Shock / Disinfect Shallow Well

[@Delaware]

Hello,

I am new to wells and well ownership and my new place has a well which I am trying to learn more about.

The well pump is under a manufactured home in Delaware. The well pump is a Pentair STA-RITE FN / FSN Shallow Well Jet Pump.

Here's a pic of the setup (I'd fixed some stuff which is in this pic):

It appears to be this kind of setup:

This is near the shore and the ground is sand so I assume it's a driven sand point. It also has only one pipe going into the ground.

I am having issues with iron bacteria. It's showing in the clear filter casing and in the toilet tank. I want to resolve this, but I have some questions:

1. How can I shock / disinfect this type of well?
All of the instructions I'd found were for wells with casings, where you simply remove the well cap, etc. I can pour the solution into the pipe which goes into the ground, but I can't recirculate it..

About 30' away there are 2 PVC pipes sticking out of the ground. One is one-foot above the ground, 3" / 4" in diameter and capped. I did not see a plate / plaque / label on this. I did not try to remove the cap - it looks like the glue-on type. There's another 1' 1/4" pipe 2 feet above ground, capped with a threaded plug. It looks like a sewer clean out, but it's really small. I didn't know if my well had any other places I could dump the shock solution into.

Edit. Adding pic of above pipes:

2. Iron Bacteria was not a problem 1 year prior. 1 year later it is. Did I cause it to show up?
I had the place for 1 year and no issues w/ iron bacteria. 3 things changed with the plumbing since I had it:
1. I opened the well system over the winter so I could winterize it and later add some unions and other fittings to allow for easier winterizing and pump servicing. The PO never winterized as it was a full-time residence. Did opening the system introduce iron bacteria?
2. The PO's water softener died 1 month before I first saw the iron bacteria. Was the water softener keeping the iron bacteria at bay? It was a WaterBoss 550. I have a replacement but wanted to shock the system before I added it.
3. A recent leak caused the pump to run every 20 minutes for a week. Did pulling this extra water cause any issue?

I had a water test when I bought the place 2 years ago and all was good:

I left some water in a cup for 1 week to test for clear-water iron and it did not turn..

Thanks for any info and please let me know if you have any questions. I hope this will be a place to find info about shocking shallow wells.

As for the iron bacteria, there are so many variables that I am confused as to what may have caused the issue. I've read that you should shock the well if you open the circuit. I know that water softeners affect the iron content and losing the water softener maybe contributed to it? The water softener board died, so it wasn't like fouled resin or anything..

 

[Reach4]

About 30' away there are 2 PVC pipes sticking out of the ground. One is one-foot above the ground, 3" / 4" in diameter and capped. I did not see a plate / plaque / label on this. I did not try to remove the cap - it looks like the glue-on type. There's another 1' 1/4" pipe 2 feet above ground, capped with a threaded plug. It looks like a sewer clean out, but it's really small. I didn't know if my well had any other places I could dump the shock solution into.

How about a photo?

One may be for priming, and would hook to the suction pipe. You cannot use that one.

I am hoping the other would connect through the well seal to the casing. I am thinking you would use that one for receiving vinegar and bleach and also for recirculation.

If you unscrew the threaded plug, and your pump still works, that is the one you would use for sanitizing.

If you end up cutting off the pipe with the cap, you might replace that with a ball valve for future easy access.

 

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[@Delaware]

How about a photo?

One may be for priming, and would hook to the suction pipe. You cannot use that one.

I am hoping the other would connect through the well seal to the casing. I am thinking you would use that one for receiving vinegar and bleach and also for recirculation.

If you unscrew the threaded plug, and your pump still works, that is the one you would use for sanitizing.

If you end up cutting off the pipe with the cap, you might replace that with a ball valve for future easy access.

I totally forgot that I had a pic of those pipes:

I forgot they were around the same diameter. They are are 1" 1/4 to 2". More like 1 1/2.

I am going there soon and was going to pull the plug on the the one pipe and see whats in there with my light and fish tape..

There is sewer service down there and I didn't locate the sewer clean out, but I do not think the threaded plug one is for the sewer.

I will also ask the neighbors if they have the same pipes in the back of their properties..

THANKS!

 

[Reach4]

If you have a drive point, I don't know how you would do it. Yes, ask the neighbors what is common in your area.

http://www.terrylove.com/forums/ind...izing-extra-attention-to-4-inch-casing.65845/ is my sanitizing write-up for a drilled well, but I don't think it could be adapted to a drive point. I am not a pro.

 

[@Delaware]

I have found some info when I searched using "sandpoint" and found some steps here:
http://health.mo.gov/atoz/ehog/pdf/Ch_6.7.pdf

Disinfecting a Driven or Sandpoint Well
1. The outside of a sand point or driven well and all associated equipment should be cleaned following the procedures for drilled wells as much as possible. Then:
2. Pump the well to waste until the water is clear. If possible, avoid pumping water into the pressure tank or the distribution system.
3. Pump water through the distribution system until the water from all of the taps run clear. If the pressure tank or water heaters contain dirty water, drain them first.
4. Turn off the pump and drain the pressure tank. Using a drain plug opening, pressure gage opening outlet pipe, or other opening into the pressure tank, add chlorine bleach or other chlorine into the pressure tank, so that the water in the tank contains approximately 50 ppm free chlorine. This will take approximately 3 (three) tablespoons, or 1 ½ ounces of bleach for each 10 (ten) gallon of tank capacity (a 50-gallon tank, for example, will require approximately ¾ (three fourths) of a cup of bleach.
5. Open all taps one-by-one until chlorinated water comes through each tap. If available, test the water with chlorine test papers. If there is between 10 and 50 ppm chlorine residual go to step 4; if there is less than 10 ppm, add more chlorine to the pressure tank and repeat this step. Let the water stand in the system for at least 4 hours, preferably 12 hours or overnight.
6. After at least 4 hours, flush the system by allowing water to run until the chlorine level is reduced to 5 ppm or less, or until no chlorine taste or odor is detected (if available, use a chlorine test kit).
7. Have the water tested for the presence of bacteria. Continue to disinfect water used for drinking or cooking using the emergency disinfection purposes until a satisfactory bacteriological test result is received. If the test results are unsatisfactory, repeat the disinfection process. The water should be tested again for bacteria after 2 weeks.
​

So - maybe no recirc step in this case? Still looking..

 

[Reach4]

It looks like you have a check valve at the pump, so maybe no check valve between the tee and the sand point. So in that case, suppose you fill a big container with water treated with bleach and vinegar. Strong solution. You drain that treated water into the tee, so that it goes down the pipe and into the nearby dirt.

For recirc, maybe connect a valve and hose to the tee. Have a container with some treated solution and the hose in there. Run the pump. Run a garden hose to the container, using the valve to keep the container from sucking dry.

I have never done anything like that, and I am just thinking as to what I might consider.

So what is the capped PVC?

 

[@Delaware]

I don't think there's a check valve going into the ground because I cut into that line and heard suction of the water dropping. I placed some unions on both sides of the check valve so I can get at it easy.

I think the capped PVC may be this:

So it's probably poly from the pitless and that's what you're seeing in the pic of the pump. That makes sense.. Why would they drive the well near the center of the lot? It would hinder building in the future if they did that..

 

[Reach4]

I am thinking about a procedure for sanitizing a sand point well and plumbing.
Sanitizing well point well (a preliminary procedure-- critique welcome)
This is not a polished procedure, and it is certainly something I have never done.

Presumptions:
Fitting is above tee which may be underground.
There is no check valve between fitting and well point.
"Semi-stiff tubing" in the drawing means tubing flexible enough to get routed as needed, but stiff enough to not collapse when the pump causes a vacuum. This could be PVC cut and glued up or a poly tubing.

Starting point:
Ball valve is closed.
Softener is in bypass.
Water heater turned to vacation mode or off
Drain water heater.

1. Fill tub about 2/3 full of water. Turn off hose.
2. Add vinegar to bring pH to about 5.0
3. Add bleach to bring chlorine to 200 ppm
4. open ball valve. Run more water. Control hose to not let tub run over.We hope water will be sucked from tub when pump turns on.
5. Let water circulate, and add more vinegar and bleach to restore levels.
6. Close the hose, turn off the pump. Hope the water in the tank gets sucked down.
7. Close ball valve when the liquid level has dropped close to the point where the siphon would be lost.
8. Let things sit for 1/2 hour.
9. Turn the pump back on, and run every faucet, shower, dishwasher fill, toilet until chlorine is detected.
10. Repeat steps 1 through 8 maybe 2 or 3 times.

Now for the closing actions.

1. Remove ball valve and restore plug.
2. Let things sit maybe overnight to let chlorine and vinegar do their thing.
3. Run hose to ditch until water flowing is down to 10 ppm chlorine.
4. Take softener out of bypass.
5. Run about 20 gallons of water through softener. Put softener back in bypass.
6. Connect hose to water heater drain and run to ditch. Let water flow until chlorine is down to about 3 to 5 ppm.
7. Take softener out of bypass. Drain faucets and toilets etc as best you can. Try to minimize chlorine to the septic.
8. Turn WH back on.

Not determined
How big does tub/tank need to be? Maybe use 33 gallon garbage can with can liners to keep water from getting contaminated by garbage can?

 

[@Delaware]

The dome cap is glued onto the PVC pipe. I didn't crack the plugged PVC to see what's going on.

I did a mini test of sanitizing by putting some bleach in my water filter holder (no charcoal) and ran that into the system for a bit. It knocked out the egg smell for at least a week.

I will be shocking the well itself soon.

So it appears that in my case that I just open the system up before the check valve and dump in a solution. I am going to go a little lighter because I don't have a casing diameter to go by for bleach PPM.

Thanks for all the help! I will check that plugged cap to see what it is sometime..