Clogged water filter from pump outage? 1

[mbmarsh]

Yesterday the termite inspector accidentally shut off my water pump. I got home from work, had no water, looked, found it, turned it back on; but now I find my filters on the water line at the sink are clogged with sediment. Can anyone explain why turning off the pump should stir up sediment from somewhere? After all, the pump goes off and on several times a day, as we draw water from the pressure tank, doesn't it?

The best, admittedly lame, explanation I can think of is that there is sediment in the pressure tank, that ordinarily isn't disturbed because as soon as water is drawn, the pump comes on and refills the tank; but since the pump was turned off, the tank got much lower than usual, until the pressure was zero; and that drew up water from the bottom. Can someone do better?

 

[SteveWag]

If the pressure was allowed to fall to near zero, when the pump started it would be pumping at far greater rate than in a normal start and for a bit longer time. I have the same thing in my house, pumping from a shallow well with a summersible pump.
Steve

 

[bimr]

At normal pumping rates, the velocities in the piping are low. In sewer work, the minimum self cleansing velocity is considered to be 1.5 ft/sec. That is the velocity to keep solids in suspension. So at low velocities over a period of time, the sediment falls to the bottom of the pipes. If you run the water at a higher flow rate through the piping, you will resuspend the sediment that has accumulated in the pipes.

 

[cvg]

I believe your initial observation is correct, the tank was drawn very low. tanks should be drained and flushed periodically. this goes for hot water heaters also as they will fill up with sediment and it may eventually cause failure