Disinfecting a residential well - How?

[Chocaholic]

Had our well water tested and it came back as + for coliform bacteria (2.0 CFU). I've been instructed to pour 1 gallon of household bleach down the well with a few gallons of water behind it to wash it down the pipe.

Well is 405 feet deep. Here's my question. We have a water softener, pH tank, a sediment filter and a large fine filter. And of course we're on septic.

Was told to run all water spigots until I can smell chlorine, then shut them off overnight. Flush all again in morning. Was also told that chlorine will be significantly diluted and not cause problems with septic or filtration system.

They say you should do that every year or two as maintenance. Does that all sound right?

[Tobra]

Concentration is going to depend on how much water is in the well, which I would think varies.

How it is getting in there matters. How far is the well from any septic systems? If you are flushing the system, you need to flush everything, including the water going into the commodes. If you unhook it from the tank and run it into a bucket, and run all the sinks into buckets too, then dump them in the yard, it should protect your septic system. If you did kill the critters in the septic system, you can replace them.

[1990C4S]

Perhaps a UV system is in order?

Bleach will work (but not immediately), but chlorination might need to be ongoing.

[stevej37]

Pay your local well-water guy to do it....watch and learn how. It might involve removing the well head..not an easy job...but can be done easily if you know how.

[ckelly78z]

The chlorine is to sanitize the well casing walls, At 405 ft, i'm surprised you were instructed to ONLY use 1 gallon of bleach, this is usually the amount my wife uses for up to 100 ft deep for her home builder employer. You may want to check to see if that will be anough for such a deep well.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by stevej37

Pay your local well-water guy to do it....watch and learn how. It might involve removing the well head..not an easy job...but can be done easily if you know how.

Agreed.

We have two wells on our property and it is on list of things I hire out...this is one of those you can only "tie the record" jobs that have a huge downside.

[rusnak]

I would not drink from a water hose or faucet that is not used a lot. Whatever bacteria that is in your well can really multiply in a stagnant water line.

[Evans, Marv]

My well is about 300 ft. & slightly upslope from my leach field but 500 ft. deep. I just had it tested last month (the water coming out inside the house) with no bacterial content. I have a test done every few years at a cost of about $250 for the full test which includes organics, bacteria, inorganics, pesticides, petroleum distillates, etc., etc. I do have one neighbor who had to "shock" his system with bleach because of bacterial contamination and was successful. If I had a problem, I think I'd hire it done for the peace of mind. I do dump half a gallon of bleach into my 10K water tank a couple of times a year to prevent any growth of algae.

[Chocaholic]

Got my instructions from the well installer that I called to come do the job. He said I'd be crazy to pay someone to do this. He knew the neighborhood, type of well, etc. he described the well access exactly and said that one gallon would suffice and to do a follow up water test a week later. If still positive, repeat.

He was surprised we tested + with such a deep well of this type. I did one of those home tests (Amazon) and it came up negative. Sent a sample off to UGA for testing and theirs showed +. Will give it a try this afternoon.

[Evans, Marv]

Good news. I have my water tested at a local lab that does testing for the whole County and beyond. It's always interesting to read the reports and results.

[Schrup]

Originally Posted by Chocaholic

I did one of those home tests (Amazon) and it came up negative. Sent a sample off to UGA for testing and theirs showed +. Will give it a try this afternoon.

Make sure everything (faucet & hands) are disinfected before you sample & that there's no strainer screen in faucet.

[klm2500hd]

Originally Posted by Schrup

Make sure everything (faucet & hands) are disinfected before you sample & that there's no strainer screen in faucet.

To expand on this, disinfect source of water (non frost free spigots are best, chlorine or heat will work) flush lines to get sample from well not standing water in pipes, leave sample jar closed until ready to draw, immediately close sample jar. The sample jar should have some powder in it to neutralize chlorine (sodium thiosulfate).

[LEAKYSEALS951]

It might pay to get someone with experience to meter this.

My situation:
My well cover got knocked off. (my best guess) something up and crawled in, fell in, and drowned. Water smelled liked dead something.
Being the genius in my own mind that I am, I went and got some chlorine tablets from a pool supply company.
Guesssssstimating, I cut a chlorine wafer/tablet in 1/2, and dropped it down the pipe.

In short, it was WAY too much. Water reeked of strong chlorine for well over a month. I dropped a bunch of septic probiotics down the waste hatch, and only by the grace of god did it not wipe out septic. It was soooooo bad, we could barely shower in it the Chlorine was so strong. The water was pretty much not usable. Certainly non potable.

Chlorine better than dead chipmunk (or whatever) though!

[flatbutt]

400 ft is DEEP! I've used just a bit less than that in my 50 foot well.

[unclebilly]

I just did ours on Saturday...

Here is how it is done...


http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/wwg411

[cstreit]

You're much better off using food safe chlorine tablets. When you pour liquid bleach down, a lot of it gets on the pipe walls and causes corrosion. Other than that, this is standard practice for residential well disinfecting.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I also recommend one of these:

D4-V UV System For Home Plus Water Disinfection- VIQUA

I have the Trojan UV Max (installed it when I bought this house), essentially the same system. No issues. The only complaint I have is the cost of replacement lamps adds up - it's like a printer where the manufacturer make their money on toner sales, not the equipment per se. Same here but there are ways to economize and not get ripped off.

As a technology it works very well and I've had no issues at all.

[Chocaholic]

Poured 1.5 gallons down the well (no cap on ours that an animal can fit through, just a small plug that unscrews...ours is a drilled well vs bored). One hour later, turned on the water in the house and let it run waiting for any chlorine smell...45 minutes later with all taps opened....nothing. zilch. Tested with chlorine test strip. Nada.

Is it possible there's an ocean down there that washed it all away??? Even if 1.5 gallons isn't enough for a 400' well, you'd think there would be some slight evidence, no? It's almost as if I treated the wrong well (I didn't). Will call the well company again today for more counseling.

POP...have been doing some reading on UV. May look into that for peace of mind. A bit pricey but what's not?

[LEAKYSEALS951]

Originally Posted by Chocaholic

Poured 1.5 gallons down the well (no cap on ours that an animal can fit through, just a small plug that unscrews...ours is a drilled well vs bored). One hour later, turned on the water in the house and let it run waiting for any chlorine smell...45 minutes later with all taps opened....nothing. zilch. Tested with chlorine test strip. Nada.

Is it possible there's an ocean down there that washed it all away??? Even if 1.5 gallons isn't enough for a 400' well, you'd think there would be some slight evidence, no? It's almost as if I treated the wrong well (I didn't). Will call the well company again today for more counseling.

POP...have been doing some reading on UV. May look into that for peace of mind. A bit pricey but what's not?

Go try and smell it again this morning. If I recall, it took some time for mine to show any indication it was chlorinated.

[Chocaholic]

Nothing yet. But will give it some time. Perhaps with such a deep well, it may take a day or two of normal use?