The filter screens in our faucets keep clogging up with strange fibrous matter. Seems odd to be suddenly coming out of a 100-yr-old well. The stuff is coarse, like wood fiber and green, the color of dried marihuana ( which, I assure you, it isn’t).
I have to clean out the screen in front of the washing machine and in front of the kitchen faucet at least once each week. Never happened before this year.
Ever seen anything like this? I’ve attached two photos taken with the micro camera I use to shoot phonograph cartridges. Penny is in the shot for scale.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts you might have.
Replies
jeff
It does look like reefer.
What's the dark chunkier looking stuff in the second picture?
Remember that other devices like shower/tub balanced valves and dishwashers might be picking this stuff up. Might want to screen the main outlet of that pump
Can't help you, never have seen anything like that in a sealed line down a well. There should be a screen down there at the inlet, no?
Looks to me like some roots have gotten in there. Is it a deep well with pump at the bottom, or a shallow well with pump at the top? Jet pump?
Roots
The well existed when I bought the house 10 yeasrs ago. All the other wells in the neighborhood that I know of are deep with pumps at the bottom.
Roots
The well existed when I bought the house 10 yeasrs ago. All the other wells in the neighborhood that I know of are deep with pumps at the bottom.
the micro camera I use to shoot phonograph cartridges?
Can't help much with the dope in the water but do you care to explain "the micro camera I use to shoot phonograph cartridges" to all those of us who are dying of curiosity.
Yeah, and what kind of animal do you hunt with phonograph cartridges?
Quotes
Dan
Here's a quote to go with yours. "In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets and steal loaves of bread." Anatole France
Camera is a Veho Discovery VMS-004 Deluxe. It's actually a low-power USB microscope that plugs into my desktop. Costs about 60 bux. I resell high end audio equipment and bought the Veho so I could take photos of the stylus (needles) on $$ turntable cartridges. It's a slick little toy. Does 400X magnification. Amazon has them,
Is it safe to assume that you have not had, say, a drain liine for your gutters Roto-Rooted any time in the past year or two? The stuff looks a lot like what a Roto-Rooter churns up, and there is a non-trivial chance that a Roto-Rooter could puncture your well casing.
Since no body else has said it, I will..... Call your well guy. If you don't have one, then ask amoung your neighbors and friends for their recommendation. Not all are created equal. Be prepared to accept that the well guy (if he's licensed... and you want one that's licensed) will undoubtedly report his findings to the local ground water authority. In my neck of the woods, this is standard practice.
At the very least, I'd have the water tested in a lab for contaminants.
If you don't have a whole-house filter, I'd install one. Easy DIY for less than $50 and 30 minutes of work. That'll catch anything coming in from the well.
I'd also look inside the house too. I'd turn off, remove the power from, then cool and drain/flush out your water heater. Who knows what evil lurks inside the heart of a water heater...
Do you have an irrigation system? Sprinklers? With backflow preventer?
The only "fiber" I can think of anywhere in a plumbing system would be oakum. But that's usually in a CI drain/waste system and not the supply.
There is a chance that your well could have some sort of organic growing inside of it. It's not too hard to pull a pump, but getting it back on the adaptor can be troublesome. If you see no issues inside the house, then yep, I'd call a well guy to pull the pump and inspect the well itself. It's less expensive to inspect the pump now than to have it fail and have to replace it due to clogging.
Or do you already have a filter? We had a weird situation here where backflow in the whole house filter caused it to rupture and dump the filter material into the filter canister. Something similar could have happened with you.
100 YO,
sounds like your well casing has rusted (or electrolytically corroded) thru in a spot; and, as already noted, roots have gotten in.
If an old dug well, the roots may have simply gotten deep enough or thru deteriorating masonry.
Oh yeah, just to make you feel warm and fuzzy about drinking your water, moles have been known to chew thru masonry well casing over the course of 100 years. The decomposed parts of a dead mole do lool like some of your second picture.
Yeah, I once did have a dead mole in a hand dug well, pretty much grossed DW out...<G> ..
Give us some idea of what type well construction you have and how deep?