I am on a well. I have a water softener. I get black particles in my water. It is more severe if I shut off the water and turn it back on. Is this bacteria, iron, sediment, sulfur or what? How do I get rid of it?

Suspect that would be scaling from the inside of (old) iron pipe. Probably can be filtered out.

Describe the particle. Are they hard? S0ft? Mineral or plastic? Any smell? Have you bypass the water softener? Can you give us more details? Back to you, Tom

I have black stuff coming out of my pipes and well. I sampled the water after the pressure tank and before the softener. I have copper pipe. The house is 15 years old.
The well pump is 1 year old. The black crud dries to a hard cake material. It gets powdery if I crush it up. Wet, it smears the laundry tub when I dump it into it.
I does not smell.



Charles

This comes directly from the well? Could it be mineral buildup of the pipe walls? Or do you think it might come from the well water? It does come out in the ground like this, correct? Back to you, Tom

If there is carbon associated with the softener or a pre or post carbon filter I would think that the carbon filter has ruptured and needs to be repaired or replaced...

However, like Tom, it sounds to me like you are saying this "stuff" comes out of the well...??

Back to you...

Mark