We recently moved into a 7 year old house that is on a well. This week we installed a new diswasher and in the process we shut off the hot water by turning the shower valve coming directly out of the hotwater heater. When we turned the valve back on a lot of black/brown gunk flowed out of the kitched sink. I am not sure if it is by chance, but since then we have had horrible water pressure -- hot and cold. Our well is set to cut in at 40 psi and out at 60 psi. Does anyone have any suggestion on how to improve the water presssure?

Is there a way to check if my water heater is filling up allway?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Gordon Hill

I'm not an expert, but at our house we had a similar problem. What happened was that a lot of build up collected on the walls of the pipes. Mainly rust. After lightning struck our well, we had to dump sulfuric acid into the well and flush out our plumbing with it. Any company that drills wells or works with them should be able to tell you more about this procedure.

The build up is what caused the brown gunk to come out of your faucet. By turning off the water and draining the water tank, you probably stirred up a lot of sediment. If there is a large amount of build up in your water tank, the efficiency will go down also, especially if the buildup is on the surface that the heat is transferred through.

Hope this helps at least a little

Hi,
Have you drained your hot water heater lately?
I would hook up a water hose to the connection on the bottom of the hot water heater, then let it drain for about 5 or 10 minutes, or until the water runs clear. Some suggest doing this about every month or so.
You might also try shutting off the cold water to the hot water heater, then turn off the power to the hot water heater. Turn on a hot water faucet near the hot water heater, like the bathroom maybe. Connect the water hose to the bottom connection of the heater, then completely drain the heater.
After all the water runs out, takes awhile, then close the drain on the bottom. Turn off the hot water faucet.
Turn on your cold water again. While the tank is filling up again, turn on a hot water faucet, somewhere near the hot water heater, and let the air escape while its filling. Turn off the faucet, wait a little, then turn it back on. This lets any trapped air escape from the hot water heater. When full, then turn back on the power to the water heater.
Also, does your pipe, coming out of your well, have a screen filter of some type on it, maybe part of the pressure gauge? If so, this small screen filter could be "plugged up" with sediment.
I am sure you will receive other answers, and hopefully something will help getting rid of the "gunk". I do wish you the best.

Hi Gorden,

Fred asked," Have you drained your hot water heater lately?"
I hate to disagree with another expert but "draining" your heater is not a effective way to "flush" the mineral buildup out of your heater. To flush effectively you must flush it out under pressure. Let me show you how to flush your heater. Attach a hose to the boiler drain at the bottom of the tank. With the pressure on, open the boiler drain and let it run until the water runs clear. You will see a spurt of red,(rust) and some white grains,(lime or calcium carbonate). The whole thing shouldn't take more then a few minutes. Don't forget to flush it out every month. Your heater will thank you for it. You might want to consider cleaning the screens on your areators if you have a high mineral buildup. If thev problem still persists after you have flushed, you will have to drain the heater, remove the boiler drain and go up in the bottom of the tank with a wood or plastic rod, (not metal) and try to break up the mineral and flush it out. Good luck and if the problem persists please click on back. Tom