I have a problem with silt coming through the water from a submersible well under my home's foundation. I have a water softener, and a whole house filtration system. But he filter on the filtration system is clogged with silt after only 10 days use and I have to keep buying new filters. The well was cleaned out last year and the well pump is 10 years old. There is also a slight sulphur odor that has returned even the well was chlorinated twice in the last 4 months. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

I have a problem with silt coming through the water from a submersible well under my home's foundation. I have a water softener, and a whole house filtration system. But he filter on the filtration system is clogged with silt after only 10 days use and I have to keep buying new filters. The well was cleaned out last year and the well pump is 10 years old. There is also a slight sulphur odor that has returned even the well was chlorinated twice in the last 4 months. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.


The pump may be too low in the well pipe and picking up silt. Have a well installer check how far below the static water level the pump is. The sulphur odor can be from one or both of 2 sources. 1 is : from sulphur producing bacteria which is in groundwater naturally in some locations. It gets trapped against the wellpiping by another type of bacteria which thrives on the iron in the water. Neither of these bacteria are harmful, they're just there. 2 is : some well locations tap into pockets of water that have some sulphur in them, causing the water to smell of sulphur. 1 can be treated by shock chlorination, which for a period of months (or years if you're lucky) kill most of the above bacteria. To be effective you can't use a wimpy amount of chlorine and it must be kept it in the system long enough to be effective, at least 24 hours, preferably up to 36 hours. If 1 is your problem you will probably have to shock chlorinate once a year. 2 can be treated in a few different ways. Contact a well company or someone like Culligan. One of the methods is to pump the water through a sprayer inside of a closed tank so the sulphur (in the water as sulphur dioxide gas) comes out of the water as it is aerosoled by the spray. The water condenses to liquid, the gas is flushed out of the tank and the condensed water is clean. Good Luck!

You have a submersible well under your home's foundation? Just out of curiosity, since we seem not to have such arrangements in my area, how on earth would anyone be able to pull the pump?

The pump may be too low in the well pipe and picking up silt. Have a well installer check how far below the static water level the pump is. The sulphur odor can be from one or both of 2 sources. 1 is : from sulphur producing bacteria which is in groundwater naturally in some locations. It gets trapped against the wellpiping by another type of bacteria which thrives on the iron in the water. Neither of these bacteria are harmful, they're just there. 2 is : some well locations tap into pockets of water that have some sulphur in them, causing the water to smell of sulphur. 1 can be treated by shock chlorination, which for a period of months (or years if you're lucky) kill most of the above bacteria. To be effective you can't use a wimpy amount of chlorine and it must be kept it in the system long enough to be effective, at least 24 hours, preferably up to 36 hours. If 1 is your problem you will probably have to shock chlorinate once a year. 2 can be treated in a few different ways. Contact a well company or someone like Culligan. One of the methods is to pump the water through a sprayer inside of a closed tank so the sulphur (in the water as sulphur dioxide gas) comes out of the water as it is aerosoled by the spray. The water condenses to liquid, the gas is flushed out of the tank and the condensed water is clean. Good Luck!

Hi sjfeid,

Thanks for helping me. I have managed to get rid of the sulphur odor by chlorinating the well. However, the silt problem is only getting worse. If the static water level is too low, what will need to be done? I read somewhere else that there may be a crack in the pipe leading from the pump. Is this a real expensive project for me if I hire a well company. Can I do this myself? ( I am a woman and NOT a plumber). By the way, this all started last year when my well was chlorinated and the well company let the water run out to flush for over 24 hours. It pulled sand and that clogged all my inside piping. The sand is gone, but that is when the silt problem started. The well company says they did nothing wrong and it is another problem, not their fault.

I appreicate all the help from this site.

Hi sjfeid,

Thanks for helping me. I have managed to get rid of the sulphur odor by chlorinating the well. However, the silt problem is only getting worse. If the static water level is too low, what will need to be done? I read somewhere else that there may be a crack in the pipe leading from the pump. Is this a real expensive project for me if I hire a well company. Can I do this myself? ( I am a woman and NOT a plumber). By the way, this all started last year when my well was chlorinated and the well company let the water run out to flush for over 24 hours. It pulled sand and that clogged all my inside piping. The sand is gone, but that is when the silt problem started. The well company says they did nothing wrong and it is another problem, not their fault.

I appreicate all the help from this site.


They actually pumped water to waste for 24 hours? I'm not a well expert but that's ridiculous. They obviously wanted to get the chlorine down to zero ppm, which is equally ridiculous. You just pump down the water till the majority of the bleach is flushed out and live with a slight bleach smell for about a week.
If the piping had sand in it, it will continue to be a problem till it's all flushed out. Is the silt seen at the taps, or only because the filters are clogging? You may try a filter with the largest pore size you can find for awhile, hopefully till the silt gets all filtered out of the piping. BTW, I assume you have a submersible pump, not a jet pump. If you have a jet system that could be stirring up loose silt near the bottom of the well casing if the ejector is too close to the bottom of the casing.
You could contact a different well company than these guys for an expert opinion.