Hi,

We have a house that we rent to a couple in Lutz, FL (near Tampa) with a 40' deep well with submersible pump, if I understand correctly. The well has been giving us a lot of trouble and wanted to see if we could get some ideas. Over the years rust has been an issue, but having the softener in the garage serviced seemed to address the problem most of the time...it's a high maintenance unit apparently...Kinetico.

Recently, the check valve in the well went out and we decided to have the pump replaced while they were down there. He ended up having to use his rig to knock the old pump down into the well because he couldn't get it out.

So, $3000 later (two diff companies had to work on the problem), we have a new pump, check valve, and running water...this was in July or so. But since late December we've been having lots of problems with rust in the water. A local co. that installed the Kinetico softener years ago has been out 3 times in the past 2-3 weeks to address the rust problem...the float was stuck in the brine tank and they fixed it, and then the renters went away for a week at Christmas...when they came back this is what they found...surely worse than before. They said that they flushed the water plenty and were still getting this.






The pic of the shower pan is just from setting overnight.

The water softener co. tested the water and found a higher iron content than when they installed the softener (obviously) so he set it to cycle every 300 gal instead of every 400 gal. On Thursday the service guy said something about perhaps needing a deeper well....great. Also, one of the techs said something about pipes in the house or coming from the well possibly rusting...it's 30 years old...they couldn't test the water coming directly from the well because they didn't put a spigot back on there after servicing it.

The water is supposedly clear now acc. to the renter, but he says that after 2 showers there is rusty water running up out of the yard. Apparently there is a tank in the ground that catches the waste water...maybe this tank is full due to the float being stuck and the system constantly flushing, etc, but why would there be waste coming out after two showers? It shouldn't be cycling that soon should it?

So, if anyone has followed this post and has some ideas, I'd appreciate hearing them.

They're going to do another water test on Monday to see if things have stabilized for now, but the sheer amts of rust really worry me and the renter.

I appreciate any input.

Thanks

Sean