I live in GA and have well water as the only water source to the house. We have lived in the house 23 years. Our well is 300 ft deep and has a submersible pump. We have always had a black gritty silt problem even with a whole house filter. I change the filter often but it can fill up in minutes at times. If the water is turned off it coughs up large ammounts of the stuff. The water is otherwise very clean with good taste. I had to replace the original pump just this week and I was hoping to be able to address the silt problem when the pump was pulled. Is there sometnimg I can do to filter out this gritty sand like black silt at the pump end? Or any other way to fix this? We've lived with it for a long time and I hate to shell out 1500$ and not be able to fix this problem.

Where do you live in GA? I have a house in Ellijay and we get a lot of iron in the water but no silt. Sometimes it is beneficial to use 2 filters, a 30 micron and then a 10. Use a pleated filter, string wound clog too easily.

We live In Newnan. I already use the pleated filters and change often.

Many people use a settlement tank in cases with such large amounts. I've never seen one and don't know a great deal about them, but it would basically be a tank with a drain at the bottom which would be placed inline before the pressure tank. It would, quite naturally, have to be drained from time to time.

If pulling the pump up higher in the water column does not fix it. You can add a Cyclone Separator to filter out most of the sediment. Also flush your well tank monthly. Here is a link to the Lacos website.
http://www.lakos.com/water-well-filtration-systems.html. Generally well supply companies, plumbers and water treatment companies can install these for you.
RJ

Thanks for the info. My well guy sugested something called a pump guard? But described it as something that goes over the submersible pump and filters out sediment. What would this be?

Thanks I'll check it out.

It is a filter screen that goes over the pump to filter out the sediment. That will help but may get clogged eventually. I have used the Lacos separators on fine sugar sand wells and have had great success filtering even the finest sand. They just need to be blown down (flushed) weekly.
RJ

I took your link here. That is a good looking product. As you alluded to, it is not large so cleaning will be important, but it sure looks like it could do the job.

It would not hurt to flush your pressure tank, but if your tank has a "T" fitting that puts water in/out through the bottom, then that would tend to be self cleaning. I think I'd try that filter and see how it goes.

A cyclone separator simply works by centrifugal force. As the water comes in the top it is forced to the outside of the separator, and spun at a very high rate, the sand is separated and forced to the bottom, the water comes out the side. There is no filter to clean, just flush the sand from bottom weekly.
RJ

A settlement tank or contact tank needs a binding agent added to the water to make the particles heavier so they "FALL OUT". The application for this is very restricted as the tanks need to be extremely large to facilitate the 10+ minutes of contact time for the process to work properly.
RJ

Oh... probably won't be feasible

This looks like a good idea. It's about the same price as the pump end filter. I'll need to decide which would be better.
Thanks

Thanks.Do you know of a website that shows what they look like and how much they should cost?

Double check your link, rj. I went to http://www.lakos.com/water-well-filtration-systems.html and found nothing about a cyclone (centrifugal type, I assume) product. The link I show above http://www.twistiiclean.com/ goes to a product which uses a screen to filter silt. Did you give us the right link?

There are a lot of product options on the page. Here is the link to the residential centrifugal separators (Sand Master).
http://www.lakos.com/products/H2O.html
I have also used the twisti-clean filters but prefer the separators when the volume of sediment is high.
RJ

That looks interesting as well, though it's kind of pricey compared to the Twistiiclean.

What do you use to filter iron? Iron in solution is my big problem. Have tried a potassium permanganate system... didn't work real well.

The Centrifugal Separators are pricey but they do not restrict the water flow and you will never have to change any screens. Iron removal depends on many factors, how much ferrous iron, PH, turbidity, etc. For high iron removal 5+ppm with proper PH and water pressure/volume (40 psi min / 15gpm min). I prefer to use an airation system such as an "Iron Curtain". These need to backwashed every day for 2/10 minute backwash cycles to maintain bed integrity and prevent buildup of oxidized iron. I have had exceptional success using KDF85 filter media for ferrous iron removal. I add 4/lbs of KDF85 in resin tank and use fine mesh resin. Currently I have a Fleck 9100 (10x44, 40k per tank) on 32 grain water, 5ppm ferrous iron, 7.3 PH, set at 16lb salt dose and 600 gallons. 2 years usage 0gpg, 0ppmfe. This home has 2 people and uses 50lbs of salt per month.
RJ

I used to have to replace the small filters every 3 or 4 days and when I would I would have to clean the screens on every faucet and washer. Then may even have problems with toilet valves. I installed an old water heater after the pressure tank and have not had any more silt come through the faucet. Now I keep running out of water when running the washer and someone taking a shower. I may look at the filter around the pump. Sounds like a good idea. I'm thinking the silt may be tearing up the impeller or the check valve.