No water flow in house…red/white sandy stuff

[HelpPaul]

History: Had my annual furnace maintenance 2 weeks ago. Replaced whole house filter 2 months ago. Added water softener salt 1 week ago. All Ok.
Problem: 1 week ago wife complained of low water pressure in shower. I put in new shower head and it improved. Few days later same problem, plus more: no pressure in shower and all faucets, toilets don’t fill. Opened shower head and faucets: found red/white “sandy” substance clogging screens. (I do not think it is rust) Ran tub, after a while LOTS of this stuff–about 1-1/2 pints worth–came out. Now hot/cold runs clear in tub/shower. Rest of house, NO water flow or drips (clear). Replaced whole house filter again: normal “dirt” (we have a well) on outside, inside clear. Ran outside faucet: sandy stuff for a while then clear–outside runs well now.
Current situation: shower/tub, outside OK. NO water flow in rest of house faucets and toilets. Where does this come from? How to clear out? Please help. Thanks, in advance.

[riverhawk]

I would say to check the screens on faucets and maybe the valves in toilets are cloged with muck as you may have to replace them. Maybe your well is just a point and you started to run out of water. I would take maybe a peeksee at my well to see if it is deep enough. Im sure there are going to be more thoughts so stay tuned. As there are some pretty darn sharp people here.

[riverhawk]

You may want to open your hot water heater and drain some of that sand ect out of the bottom..

[Gary Slusser]

I think you may have resin getting out of the softener. Actually I’m pretty sure it’s resin from your description of the problem. Put the softener in by pass.

Removing resin from plumbing is a real difficult thing. You may have problems with dishwasher and clothes washers and toilet fill valves for some time; all it takes is one piece of resin, about the size of the period here.

Gary
Quality Water Associates

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