Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations very rusty well water

I would not make any pronouncement on the water quality of a well, either new or long dormant, until after it had pumped for a considerable amount of time (between 1 and 24 hours). If your old, unused well has steel well casing or steel water pipe, either would have likely produced a lot of rust over 15 years. Now you're disturbing the well and knocking the rust loose and it's coming out. You've got to make sure that the 15 year supply of rust is gone and then you can see what your steady-state iron content is.

Every time I disturb my wells, like dropping a new pump in, they have to pump for an hour or so to clear.

Pump that sucker for a couple of hours, at least, and see if it starts to clear up some. If you want to get sign-tific you can take samples in buckets every half hour or so and more objectively see if they improve.