Shock the well - no where to pour it

Alan L. · Nov 16, 2007

After 7 years with no problems I believe we have iron bacteria in our well water. The water smells like a cross between diesel and sewer and there is a brown slime in the toilet tanks. This starters a few weeks ago, since some big floods we had a few months back. The water got to within 20 feet or so of the wellhead but not up to it.

Anyway, seems the control is to shock the well with chlorine. However the top of my well has a steel plate on it and the weight of the 399 feet of pipe and pump are on top of this plate. The plate has a hole in the top, but the hole is pretty much filled with the big wire that goes down to the pump.

Bottom line, there is nowhere to pour chlorine down the well.

I was thinking of rigging something whereby I could pick up the column of pipe and pump with the FEL on my tractor. Just need a few inches to expose the top opening of the well casing. Has anyone done this? There are 19 sections of 1.5" galvanized pipe, with the pump and pump motor on the end, plus the weight of the wire. The well is 500' feet deep but the pump is at 399'. My B2710 FEL is rated 850 pounds or so.

jinman · Nov 16, 2007

Alan, the easiest way would probably be to drill a new hole in the plate and plug it when you get done. You might be able to drill a hole in the side of the well casing if it is 4" PVC like mine. Is the pipe going down to your pump iron or PVC? With either one, you will probably need to dilute the chlorine so it doesn't damage something. What form of cholorine are you planning to use? I remember as a kid there was a special mixture my mom and dad used to treat a shallow well. I guess your well driller or well service company might be able to tell you exactly what to use and not use.

SpringHollow · Nov 16, 2007

You want to use vinegar and chlorine for it to be effective. I will try and remember to see tonight if I have the mixture details. Vinegar is needed to buffer the pH in the correct range for the chlorine to be effective and to keep everything in solution.

Our county gave a special presentation on it a few years ago. The infor is probably on the web also.

Ken

Egon · Nov 16, 2007

It's very hard to tell just how your wellhead looks and is set up.

But, forget the tractor to lift. Use a tripod and chain hoist.

Or follow Jinman's suggestion. You may even want to tap a hole you drill and add a valve to give access.

SnowRidge · Nov 16, 2007

A well that deep should have a submersible pump, yet you state that the weight of the pump and casing is on the top plate, which I don't understand. On my well, which is 400 feet deep, there is just a cap which can be easilly removed. Shocking it would simply be a matter or pouring the bleach solution in.

Can you post a picture of the top of your well?

riptides · Nov 16, 2007

Any chance on getting to the line itself? Maybe you can cut it and put a T in it?

I just did this a few months ago, I did not want to mess with the well cap or anything directly coming out of it. So I tapped the line a few feet away and stuck a hose down into the well.

-Mike Z.

MikePA · Nov 16, 2007

SnowRidge said:
A well that deep should have a submersible pump, yet you state that the weight of the pump and casing is on the top plate, which I don't understand. On my well, which is 400 feet deep, there is just a cap which can be easilly removed. Shocking it would simply be a matter or pouring the bleach solution in.

This is the way my well is too and what you describe is what I did to shock my well several years ago.

Also, I don't see how cutting into the line would work. On my well there are check valves at the tank and at the pump so somehow getting bleach into the line might shock the pressure tank (once the contents of the line got pumped into the tank), but do nothing for the well.

Skyco · Nov 16, 2007

When I had my submersible pump replaced a few years back the guy dumped a bag of granular pool chlorine in rather than liquid. Don't know if that was correct or not

MartyAnderson · Nov 16, 2007

Alan
Give A L Moser Drilling (903-786-2861) a call. Alex can tell you how to do it, or send his crew back out to do it for you.
Marty

Alan L. · Nov 16, 2007

MartyAnderson said:
Alan
Give A L Moser Drilling (903-786-2861) a call. Alex can tell you how to do it, or send his crew back out to do it for you.
Marty

Moser is the that did the well orignially and has serviced it. I know from experience that it will be major $$$ for them to show up, but I should probably call them anyway.

The weight of the pump and piping is on top of the seal plate because it is wider above the plate and then the pipe goes down through the hole. The plate keeps the pipe from falling down in the hole, thus it is holding it up and puts the entire weight on the plate.

Tying in to the 1.25" PVC coming out of the well might work if I could somehow fish something up into the well casing to deliver the chlorine. As to what kind of chlorine I had not yet considered what to do.

We are still using the water, it tastes fine and is clear but would like to get this taken care of before it starts plugging the screen.

Mickey_Fx · Nov 16, 2007

Have had a sim problem for a number of yrs but no odor. Did what Jim and a couple other suggested. I drilled a hold in the side of the well casing (sticks up about a ft above pumphouse floor) used a tube and funnel to get the clorine down the well. All of a sudden a couple months ago it all cleared up. Don't know why as I've not used any clorine in several yrs but I'm not questioning it.

The concerned I see is the depth of your well. Pouring a few oz of clorine bleach in the well and how it's going to find its way 400' down to the pump and below. Maybe your water level is also quite deep so depth from static water level to pump isn't so far.

Egon · Nov 16, 2007

Putting a line into the pump outlet will not help because of the check valve at the pump.

You need access to the casing for a place to pour the chlorine.

WayneB · Nov 16, 2007

If you can get a hole in the side of the casing then you should be able to find liquid chlorine and hook up something to slowly pour it into the well casing. I have purchased liquid cholorine from my pool chemical supply store. I think it is 15% cholorine. I think if it was me I would check with someone in the pure water supply business.

I recently added filtering and UV disinfection system. The company I ordered from was the Ohio Pure Water Company. their website is Ultraviolet Disinfection, UV, Sterilight, Trojan, UV Pure, Hallett, Upstream, UV lamps, UV quartz sleeves, uv light

You might give them a call and see what they suggest.

Wayne

Obed · Nov 16, 2007

We shocked a shallow well at our last house using regular Chlorox from the grocery store. That's how our county's website said to do it. We didn't have the access problem that you have. We first closed the water intake to the water heater to prevent chlorine from getting in the heating tubes and fouling the heating tubes. We poured the amount of Clorox recommended by the county's website into the well casing. Our well had a water spigot connected to the water outlet pipe just outside of the well casing. We connected a short water hose to the spigot and ran water through it and back into the well casing until we could tell the water coming out of the hose had a noticeable amount of chlorine in it. We then sprayed around the inside of the well with the chlorinated water coming out of the hose. We let the well sit idle for 24 hours. After 24 hours we ran water through a water hose to the ground continuously for several hours to dilute the chlorine. Then we used the well water in the house as normal.

We loved that well. We had the best tasting water and didn't have to drink chemically treated water coming from lakes that have city sewers flowing into them. Unfortunately, where we now live the well water has a high iron content so we're on city water.

SpringHollow · Nov 17, 2007

Sorry, I could not easily find my information but I did a web search and found this link:

Manderson Well Drilling

Below is a quote from their disinfection page.

Ken

P. H. Verses Chlorine effectiveness An article from Ground Water Canada September 2003, (Written in Wisconsin), goes into detail on how chlorine products, bleach included, raises the PH of the water. The higher the ph the less effective the chlorine is. Chlorine is 100% effective when mixed in water with a ph of 5.5.
When mixed in water with a ph of 9, the chlorine is only 2% effective. If you mix up a solution that is 200 ppm chlorine in water with a ph of 7.1, the ph will raise to 9, making the chlorine only 2% effective. Too much chlorine can actually defeat the purpose.
In an article from the magazine National Driller Dec/ 2004, 典he Water Well Disinfection Manual for Michigan State advices using 1 gallon of White Distilled Vinegar in with each 100 gallons of chlorinated water. The vinegar helps keep the P.H. of the solution down.

charlz · Nov 17, 2007

The PH buffering chlorine is pretty common in swimming pools as well. My in-laws pool in Vegas needs almost constant acid added to keep the PH down so the chlorine will work... especially after a windstorm puts a bunch of dust in there. Muratic acid is what they use but I am thinking vinegar sounds a lot better in a well

SpringHollow · Nov 17, 2007

Vinegar (acetic acid) is better than muriatic acid for 2 reasons: it is much safer to handle and it acts as a buffer (muriatic acid is hydrochloric acid (HCl) which is a strong acid with no buffering capability). If adding the vinegar at the recommended dosage does not drop the pH low enough, then I would be tempted to use muriatic acid to continue to lower the pH. Once the acceptable pH is reached, the vinegar will help hold it there.

Ken

Alan L. · Nov 17, 2007

The last time I checked Ph it was about 9, so that will definitely be a problem. Even the city water 5 miles away drawing from a much deeper formation has a ph of 9.