I have a well that is 111 ft down with a 1000gal storage tank w/booster pump and 85gal pressure tank feeds 2 homes. About 2 weeks ago we had a tankless water heater installed. when the final operational inspection happened the water came out muddy brown and full of iron bacteria! We were taken aback, since this was the 1st time we had seen this in the 12yrs we have lived in the house. My wife and I began to troubleshoot our water system. we traced all the way back to the storage tank and when opened, revealed the culprit. It was covered with iron bacteria on the sides and from what we could tell, the bottom was also covered. We did not have an filtration system installed. We searched the web and found your website, a plethera of valuable information! we scoured your forums for a week, and devised our plan of attack. we rented a 55gpm sump pump to pump out the tank, plenty of rags and chlorine bleach and a pressure washer. We started early saturday morning, the hardest part was the final 2 inches of muck that we had to remove by hand. We then cleaned with bleach and filled the tank up again. we added a eqivalent dose of bleach to sterilize the tank and we also knew our lines must be coated and nearly plugged. I forgot to mention that the 1" discharge pipe on the tank was only about a 1/4" open for water flow!. we spent saturday and sunday letting the bleach solution sit in the pipes then approx. every 4 hours flushed the system through the faucets and hose bibs. the water final came out clear sunday evening. still a slight smell of chlorine, which we were sampling the water with test strips to > 3ppm. the amount of sludge and sediment that came out of our house pipes was amazing to the point we were surprised one of them was not plugged. Today is tuesday, the water is clear and chlorine free, I installed a chlorine injection system which adds a dose each time the well pump operates and brings water to the storage tank. our flow is the best we have had in a number of years and we can open 2 sinks AND do laundry without losing pressure. prior we could only operate on faucet at a time. god forbid if someone flushed!! We have identified that our pressure tank is shot. I put 38psi in the tank on sunday(40/60)pressure switch) and this morning only had 18psi. So have contacted a local repair shop who sells flex-con tanks and I will replace it tomorrow morning. Your information and suggestions were the catalyst to giving us the basic knowledge and and understanding of our well system. which honestly we ignored for 12 years! my motto: "if it works, don't mess with it" I now am well knowledgable and feel confident that if another problem arises, the answer will be on your forum. Even my wife is Well swavvy and feels confident that she can isolate a problem if it should happen again. Thanks for your website/forum and common sense tactics for the average well owner.
Keep up the great work! R.Chris Keogh, Seabeck WA

chris Keogh