Need help gaining access to my well for chlorination

[stealle]

I need to sanitize my well. I attached a couple pictures of my well head. Is that a vent on top? I think that’s about a 1 inch thread on top. Would it be ok for me to just remove that and do my work through that opening? I’d hate to mess up any of the other seals. If removing that works, when I put it back on what should I use to get a good seal? Teflon paste?

Thanks for you help!
View attachment 44342View attachment 44343​

 

[Valveman]

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[Sponsor]

 

[stealle]

Sorry. Here it is.

 

[Valveman]

You could probably just unscrew the air vent on top and pour in there. But it will probably land on top of the pitless. I would remove the long bolts and take off the top cap so you can see what you are doing. That way you can pour down the side of the pitless instead of on top of it. It will also be easier to wash the chlorine off the pitess and upper casing with a hose this way.

 

[stealle]

Thanks! Couple more questions...

1. If I remove long bolts and the entire top do I need a new gasket? Or can I reuse the gasket and still have a proper seal. (This we’ll head is less than 6 months old)

2. I’ve come up with an idea to recirc the water all the way to the bottom of the well. Hoping someone that knows a lot more than me about wells can tell me if it’s a good idea or bad idea. I’m thinking about getting about 10-20 ft of 1/2” Sch 40 pvc pipe and put a garden hose adapter on it. Since my well is 6” and only 68ft deep I can send this pvc pipe all the way down to the bottom of the well. As the water is recirculating I could raise and lower the pvc pipe from the bottom to the top of the well to get it mixed up real well. I don’t really know what the pump or anything else inside the well looks like. Do you think their is any chance my garden hose and pvc pipe could get stuck on something? I would think the only thing that could catch on something would be where the garden hose screws onto the pvc/garden hose adapter.

 

[Valveman]

There should be a rubber gasket that you can re-use on the pitless cap. If it looks bad for some reason you can silicone it.

The pump will draw the water from the bottom of the well. All you need to do it get the garden hose past the pitless and dump the water back down the well. It will re-circulate just fine all the way down to the pump.

 

[stealle]

Thanks. This is all a little new to me... Please let me know what my concerns should be about bleach on the pitiless adapter. The pitless is what goes on the side of the well casing with a line going out to the house, right? I do not know the exact depth of the pitless adapter. Its not on my well report. Our frost line is about 3 foot so the pitless adapter must be around 4 foot deep, correct?

I do want to sanitize everything including the pitless adapter, correct? I just want to avoid pouring undiluted bleach on the pitless adapter, right?

 

[Valveman]

Don't pour undiluted bleach on anything. Dilute it! Then it is ok to pour in on the pitless, which will probably be about 5' down. Just make sure to rinse everything off with clean water from the garden hose after you get the chlorine flushed out of the well. There is a little science to how diluted and how much to pour down the well, taking into consideration the amount of water in your well. Some people may only be chlorinating 50 gallons in the well, while other wells may have 500 gallons to treat.

You also usually want to add Vinegar first to lower the ph and circulate that long before adding chlorine.

Then also remember to get it flushed out good before letting any of it get into the septic tank, or it will ruin the septic system.

Maybe Reach can point you to a couple of threads that explain the process?

 

[Reach4]

Maybe Reach can point you to a couple of threads that explain the process?

We have had some discussions via message. I had suggested he post here asking about that well cap, since it is fancier than I have ever seen.

I slowly poured bleach, while recirculating water into the top of my casing, into the circulating water stream. I guess pre-diluting would have been better, but I think I approximated that pretty well.