Recently I spent 3-1/2 days without running water in my house. I knew that something was wrong when the well pump began running every four minutes. When we pulled the well pipe out of the ground we found that it had a hole in it, and the check valve at the bottom of the well (60 feet down) was bad. Parts were ordered and the well pipe replaced. Then the pump wouldn't prime. We pulled the pipe out again and found a tiny stone lodged in the intake. Back into the ground it all went. We poured 10-15 gallons of water into the pump to get it primed. It began to pump water, finally, but the pressure would not go above 10 psi (normal operating pressure is between 20 and 60 psi). So we got a new pump. Then we went across the street to fill 5-gallon containers with water to prime the pump. That took two hours. When the water started coming up it was dark gray, almost black. I let the hose run outside for two hours until all the silt we had stirred up ran out. Then I drained the water inside the house to get the silt out of the inside lines. My advice is: never buy a house that has a well.