damage
- Blocked piped
- Damage to your home appliances.
When it comes to sand management, it’s always best to leave it to the experts, like Enercorp. They offer engineered solutions to water well problems, including oil and gas sand filtering. So, what could be the reasons why sand is entering your well?
Why Sand Gets into a Well
1. You have an oversized well pump.
If your pump is too big, it will shoot the water so high due to severe force, pulling sand from the surrounding aquifer. There will be a fast degeneration in the pump’s valves as an outcome, leading to a sand build-up at the bottom of the well. That’s when sand begins coming out of your water lines.
2. Your well screen or casing is degrading.
During the drilling of your water well, your contractor lined it with iron, steel, or PVC plastic called casing. Afterwhich, they will install the casing in the well shaft. In the casing, there are grooves that let water penetrate the well from the surrounding groundwater. This also functions to keep grit and sand out. This is called the well screen.
Your submersible pump inside the casing is put under the water. Unfortunately, a good screen can corrode or break down over time, resulting in sand and silt getting in the well, which is then pumped into your water system.
3. Your well pump is too low or improperly placed.
If you observe that your well is suddenly pumping sand or sediment, this can be a result of the pump positioned too low in the well near the bottom of your well because most water wells utilize submersible pumps in a casing under the water.
Usually, the pump is at a minimum of 10-20 feet higher than the case of the well. But if the pump is too low near the well’s base, grit, sand, and sediment can be drawn in. Also, if your well is old, the well shaft can fill up with fine silt and sand, causing the pump to start drawing in sand from this build-up.
How to Clean Sand Out of the Water Well?
If you observe that your water well begins to pump sediment or sand, contact your local well professionals or specialists right away. They are your go-to people who can determine the main problem and discover ways to fix it.
If you’re wondering whether a DIY repair works, this might be a bad idea considering that there are situations when these well specialists have to pull up the pump 10 to 20 feet to get rid of sand uptake. They are highly trained with modern sand management technology and specialized equipment and devices, like a camera, to examine your well screen if it needs repair. Also, they have enough experience in the industry and have probably seen the same cases as yours.
In some severe cases, they might recommend you to get a brand-new casing. Other possible options they can recommend include:
- Centrifugal sand separator
- Filter screen with flush valve
