loose bolts on well seal ~ contimainated well?

[muldoon]

I have a 100 foot drilled submerisble pump well, static water around 75 feet. The water was great when it was new, but got worse over the past 2 years. It stinks of sulphur, runs blown, grey, yellow, red. I have ignored it because I do not live on the property full time and did not know what my options were.

I have read up on bacterias and disinfecting the well, and this past weekend I looked it over to get an idea of what I need to do. The well seal is a simmons single piece with a 1/2" plug. However, I noticed that nearly all of the well seal bolts are loose. On two of them I can actually see where contaminants could enter the well. I tightened one of them by hand, but another is too close to the water pipe egressing the top of the well and will not turn. (bad install I guess). Can I just clean the area up with a dremel and coat it in silicone? Will that seal it?

I want to chlorinate the well, but want to be sure I am addressing the possible problem before doing so. Any ideas on how I can get it to seal?

 

[Valveman]

Tightening three of the four bolts will probably seal it. It has a rubber gasket that gets squeezed outward when you tighten the bolts. Silicon in any crack or where the wires go in won't hurt a thing.

 

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[WellWaterProducts]

In addition, if you can get a little lube on the threads now (we use silicone grease), you will be ahead of the game.

 

[Valveman]

But don't take the nuts completely off the bolts, or the bolts will fall down the well.

 

[muldoon]

Thank you for the replies.

I was able to get 3 bolts tightened, and the well seal no long can be turned. I used 100% silicone and ran a bead around the bolts and pipe coming from the top. I also built a wellhouse shed over it this weekend so that also will help keep contaminates out. I think it is sealed now.

Now, I still have a question or two regarding the shocking of the well.

I used 5 qts of household unscented bleach (5-7%) with 10 gallons of clean water to flush it. I ran the hose back into the well for about 6 hours in a continuous cycle. The next morning I shut everything off and let it sit for 14 hours. I ran the hose for about 10 minutes just to see what if anything could be determined. Water looked terrible, but I could not smell any bleach. Next morning, after a full 24 hours of being shutdown I began flushing the well. clear water. again very little to no bleach smell. the water would run clean, and then go cloudy with greyish or sometimes yellowish water - and happened exactly when the pump would kick on.

So I am thinking it is that when the well kicks on it is pumping clear water but it churns up the greyish sediment in the tank. Does that seem reasonable? If so, I cannot find a cleanup fitting or drain plug on the tank. Should there be one?

If so, would a repeat of the procedure I used be effective to kill it? Should I be able to smell bleach strongly in the process and if I do not would that indicate I used too weak a solution?