I have an old well that I think should be shocked. I see some black crud that is softer than rust particles in the aereators. I need to check how deep it is if I can find the records. It is between 120-180 ft and 6″ steel casing. We are on a septic system. It seems like we poured bleach in it before and ran it out on the ground for a while. It is not a very strong well as it can be stressed fairly easily in dry times. That should not be a problem now though.
Any guidance?
Replies
any sulpher in the area
Not that I am aware of. I have the string sediment filters on both sides of the house. When we added on I t'ed off at the captive air tank and ran new to addition. I am going to replumb and run two in series with a sediment filter followed by finer 5 or so micron. I do see some black edges to puddling places in the shower and was thinking it was bacteria or something.
Water does not have any smell. I have seen some blue in places where an old drip was. Copper in old section and cpvc in new.
Edited 10/9/2004 2:04 pm ET by RASCONC
Black crud? Out here in Montana we call that roughage.
It sounds like the casing or the pipes could be sluffing or the pump is sucking sand.
Has the well been idle for an extended period? Idle wells are the workshop of the crud-bunnies.
When you say "stressed" do you mean that the pump's sucking air?
You may be able to lower the pump if there's enough depth in the casing, this will get you into more water, not more flow but a bit more water. Pull the pump, determine the depth of the casing and see if you have room to lower the pump.
I'd suggest a flow test, this will tell you how quickly the water flows into the well. It may be worthwhile to have a driller set up on it and redevelop it.
Bleach will kill bugs but it will do nothing to stop fines. When you do the bleach thing circulate the water through a hose right back into the casing for a while. The casing is frequently a cause of bacteria and the only way to really kill is is to wet it from above with clorinated water.
Lee
When we first hooked up to the new section, we tested toilets, filled 50gal water heater, tested all other stuff and started filling a 250 gal hot tub. Got about 2/3 full and started spitting red water. We have a lot of red clay here in WNC. I have had a couple of times when wife had run some laundry (multiple loads)and I washed the house or something and repeated it.
We we out of town for a couple of weeks and had heavy rains and got muddy water even though going through sed filter. The casing is pretty rusty. The house did set with very little use for a few years back in late 70's but from 82 to 97 Mom lived her pretty much by herself.
As I remember it flowed about 3.5 gpm when drilled. I cannot remember if the driller did the dry ice trick with it.
Thanks! Bob
We we out of town for a couple of weeks and had heavy rains and got muddy water even though going through sed filter.
If you got muddy well water from rain, you don't have an adequately sealed casing. Get that coliform test to confirm it. Then, assuming coliform, your choices are treatment, better seal (good luck), or a new well.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
When we replaced the pump in 98 he extended the casing per current code and added the concrete well pipe around it. It is not leaking at the surface as there is no red clay in that area unless you go down a couple of feet. I will check it though. Will continue to put large amounts of bourbon with the drinking water to be safe.
Will continue to put large amounts of bourbon with the drinking water to be safe.
There you go...
But at $25/1.75 lit? Slightly less expensive would be a UV treatment. They work when you have no sediment. Gotta filter it out first.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
There ios no sense in shocking it unless you have coliform bacteria or worse. A water test is only about fifteen bucks for the basics and will include a recommendation.
some folks here shock with a gallon or three of chlorine but that never seems to do the job on deep ones. That requires a handfull of chlorine tablets that will sink to the bottom and mix through better.
If you shock, then get a good test, then it is abd again after a few months, you have a more serious problem.
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
Good advice as usual. Maybe I should not kill it off, look at the money I can save on rid-x. Health dept calls fro only 50 feet seperation from drain field to well. Often wonder if some fissure or something is carrying something to well.