"Dukester" wrote
in message ...
"Chris Lewis" wrote in
message
...
According to PaPaPeng :
Too big to be a (water) pressure vessel.

On the contrary - before bladder-style tanks, seeing
pressure tanks this size isn't at all unusual.

Given the plumbing arrangement, I'll bet there used
to be a pump there.

Red sandy stuff inside? Could this be an old
fashioned
permanganate tank used for removing dissolved iron?
If the
stuff hasn't been replenished in _years_, it's not
doing anything.

Is one of those lines direct from the pump?

Yes, the bottom line comes directly from the pump
outside.


I'm going to join those who mentioned permanganate tank
to remove sediments and "treat" extremely hard water.
If it's what my sister had on their farm, which looked
a lot like it, it was supposed to be backwashed every
once in awhile, almost like a pool's sand filter. The
original well was only ab out 35' deep, hand dug and
stoned (stones cemented on sides to keep it from
falling in). When it rained every faucet strainer in
the house would fill up and the amount of "rust" that
poured out of it when they cleaned it was amazing. I
don't recall the exact process, but there were two
levers to flip to back-wash it, and the backwash
actually just flushed out onto the floor. I seem to
recall some sort of a "block" of something they'd stick
into it too, but no ideas what it was now. I was only
a teen back then.
About a year or so after buying the farm, they had a
real well dug, and thought they might be finding out
why the dug well since at a hundred feet they still
hadn't hit water. Then at 120' they ran into a river -
no more water problems! Well, except a terrible stink
from the gasses in it! G. The old well was barely
enough for 25 head but the new well supported the
family, inlaws, 6 kids, and 200+ head of dairy cattle!

Just my two cents & possibly inaccrate memories,

Pop