The delights of water wells

[alice]

I have a low producing water well, a downhole pump with pump saver that cycles the pump on and off, a 2500 gallon storage tank, a supplemental pump and pressure tank to provide flowing water to the house.  Between the well house and the residence, I have added a water softener.

Recently, I experienced bacteria growing in the hot water heater and hot water pipes in the house.  Joy.  Sulfur stink, black dots, slimey feel.

Turned off the breaker and the water supply line, drained the water heater, poured bleach and fresh water into the water heater.  Experienced the water/chlorine burping back through the supply line that I had open at the top of the water heater and have totally ruined a shirt and jeans.  

It's refilled now, and I'm going to let it sit over night.   I have the shower head supply open just a bit to let off chlorine gas.

What I fear is that the water in the storage tank is not clean enough, either.  I've treated it with chlorine, and I'll test it in a couple of weeks, after I use that on outside watering.  

Installing a UV treatment system may be next on my agenda.

[Melissa]

We used to add bleach directly to the well.

[Cabin Fever]

Disinfecting your well and plumbing with bleach will temporarily kill the natural sulfur and iron bacteria in your water supply. Consequently, many have to disinfect annually or so. One thing that might help is to keep your water heater at a higher temp which will kill the bacteria so they don't cause the unpleasant odors.

[solargeek]

Oct 21, 2020 0:27:48 GMT Cabin Fever said:

Disinfecting your well and plumbing with bleach will temporarily kill the natural sulfur and iron bacteria in your water supply. Consequently, many have to disinfect annually or so. One thing that might help is to keep your water heater at a higher temp which will kill the bacteria so they don't cause the unpleasant odors.

Yes to all of this. Grew up with well water, now have it at our place. Bleach is your friend. And hotter hot water. We keep ours at 130F. But we are electric hot water and provide our own power with solar so cost is not a concern as it might be at your place.
We do warn all guests re HOT water.

[Rustaholic]

I thank my Lord all the time and when it comes to our own well water I have been failing to even think about it. Our water here has always been so good so we refill those five or six gallon water bottles and take them to our water cooler at our church. Every time I have our water tested the people that do the testing are always saying they wish their water was as good as ours.

[alice]

A water testing person is coming today. We'll see what she says.

The water heater was pretty hot, but I have it turned OFF for now.

The fellow at the water well company was nice. He said to put 20 (twenty) gallons of bleach in the storage tank!! After 20 hours, use a pool cleaning device and a siphon hose to get gunk off the bottom.

He said that the iron and bacteria will naturally produce the sulfur smell. I think Cabin Fever is correct about annual treatment.

I don't know the cost of a UV system, but it's not happening right now. Property taxes are due soon, and the generator is a major expense.

[alice]

The water tester never showed up at all. Didn't call.

I purchased an over the counter test.

Here are the readings (from INSIDE the house, which is after the water softener):

Iron 0
Copper 0
Chlorine 0.25
Hardness 50
pH 7.5
Calcium Carbonate 150 ppm
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0

I just ordered an eColi/coliform bacteria test kit.

I already feel better about my water well.