Call Us Today! 208-733-474

Wood River Area: 208-726-5145

Walker Water Systems

Frequently Asked Questions and Troubleshooting

  • I don’t have any water!

    Here are some things to check:


    1. Check the fuses – if they’re burned out, replace them. They’ll generally have a number on them that has to match. You can always take one out and bring it with you to the hardware store to make sure you get the right kind.
    2. Check for power to the house. If your house doesn’t have power, your pump won’t work either. Also, does the stove power up completely? The stove and the pump both run on 220-volt power, and if your stove seems weak, you may have lost one “leg” of power. Power problems generally require an electrician or the power company, but you can always call us for advice.
    3. If it’s winter, it’s possible that the water in some of the pipes is frozen. Frozen pipes can be thawed with a hair dryer (or other equipment) but take care not to melt any plastic parts.
    4. Look for overloads (red buttons) – if you find any near the pump, push them to see if they have tripped.
    5. If none of these work and you’re still out of water, give us a call for advice.

  • My regular pump guy said my well is dry!

    You probably ought to read our dry wells page, or get a second opinion. In our 66 years drilling wells in the Magic and Wood River valley, we haven’t seen very many wells that have actually gone dry. Lots of times it can be a bad component or a mis-configured installation. (Pumps and wells can be tricky to plan, due to forces like friction loss and electric signal degradation.) What’s worse is that we’ve heard that the guy who sells you the replacement well fills the old one in before you can get a second opinion – so no one ever knows whether you really needed a new well or not. If your pump guy says you need a new well, your best bet is to get a second set of eyes on your system. It only costs a service call and may end up saving you a lot of money.

  • My pump is acting funny!

    There are a lot of things that can cause this. Listen to the pump – it should run for about a minute before it turns off, and only when you’re using water. If it runs for more than a minute, or if you aren’t using any water when it turns on, check around your house and property for leaks. (If you have a Smart Pump – you can tell if your pressure tank is slightly larger than a basketball – it will run most of the time. See the “tiny blue tank” question below.)

    Leaks can come up in surprising places. Check sprinkler lines, pipelines, faucets, and toilets. (In the tank of a toilet, there’s an overflow pipe. If that pipe is leaking, you might not ever hear water running, but it can be enough to trigger the pump.)


  • My pump turns on every time I use the faucet!

    This could be several things. If you have a Smart Pump, it’s completely normal! If you have a traditional installation, this could be a problem with the big blue pressure tank. Try thumping the tank with your hand – it should sound hollow, but if it sounds solid, there’s a problem. Here are some steps to fix a pressure tank problem.


    1. Establish the start/stop pressure of the system. (Most of our systems turn on at 40psi and off at 60psi. Call us if you’re not sure.)
    2. Turn off power to the pump.
    3. Drain the water out of the system and leave at least one valve open.
    4. Check the pressure with a tire gauge. It should show 2 pounds below the start pressure. (So, for a Walker Water system, it should be 38 psi.)
    5. Use a compressor to add air to the tank (if needed).
    6. Shut valve.
    7. Turn on power.

  • I have a tiny blue tank, and a grey box with lights on it!

    This is a Variable Frequency Drive system (also called a Smart Pump). Write down what the lights are doing – flashing, solid, number of flashes in a row, etc. Then you can turn off the power to the pump for 30 minutes or so, then turn it back on. If the problem comes back, give us a call. (Unfortunately, if a Smart Pump system fails, the repair will probably be expensive.)

  • I’ve got sand in my water!

    There are a lot of things that can cause this, and most of them are down the well. First of all, if happens for a little while in the spring or the fall, it may be normal! As water flows through the ground, it carries a bit of material with it. You can always open an outside faucet and let it run until the water cleans up. If that doesn’t work, there are devices we can install into your water system that filter small amounts of sand, but if you’ve got a lot of sand, it might take a more invasive repair. Or, you can call us and we can take a look at the system to see where the problem is, then give an estimate of what it’ll take to fix.

  • Can you do water samples?

    Yep, we sure can. What would you like to test for? If you’re selling or buying a home, a bank will often require a potability test. (More info on potability tests can be found on the Realtors page.) Most of the water tests we take are for bacteria, nitrates, or nitrites. Any of these can indicate contamination. If you’re concerned about the quality of your water, we can collect samples and interpret lab reports. If you have a contaminated well, we can discuss chlorine pumps and other systems to clean up your water. Check our Water Quality page for more information.

  • I heard you guys are the most expensive!

    Well, sort of. Here’s a whole page that explains why a Walker Water Well and Water System costs more. We’ve heard stories about competitors who advise clients to get a price from us, and they’ll beat it by $100. And there are some of our competitors who cut corners wherever they can to get the price as low as possible. (We’ve repaired systems that had cheap plastic pipe installed, and it broke off when we pulled it – dropping a perfectly good pump to the bottom of the well. See our Rogue’s Gallery for examples.)

    We believe that if you pay a little more up front, you get a system that works for years with fewer troubles. A Walker Water System will generally run 7 to 10 years without any problems, and some have run 30 years without a single service call. Plus, when we come out for a repair, we fully troubleshoot the system – so you don’t pay for a repair you don’t need. So you could get a well from the cheap guy, but you’ll probably end up paying more in the long run with repairs.

    If you’ve had another guy out to fix your pump and you’re just not confident in his diagnosis, give us a call – we’re happy to give a second opinion.


What to do if your water tests positive 

If you’ve recently done a water sample on your well and the results came back positive, here’s what you do next.

First of all, which test came back positive? If it was a bacteriological sample (bacti or Bac-T), read on. If it was another sample, skip ahead to learn more.

  • Bacteriological Sample Positive Result

    What it looks like:  You receive the lab report, and under the “Sample Result” field it lists the word “PRESENT”.

    What that means: Most of the time, a potability test on your well is testing for microorganisms that could cause illness. The “Total Coliform” test is checking to see if there are marker bacteria in the water, which would indicate that contamination is entering your well or water system. The “E. Coli” test is checking for the Eschericia coli bacteria, which can cause illness.

    What can be done about it:  If you’re trying to sell your house, and the water has bacteria in it, you’ll need to make the buyer aware. You can probably expect to have to clean up the well, in order to make sure the water is potable. According to the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, your private well is your responsibility to maintain.


    Your options:


    • Hire us to clean up the well for you.  This involves three trips onsite – one to add high-strength disinfectant to the well, a second trip to flush the system out, then a third trip 48 hours after the flush to collect another bacti sample.
    • Treat it yourself.  You can dump a gallon of chlorine bleach down your well, followed by a gallon of water.  Turn the water on in the house till you smell chlorine, then let the water sit for 6-8 hours.  (Overnight is fine.)  After it sets, turn on all the water faucets and let them run until you don’t smell chlorine anymore.
    • Boil your water.  In the short term, boiling the water can kill bacteria and make your water safe to drink.  You can also get water filters that can clean out the bacteria.
    • If these don’t work:  We can rechlorinate and test again.  Sometimes, if there’s a problem in the aquifer or the well (such as mice falling down a hole in the well seal), disinfectant just doesn’t clear things up.  This might require a well drill to blow air down the well to try to clean out any material.  A contaminated well may even need to be replaced.

  • Nitrate Sample

    What it looks like:  On your lab report, there’s a number in the results column for Nitrate.  It will usually look like 4.36 mg/L (milligrams per liter) or something similar.  1 milligram per liter is equal to 1 part per million (ppm).

    What it means:  Nitrate, or NO3, is a chemical that’s found along with agriculture.  Dairies might produce nitrates in the form of animal waste, or farms might produce nitrates in the form of fertilizer.  When it rains, those nitrates can leach down through the ground, or can be washed down a poorly-sealed well.  According to the EPA, anything below 10 mg/L is not actionable.  So you may have nitrates in your water, but they probably won’t affect you unless the number is higher than 10.

    If your water sample is higher than 10 mg/L, you’ll want to treat your water to reduce the nitrate levels.  Too much nitrate in the water can cause health problems, especially in infants and the elderly.

    What can be done about it:  Boiling your water or running it through a filter won’t remove nitrates from your water.  You’ll want to look at installing treatment equipment as well.  An RO system (Reverse Osmosis) would work.  There are also devices that work like a water softener, which can remove nitrate from your water.

    Typically, the EPA does not regulate Nitrate for private domestic wells.  So it’s not against the law for your private well to have a high Nitrate level.  However, if you’re on a public water system, the EPA does require that the water contain less than 10 mg/L Nitrate.  Some lenders will stipulate to the EPA limits if you’re buying, selling, or refinancing a home, so you may need to treat the water for a sale to go through.


    Your options:


    • Consult your doctor and have a conversation about how the levels of nitrate in your water can affect your health, and your family’s health.
    • Invest in a treatment system.

  • Arsenic

    What it looks like:  The symbol for Arsenic is As, and it can be highly toxic in high concentrations.  Several small towns in Southern Idaho have tested high in Arsenic and have had to spend a lot of money on treatment equipment to make the water safe to drink.  The EPA limit on Arsenic is 0.010 mg/L, which is equal to 10 parts per billion.  (With a B.)

    What it means:  Arsenic is a naturally-occurring substance in the rocks underground.  Unfortunately, some places in Idaho just have deposits of Arsenic that formed when the rocks were cooling, and there’s not much to be done about it.  Some forms of Arsenic were used in pesticides, but most of those have been banned.  It may linger in the soil, or in old stockpiles of chemicals, so be careful.  Arsenic can be highly toxic, and can cause certain kinds of cancer.  You can read more about arsenic in groundwater here, (but please disregard the state-specific information).

    What can be done about it:  Boiling your water won’t help.  It’s just like adding salt to water – you can boil it all day long, and it stays salty.  If the concentration of arsenic in your water is high, you’ll probably want to look at installing treatment equipment, much like Nitrate above.  Using a Reverse-Osmosis (RO) system can help, or an Arsenic reduction system that works like a water softener.  Make sure you keep the equipment maintained, by checking it or having it serviced yearly.


    Your options:


    • Install treatment equipment, like an ion-exchange unit or a Reverse Osmosis unit
    • Consider drilling a new well, and consult with your well driller on a good location, and whether any arsenic-bearing deposits can be isolated by installing casing


  • Lead

    What it looks like:  The symbol for Lead is “Pb,” and it can be hazardous in high concentrations.    The EPA limit for Lead is 0.015 mg/L, though in public water systems the sample is averaged over several sample locations.  Any lead results that are higher than 0.015 mg/L – or 15 parts per billion – can be hazardous to your health, especially to the brain development of children.

    What it means:  Typically, Lead gets into the water from old pipes and older brass pipe fittings.  Most modern plumbing has eliminated lead in the manufacturing process.  Also, the groundwater in Idaho has a lot of hardness, which we see as white spots or buildup on faucets.  This hardness tends to accumulate in pipes, reducing the odds that lead can get into the water.

    What can be done about it:  If you’ve got an older home, you should consider replacing the plumbing and faucets in your house, at least the ones you drink out of.  You can also install treatment equipment, such as a Reverse Osmosis system to reduce the levels of Lead.


How to disinfect your well 

If you’ve reached this page, you probably have a bacteriological sample that came back positive. This indicates that coliform (or e. coli) bacteria are in your water.

Coliform bacteria indicate that something is getting into your water lines. That may be from the well, or from the pipelines. It could even be from stagnant water (if the water hasn’t been used in a while). This generally indicates that there may be stuff in your water that you can get sick from.

E. Coli, sometimes known as fecal coliform, is the presence of harmful bacteria in your water. This bacteria can make you very ill.

Regardless of what kind of positive sample you have, you’ll want to treat your water. You can use this procedure for a one-time “shock chlorination” to disinfect the system. This often resolves the problem.

  • Step 1: Gather your materials

    You will need:


    • 2 adjustable wrenches
    • Disinfectant (2 gallons of bleach, or alternative)
    • 2 gallons of water
    • 8 hours for the disinfectant to work (or overnight)
    • 48 hours before collecting a second sample

    For your disinfectant, you have a couple of options.

    Option 1: Household bleach – Restaurants use diluted bleach water to clean and disinfect tables. Many public water systems use highly concentrated bleach as a disinfectant. You can use two gallons of regular household bleach, just like you find at the grocery store.

    Option 2: A well disinfection kit – We sell these in the office (please call for availability). It’s a small box that contains disinfection tablets and instructions.


  • Step 2: Remove your well cap

    You’ll need to take the cap off your well in order to add the disinfectant.

    Your well is a piece of steel pipe sticking up out of the ground. It usually has a green, red, or metal cap on top, held in place by several bolts.

    Start by using the two wrenches to remove the bolts. Use one wrench to hold the top of the bolt, and the second wrench to unscrew the nut underneath.

    Tip: Once the bolt is out, reattach the nut so it doesn’t get lost.

    Once the bolts are out, lift the well cap up. It should lift easily. There is a thin gasket that helps create a seal – don’t lose it. Set the well cap to the side.

    You should see a bunch of electrical wires going down the well. That’s how your pump gets electricity to run. You may need to push those wires to the side so you don’t pour bleach on them.

    Note: The wire down the well is designed to be waterproof. However, the connection to the wires that lead to your house may not be fully watertight. Avoid pouring liquids on the wires.


  • Step 3: Add your disinfectant

    Pour both gallons of bleach down the well. Avoid pouring it on the electrical wires.

    Next, pour both gallons of water down the well. This helps wash the bleach off the sides of the well and the drop pipe.

    If you’re using tablets, just drop them down the well. They will dissolve in the water.


  • Step 4: Put the well cap back on

    Align the gasket with the top of the well. Set the well cap back on the seal, and make sure the bolt-holes line up.

    Reattach and tighten the bolts with your wrenches.


  • Step 5: Pump disinfectant throughout the house

    Turn on each faucet in the house, and let the water run just long enough to smell chlorine.

    Shut the water off, and let it set for 8 hours (or overnight).


  • Step 6: Flush the lines

    After the disinfectant has done its work, you’ll need to flush all the disinfectant out of the lines. Turn on all the faucets in the house, and let the water run until you can’t smell chlorine anymore.

    This can take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours.


  • Step 7: Resample

    Idaho regulations say that you have to wait at least 48 hours after you disinfect the system before you can collect another sample.

    Once you’ve waited 48 hours, you can call us to come collect a repeat sample. Or, if you’re familiar with water testing, you can collect your own sample for testing.


  • Conclusion

    Congratulations! You’ve just disinfected and flushed your well. If you have any questions, you are welcome to send us an email, or give us a call.

    *If you drop something down the well, you’ll never get it back. Most of the time, it won’t hurt anything lying at the bottom of the well. The pump isn’t usually powerful enough to lift metal objects. However, if you ever need to drill your well deeper, any metal objects in the well can severely damage a drill bit.


Share by: