Well sanitize

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Brett Burkhart

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Hey, new to this forum. So I had water inspection on my house and the water had coliform bacteria in it, so the county told us to sanitize the well and sent us instructions on how to do so I dropped a gallon of bleach done into it. Now I'm trying to get all of the chlorine out of it and have been running water out of the well off and on for a few days now and I've tested the water and the levels of chlorine fluctuate does anyone know why this is happening and how I can fix it thanks
 

Reach4

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Run water out to the ditch while simultaneously flowing water into the top of the well casing. Use a hose wye if you don't have two hose bibs to use. The point of that flow into the top is to get the chlorine out that is above the pump.

What level of residual chlorine are you detecting? City water is allowed to have up to 4 ppm residual. So if you are showing 2 ppm, no need to hurry things along.

If you want to do a more rigorous sanitizing some day, https://terrylove.com/forums/index....izing-extra-attention-to-4-inch-casing.65845/ is my writeup.
 

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Run water out to the ditch while simultaneously flowing water into the top of the well casing. Use a hose wye if you don't have two hose bibs to use. The point of that flow into the top is to get the chlorine out that is above the pump.

What level of residual chlorine are you detecting? City water is allowed to have up to 4 ppm residual. So if you are showing 2 ppm, no need to hurry things along.

If you want to do a more rigorous sanitizing some day, https://terrylove.com/forums/index....izing-extra-attention-to-4-inch-casing.65845/ is my writeup.
 

Brett Burkhart

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It went from a 2 ppm yesterday to probably a 5 and now it's at a 3 today. How long should I run the water for? And were trying to speed it up because the county won't retest it for bacteria until all the chlorine is gone. Also in your opinion is 1 gal of bleach too much?
 

Reach4

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It went from a 2 ppm yesterday to probably a 5 and now it's at a 3 today. How long should I run the water for? And were trying to speed it up because the county won't retest it for bacteria until all the chlorine is gone. Also in your opinion is 1 gal of bleach to much?
Amount depends on the well. I tend toward overkill. And as I write in my writeup, I think pH is important for killing effect for a given amount of chlorine.

But short answer is I used 3 gallons of bleach and 3 gallons of vinegar, all said and done IIRC. I was doing my well and plumbing, and again, I was into overkill. I started with a gallon. Used chlorine test strips, and then I added more bleach. I read pH after a lot of recirculating, and added more vinegar. Repeat. My well is 4-inch bottom feeding.

I have to think that recirculating into the top of the well while also sending water to the ditch is going to be important to get your chlorine level down. You want to wash out chlorine that is above the pump as well as chlorine below the pump.

With DIY coliform tests, the positive result is due to wrong sampling techniques, and getting the sample contaminated. I presume you did not do your own test.

So short answer is 1 gallon is not too much, but your procedure is too simple. Did you run chlorinated water through the hose bib that they use to sample? In sanitizing, you want all of your faucets to have sanitizing levels. But if you are focused on passing a test, at least make sure you ran treatment levels through the faucet that will be used for sampling.

So to clear the chlorine, run for hours while recirculating. Maybe overnight. Go full blast into the top of the casing and out to the ditch simultaneously for hours. You can use a clamp or two on a step ladder to direct a hose into the top of the casing for recirculation. Go outside every hour or so, and stick a test strip into the recirculating stream to see how you are doing.

If you are worried about running the well dry, the recirculating water will not run the well dry. The water to the ditch could be throttled if running dry is a concern.
 
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Brett Burkhart

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Amount depends on the well. I tend toward overkill. And as I write in my writeup, I think pH is important for killing effect for a given amount of chlorine.

But short answer is I used 3 gallons of bleach and 3 gallons of vinegar, all said and done IIRC. I was doing my well and plumbing, and again, I was into overkill. I started with a gallon. Used chlorine test strips, and then I added more bleach. I read pH after a lot of recirculating, and added more vinegar. Repeat. My well is 4-inch bottom feeding.

I have to think that recirculating into the top of the well while also sending water to the ditch is going to be important to get your chlorine level down. You want to wash out chlorine that is above the pump as well as chlorine below the pump.

With DIY coliform tests, the positive result is due to wrong sampling techniques, and getting the sample contaminated. I presume you did not do your own test.

So short answer is 1 gallon is not too much, but your procedure is too simple. Did you run chlorinated water through the hose bib that they use to sample? In sanitizing, you want all of your faucets to have sanitizing levels. But if you are focused on passing a test, at least make sure you ran treatment levels through the faucet that will be used for sampling.

So to clear the chlorine, run for hours while recirculating. Maybe overnight. Go full blast into the top of the casing and out to the ditch simultaneously for hours. You can use a clamp or two on a step ladder to direct a hose into the top of the casing for recirculation. Go outside every hour or so, and stick a test strip into the recirculating stream to see how you are doing.

If you are worried about running the well dry, the recirculating water will not run the well dry. The water to the ditch could be throttled if running dry is a concern.
 

Brett Burkhart

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Ok ill try that. A company tested it the first time and it was positive and when I tested it was negative
 
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