Calling all DIY Well guys - Shock chlorination

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Robert Gray

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I have a 55', 2" PVC well with 5' of screen which was installed in 1980-'81. County records state the static level is 18' and drawdown takes it to 22'. Company who installed is no longer in business.

I believe all the DIY well guys can help me here, because it looks like my well was installed in much the same manner that a DIY well would be installed.

It looks to be just plain 2" PVC, without a casing. Perhaps there is a casing if I dig down deeper, but at 18" down, this is all I see:
upload_2016-1-7_9-24-49.png


I want to shock chlorinate. I've read a multitude of DIY instructions on the subject, spoke with a local well driller, and spoke with 2 different water treatment distributors. I have an idea of how to calculate correct ppm and make a solution, but I still have one major question about delivering the solution to my system.

Questions:
If I cut the top off of this well will the pipe remain full of water? If so, how do I displace it with the chlorine solution? Once I cut the well cap off, I will no longer have a source of pressurized water to "force" the standing water out of the well. Can I hook up some sort of gravity feed system with a tall ladder, bucket and hose with valve? Will gravity overcome the standing water pressure?

If I cut the cap off, will the water slowly drain down to static level?

How have any of you guys shock chlorinated a single line, 2" PVC well?
 

Valveman

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If you have a check valve on the suction side of the pump, there will probably not be one in the well. So when you cut the cap off the water should drop to the static level.

If the pipe stays full of water after cutting off the cap there maybe a check valve down the well, which would keep you from dropping any shock down hole. Try pouring just water down the well first. If it takes water, even slowly, then you can add the shock and it will take that as well.
 

Robert Gray

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I hadn't even considered a check valve down the well.... Thanks, that's a good point.

I do have a check valve just before the pump. Maybe I'll get lucky and not have one down the well.

I'm thinking this weekend I just need to go out there with a hacksaw and a tape measure and see what happens when I open the thing up. I am a little apprehensive - who wants to screw up their family's only source of water?

I'm still very open to anyone's comments on how they've done something like this or suggestions on they think I should do it.
 

Robert Gray

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Yes, I do. Well, I think I do. I have that orangeish reddish slime in my toilet tanks, and I found a small leak in a line going from pressure tank to treatment system that has a caterpillar sized agglomeration of gooey reddish puss running out of it.

I'm assuming those are tell-tale signs of bacteria according to what I've read.

My pump flow rate is only ~4.3-4.6gpm, and I'd like to try shocking the system to see if it frees up the lines and increases flow rate.
 

WellOff

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That slime might be IRB (Iron Reducing Bacteria). If that is the case (you can actually test for that) then shocking is likely not going to fix this: it can temporarily help, but unless you get really lucky that IRB is just there in the ground and you're not going to be able to permanently get rid of it. You'll find that you'll need to treat it like any bacteria- kill it; killing it will then free up the iron which you can then filter out; you HAVE to deal bacteria first (and it's especially important with IRB because it is notorious for its ability to clog things up).
 

WellOff

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Yup, aware of that. I mixed up a pH adjusted solution, about 550 gallons of it (2 275 gal totes) and ran it down my well when I was resurrecting it. IRB just lives in my aquifer. For sure, though, it took care of everything else! (casing had been left open and I believe that I saw claws being jetted out from it when I flushed it! initial water test had e-coli! [since I rehabbed and have been using I've had ZERO e-coli or coliform- it's a shallow well])

US health agencies frown on pH adjusting a "bleach" solution to cover their own arses. I found documentation from a Canadian water authority (Candians aren't so anal about things), as well as from a company back on the upper east coast (Massachusetts? the guy was great, even got a spreadsheet from him to calculate things!)
 

Reach4

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Yup, aware of that. I mixed up a pH adjusted solution, about 550 gallons of it (2 275 gal totes) and ran it down my well when I was resurrecting it.
I think it is useful to monitor the pH of the circulating solution too.. The pH will change after contact with the well for a while. I found that I had to add more acid with time.

I agree that IRB may often be indigenous to the aquifer.
 
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