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Post by feather on Apr 30, 2018 20:07:28 GMT
Well, well, well. Pun intended. We shocked our well, and all is well. Preparation:Take showers, bring buckets of water into the kitchen and bathrooms. Turn off the water to the water heater. Turn off the breaker to the water heater. Took the cover off the well. Moved the wires out of the way so they don't get wet. mix 1/2 gallon bleach with water in a 5 gallon bucket. pour down the well casing. repeat this 4-6 times. rinse the well casing of the bleach solution with at least 10 gallons of water from the hose. put the well cover back on. Run water through every sink and toilet until I smelled bleach, then turn it off. Don't use water for 24 hours. The very next day. turn on the water to the water heater and let it fill if it wasn't topped off. Turn on the breaker to the water heater. Don't drink the water until the bleach smell is gone. Take a shower, you stink. Our water smells pretty nice right now. Yippee.
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Post by Cabin Fever on Apr 30, 2018 20:22:28 GMT
When I shock the well, I let the water heater completely fill up with the bleach water for the 24-hour period. The water heater can harbor sulfur bacteria (depending on the temp setting of the heater). I want to make sure the sulfur bacteria are killed.
Also, if you have one, make sure your ice maker is running during the 24 hour treatment period (but don't use the ice). This will help disinfect the line to the ice maker.
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Post by Cabin Fever on Apr 30, 2018 20:24:27 GMT
When you say: mix 1/2 gallon bleach with water in a 5 gallon bucket. pour down the well casing. repeat this 4-6 times. You're not recommending using 1/2 gallon of bleach 4 to 6 times (2 to 3 gallons) are you? That is way too much bleach. At least if would be for our well.
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Post by feather on Apr 30, 2018 20:29:39 GMT
Yes for our well it was recommended by the people that drilled the well to use 2-3 gallons. I think the amount is dependent on the size and depth of the well. I noticed that the bleach smell, after 24 hours went into the water heater tank, and so it is bleached too--but that wasn't our intention. I took a shower and it smelled like I was showering at a public pool. Ice maker? No we have ice made by me. Dishes washed by me.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2018 20:30:10 GMT
Cabin Fever, 81feet down Water 47 feet down Does those facts impact amount of water Tons of iron bacteria
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Post by Cabin Fever on Apr 30, 2018 21:10:59 GMT
Cabin Fever , 81feet down Water 47 feet down Does those facts impact amount of water Tons of iron bacteria The table below is from our State of Minnesota Health Dept. You have 34 feet of water in your well casing. So according to the table, you would need 2 to 3 cups of bleach depending on the diameter of your well casing. (see: www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/wells/waterquality/disinfection.pdf)
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Post by Cabin Fever on Apr 30, 2018 21:57:58 GMT
I recommend that people shock there well before getting the water tested. If you haven't shocked your well in a few years, it's almost for sure that your water test is going to be positive for coliform. In other words, it is very common to have coliform bacteria in well water. A positive test is not necessarily an indication of contamination. Coliform bacteria are found in natural (uncontaminated) soil and groundwater.
So, if you disinfect your well and your household plumbing system and then your water test comes up positive for coliform, then you might have a problem. You will want to have a second test done for fecal coliform and escherichia coliform.
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Post by feather on Apr 30, 2018 21:59:15 GMT
The problem is the sulfur (egg) smell. All our neighbors and us too, start with a good smelling water that tests fine and after a few years it goes sulfur on us. Our well took longer than the neighbors to get that way. We drink our water. So we shock it to kill the iron bacteria. Will we get it tested? We are definitely thinking about it this time.
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Post by Cabin Fever on Apr 30, 2018 22:12:48 GMT
feather , WHY did you shock your well? Did you do testing first? What were your test results that indicated the SHOCKING? Now that the procedure is completed, do you need to do a follow up test? Perhaps this State of Minnesota Health Dept factsheet explains what I was alluding to above better: www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/water/factsheet/com/coliform.pdf
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Post by Cabin Fever on Apr 30, 2018 22:16:57 GMT
The problem is the sulfur (egg) smell. All our neighbors and us too, start with a good smelling water that tests fine and after a few years it goes sulfur on us. Our well took longer than the neighbors to get that way. We drink our water. So we shock it to kill the iron bacteria. Will we get it tested? We are definitely thinking about it this time. The iron and sulfur bacteria usually live in the hot water pipes of your household plumbing. While these bacteria and the odor they create are harmless, many people want them gone. When we set our hot water heater to a higher temp, the heat is sufficient to kill them off. Of course in warmer climates, these bacteria build up in both the hot and cold water plumbing.
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Post by tenbusybees on Apr 30, 2018 22:48:12 GMT
We are doing ours very soon. Very soon. Pewwwww!
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Post by feather on Apr 30, 2018 23:55:41 GMT
Well depth is 180 feet. Is it possible to determine water depth without hiring a professional? The plumbing guy we called had a record of all our past plumbing adventures. The well driller/servicer also has records of our well and service calls of it. EDIT: the well cover has the name of the well driller/servicer on it. The tank in the basement that brings the water up from the well, also has a sticker with their name.
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2018 3:50:02 GMT
Thanks...6inch dia so 3 cups I had forgotten and got 2gallons for the job.
Before I do the job I am storing fresh filter water (Berkley) to cover us for 48 hours to let it stay in the pipe ect.for 24hours. Then flushing out the bleach.
Goats will be bless with filtered water...two more days and I will have enough water to do the job completly.
The iron bacteria smells like eggs. Water left standing gets an oil sheen. And all clothing for the family must be dark or rust colored!
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Post by woolybear on May 1, 2018 16:03:59 GMT
The iron bacteria smells like eggs. Water left standing gets an oil sheen. And all clothing for the family must be dark or rust colored! This is why we had to get a water softener that also removed iron. Water was turning everything red/brown. Plus when we had to put in a water heater some years ago I kept complaining about a dead smell in the water. I thought for sure a mouse had gotten into the heater and was decomposing. Finally figured out it was the magnesium rod that was inside the heater. Once it was removed the dead smell was gone. When we had to replace the water heater the year before I triple checked DH that the rod was removed. Water that is drawn from the outside spigot doesn't go thru the softener. If it sits in a bucket more than a day it has alot of brown clumps in the bottom of the bucket. We have shale ground, my parents house that is 1 mile up the road from us is on limestone. Their water had calcium, was hard water and the best tasting water I ever drank.
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Post by feather on May 1, 2018 16:10:40 GMT
We also have a water softener, which helps, but it won't stop all the problems with rust. It does minimize the rust problem.
If you talk with water softener and water filter people, they will sell you an iron filter, which was really expensive. We've never been able to afford that.
Over the long haul it does affect clothing and hair.
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Post by feather on May 9, 2018 20:39:35 GMT
Our well water is beautiful. Toilets and sinks and tub, staying cleaner and prettier. Water smells good so when someone takes a shower it still smells good with all that humidity.
Dh has silver/white hair and his longer hair was getting discolored from the water. I heard a tip that if you make a solution of citric acid and water, and soak discolored hair in it, it will clean it up. It did! Looks great. Citric acid is available at supermarkets in the canning supplies, craft stores, amazon.
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Post by ceresone on Jul 12, 2018 17:56:01 GMT
when the well man pulled our pipes to find a leak, they put in a new pump while he was at it. he used bleach tablets, instead of liquid. our well is 700' with over 400' of standing water. he says this is the best well he has ever drilled. extremely good tasting ice cold water
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Post by feather on Jul 12, 2018 19:38:40 GMT
We re-shocked the well in June when we started getting some sulfur smell. We let the shock into the hot water system this time. We'll be shocking it again in July. The smell is not horrible but we'd like to see some improvement over a longer time.
We were buying drinking/cooking water but we'll be getting it at a free artesian spring from now on, up the road 5 miles.
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