Prototype/draft of unified home well and plumbing sanitizing procedure

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Here is my current thinking on a process for home well sanitizing. Criticism, disagreements and improvements sought. Silence does not imply agreement. :) This is a prototype/draft write-up.

I see home well and plumbing sanitizing as something that can be done in a unified process. I am not thinking this needs to be done annually, because it is more thorough than most methods. In this description I presume you have some high range pH paper such as Hydrion Cm-240 Chlorine test 10-200 PPM. I consider this essential to what I am describing here.

You will need a one or more garden hoses to circulate water from a garden hose spigot back into the well casing. You can use the same hoses to get water from the water heater drain to the driveway/ditch.

The main procedure is as described in http://www.moravecwaterwells.com/index.php/maintainance/disinfection-and-testing

I used a garbage can lined with two big liner bags to hold the clean flooding volume water. That was big enough for my well. I used a cover to keep debris out of the water. I used clean tubing to siphon the flooding volume water into the casing at the right time.

A suggested enhancement would be to add paper to test for pH that can test in the 5.5 pH region well. For that I like Hydrion 5.5 to 8.0 test paper that is often used for saliva or urine measurement. There are calculations that can estimate how much vinegar to add to a given diameter and depth well to bring the water down from a known pH to 5.5. The problem is that some acid will be consumed and the pH will be higher than calculated.

I did not use it, but a low range chlorine test could be useful. These are often used for testing pool chlorine. This could be useful in deciding when the chlorine level is low enough to sanitize the softener resin and when it is OK to take baths/showers.

Disclaimer. I am not a pro. I have one well. I read some papers. So I have some basis, but I do not speak with authority. There are many authoritative articles. They often differ in the ppm that they suggest.

I would like at least 200 ppm and under 6 pH (5.5 pH target) in the well. This is at the high end of recommendations! Some call for 50 ppm. Recirculate overnight or periodically over 24 hours. To me, better overkill than underkill except for the softener resin. If you have the clearance, dropping part of your chlorine from pellets (typically 5/16 diameter) made for the purpose will let that chlorine go all of the way to the bottom. My well does not have that clearance. I used some liquid and So I circulated longer and I hope that is sufficient. I used a mix of liquid chlorine bleach and hth brand "shock 'n swim" #3 (calcium hypochlorite 47.8%) granules, which is sold for pools. One or the other would have worked fine. Start with a calculated amount. It will take significant time for what you pour into the casing to be measured at the recirculating water from the hose.

I would put the softener in bypass before and during *most* of the process.

I would like 50 ppm or more from the drain on the water heater. Flushing the water heater of debris before this process starts is not a bad idea, but it is not needed for this sanitizing.

I would like 10 to 50 ppm from every faucet, inside and out. I would like 10 or more from each toilet tank. I would like 25 ppm into the dishwasher.I would like the water to sit in the pipes for maybe 4 hours. This provides contact time.

The trickier and more controversial part... I remind you of my disclaimer. But I am thinking that after the above is done, and the well is flushed down to about 5 to 10 ppm, and the water coming in is in the same range, un-bypass the softener. Run about 8 gallons per cubic ft of resin out a tap that is fed by the softener (such as the drain on the water heater) to a hose into the ditch. Contact time I am not so sure of. I am thinking a few hour is OK, because it is going to take a while to drop the level of the chlorine in the well anyway.

Resume flushing the well until down to less than 1 ppm (your high range test paper will not detect that) but smell will be gone.

Run more clean water through the softener to stop contact with the chlorine.

Rinse the sides of the casing, if it is steel, as in the Morevec procedure.

THis is what I am currently thinking and it is close to what I did. I won't be hurt by differences of opinion and I look to improve my thinking.
 
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