Question about sanitizing well

[mom2three]

I don't want to have to remove the well cap due to the weight - 250 ft of pipe plus pump. And it's all hooked up to the plumbing and I don't want to damage anything.

I haven't been able to find out what the black handle looking thing is on my well cap. I'm thinking it is removable and would give me access to treat the well. All the pics I found on google show well caps with three holes - one for the water pipe, one for the electrical cables, one for access to chlorinate the well periodically.

Well cap is in a well house. Hubby can help but I have to figure this out and he'll help me.

Do you think the black handle thing is removable? Suggestions?

I'm attaching a pic.

 

[Valveman]

The black thing is an air vent. Just unscrew it and you will have a hole with 1/2" female threads to pour stuff down the well. You should lower the PH before adding Chlorine.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Reach4]

Ideally, you would figure out something that would also spray the underside of the well cap and the sides of the casing-- including the higher part.

When I thought I was going to be doing that, I ordered some brass tubing to make my own tool for that. As it turns out, I got my casing extended and a pitless adapter installed, so that need went away.

I would dribble some recirculating chlorinated water into where the wires go too.

Did you look at my sanitizing write-up?

 

[mom2three]

I did read a write up on here about sanitizing the well. Not sure if it was yours, Reach4.

I think I have a fairly good idea how to do the sanitizing part. I ordered the calcium hypochlorite for sanitizing.

We're selling our house and the well tested positive for coliform, neg for e-coli. Of cause the guy that tested the well water also quoted $500 to treat it (he was hired by the buyer, not me). I bought my own coliform test kit and I have to wait another 24 hours for the results. Test takes 48 hours. Hubby and I took a sample from the well head and another sample from inside the house, so we're doing two tests.

The house has been sitting vacant for months, so I'm not sure the guy ran the water before testing - I had read it was meant to be run for 2 or 3 hours before testing when a house has been sitting vacant. Anyway, I can get the county to retest the water for $70.

We will sanitize where the wires are and plan to put on a gasket so dirt and bugs don't accumulate there.

Whoever installed the well put the faucet at the well head on the wrong side of the check value, so the faucet doesn't work unless the pump is running, which means turning on a faucet down at the house.

Anyway, I'm trying to learn about it all. So, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about anything. I'm here to learn. Thanks for all your help.

 

[Valveman]

Just remove the un-needed check valve at the tank and that faucet will work fine.

 

[Reach4]

I think I have a fairly good idea how to do the sanitizing part. I ordered the calcium hypochlorite for sanitizing.

We're selling our house and the well tested positive for coliform, neg for e-coli.

You did not mention vinegar or pH paper.

calcium hypochlorite gives chlorine too, as does liquid bleach. The solids are nice for shipping and longer storage. The pellets have the advantage that if your casing is large enough compared to the pump diameter, you can drop maybe half of the pellets down and hit the bottom. That lets you sanitize the whole well with less flooding volume.

However if you are selling soon, you may not be as interested in more complex methods, even though the results may last much longer than the more common methods. http://www.terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/well-sanitizing-extra-attention-to-4-inch-casing.65845/

 

[mom2three]

Reach4, I'll go and read your link. Thanks.

 

[Craigpump]

Or if don't want to spend the time chlorinating and retesting you can install a UV light.

 

[mom2three]

Here's an update on the coliform test kit. The sample taken from the faucet at the well head that hasn't been used in decades appears to be positive (we did flush the faucet and sanitize the faucet before taking the sample). The sample from the kitchen sink is negative.

I don't know what that means. One positive and one negative.

When we sanitize the well the chlorinated water will get flushed through the well head faucet.

So weird.

 

[Reach4]

When we sanitize the well the chlorinated water will get flushed through the well head faucet.

When you sanitize the chlorinated water will normally go briefly through every faucet, shower, dishwasher, filter, etc, although the recirculation normally goes through an outside faucet.

Maybe after you sanitize you will cap each outdoor faucet to keep the bugs etc out.

Heat from a torch is sometimes used for the faucet sanitizing. I think you have to be careful not to hurt the packing and washer from excess heat if you do that.

 

[Craigpump]

It isn't really weird. If you didn't get chlorine through that spigot on the well head it will most likely test positive. Most people forget about humidifier feed lines, refrigerator feed lines even the small lines for remote mounted pressure switches, they can & will harbor bacteria. That's why a proper chlorination is time consuming & expensive and just dumping bleach in the well is cheap.

 

[mom2three]

We haven't treated the well yet. We're going to do it at the weekend. I was just curious to do the tests before and I will do them again in a couple of weeks once all the chlorine is out the system to make sure treatment worked.