I am having a problem with sand in my water. I was told I could possibly raise the foot valve because it may be pulling up sediment. Can this be done easily? What is the process for raising the foot valve?

You simply pull the well piping up. Probably shouldn't say simple, how difficult depends on what kind of well piping you have and how deep the well is.

It might just be easier to install a whole house filter or even a pre-filter to catch the sand. Raising a foot valve is not considered a DIY project for most.

Well, I did just find out I have a deep well pump, so I know right now it's not going to be an easy job. Thanks for your help

I agree with ballegerb1. We have sand in the wells a lot here in Florida. If you have a traditional style pressure tank, you can blow it out periodically with the drain valve. If you have a bladder tank, it can clog it up... I've had it happen with one of my customers. Most of the time, the sand is a tiny bit. Raising the pump may or may not help. And raising the pump could cause your pump to draw a little air with the water, which can create a whole different set of problems. If the sand is not too bad, you can go to your building supply and buy a strainer. Locally, we have one called a Vu-Flow. It is a screen inside of a housing. There is a valve on the bottom to periodically blow out the sediment accumulated inside of it. I use these a fair amount. A piece of advice... if the Vu-flow is going to be exposed to light, paint the housing with white plastic paint. I leave a small strip to see the filter. That way you won't get a bunch of algae growing on it.
Al

You can try to solve the problem either by (a) preventing the sand from entering the pump or (b) removing the sand after it passes through the pump and before it enters the residence. Option "a" is more expensive,because you have to pull the pump and add a device on the intake side to prevent the side from entering. There are a few products to choose from, like LAKOS or variations of well screen filters. Option "b" is less expensive and can be done DIY in some cases (again using LAKOS products or others), BUT the sand being pumped is STILL going to be grinding up the pump components as it passes through the pump, shortening its effective life. So there may be "Best" long term solution and a "Best" short term solution.

Can i blow tank out if it has a bladder in it

Can somebody answer my question about if you can blow out tank if it has a bladder

No. Bladder tanks do not typically have a drain valve. I would think that if you added a faucet assembly (hose bib) on the main line on one side of the tank and a cut off valve on the other side, you would be able to blow out the tank in that manner. Never seen it done, but I would think it would work.

Careful painting the housing, if the paint is the type to eat away at the plastic it could cause leaks or worse.
Vuflow sells a sun cover for the clear housing.
http://www.waterfilters.net/Vu-Flow-Sun-Shields_c_272.html

I have something like the Vu-flo. Problem is the sand continues to circulate inside the pre-filter housing and eventually clogs the screen with tiny bits of sand. I'm trying now to leave the outflow sediment valve open a tiny bit so most of the sand finds it's way out of the filter housing instead of building up and clogging the screen so often. This works like the bleeder on a swamp cooler decreasing the minerals in the water from corroding the lines. You lose a tiny bit of water pressure, but you can avoid wasting the outflow by directing the water to where it's needed.

Our bladder tank does have a drain faucet at the bottom. We have drained it many times now, which fixes our pump issues temporarily. The water coming from the tank is full of sediment which has accumulated in the bottom. Still trying to solve the bigger sand issue. Two in-house filters and taking all water-related devices apart to clean out every few weeks is not working long-term.

I think I would install a sand trap tank. Just a vertical galvanized tank. Provides a place for the sand to settle. Pipe from the pump to the center of the tank. Pipe from the top to the filters and your bladder tank. Put a blow off valve in the bottom. Granted you will still have to blow out the sand and sediment periodically, but should make your filters last a lot longer. The larger the tank, the longer the water sits in the tank and the more sand settles out.