Getting my well shocked

[my2rotties]

I already have a water softener, and it is not helping. The smell is not too bad, but I honestly thought I must have some really bad BO when I hit the shower I am just concerned it might effect the water that goes into the tank. I am getting a new RO/DI system just to make sure. The smell is only in the hot water, not the cold water.

Originally Posted by asmodeus

Diana i had the same problem before when I lived in the country down east. Its the water tables letting thespring run off in ande flooding too. trust me i know the smell. what i did was run a water softner for the whole house only during the spring. it went away.

[Slick Fork]

All shocking a well is, is chlorinating it. You can do this very easily yourself with a 5 gallon bucket and the chlorine you get for swimming pools. Mix a strong concentration in the bucket and pour it down the well. Let the well sit for a day or two without using any water, obviously this works best if leaving for a weekend. What I do as well is run some water through the house until I can smell a little chlorine in each tap to disinfect the pipes.

Once a day or two has passed, use a garden hose to drain the chlorinated water onto the lawn as you don't want it ending up in the septic tank. Not the end of the world if it ends up in there though, I've actually dumped "Prime" into the sink to de-chlorinate the water ending up in the septic system. Don't know if it did anything but I felt better about it.

[my2rotties]

Excellent info... I guess I should wait until the snow melts and to get my new RO/DI unit. How long will the chlorine stay in the system for? It seems like an easy fix but I better start researching a little bit about it...

Originally Posted by Slick Fork

All shocking a well is, is chlorinating it. You can do this very easily yourself with a 5 gallon bucket and the chlorine you get for swimming pools. Mix a strong concentration in the bucket and pour it down the well. Let the well sit for a day or two without using any water, obviously this works best if leaving for a weekend. What I do as well is run some water through the house until I can smell a little chlorine in each tap to disinfect the pipes.

Once a day or two has passed, use a garden hose to drain the chlorinated water onto the lawn as you don't want it ending up in the septic tank. Not the end of the world if it ends up in there though, I've actually dumped "Prime" into the sink to de-chlorinate the water ending up in the septic system. Don't know if it did anything but I felt better about it.

[Funky_Fish14]

The smell might only be in the hot water because heat causes separation of molecules/expansion of gasses and makes it more noticeable?

How deep is your well?

+ Do not pour saltwater into septic tanks.

[my2rotties]

Uh oh, why can't I put the tank water into the septic system? I guess I had better find a way to plumb it out into the woods from the sump for water changes. I had thought of this but we did the build during the winter, and had no other option due to ice and snow.

What is causing the smell in the water and is it bad for consumption?

I have no idea of how deep the well is, we bought the house like this... we had the water within the well checked for home inspection but the report does not mention the depth of the well. Is there any way to find out on my own, aside of falling down into it?

Originally Posted by Funky_Fish14

The smell might only be in the hot water because heat causes separation of molecules/expansion of gasses and makes it more noticeable?

How deep is your well?

+ Do not pour saltwater into septic tanks.

[es355lucille]

Diana we shocked our wells (my Moms and ours) back in Virden, MB as we both lived on acreages. All we did was take a 5 gallon pail and fill it half or three quarters full of water. (do this after supper when you are done using the water in the house)
Then add 1 cup of "chlorine product" and toss it down the well. It takes very little bleach to kill bacteria. Let the well sit overnight and then do some laundry or something to use up some water the next day. Or run the hose outside, whatever you like. We never had any problems with it going to the septic field. The idea is not to kill the bacteria in the septic field (as bugs are our friends out there!! LOL).....but we never noticed a difference.....we always ran it to the field with no ill effects.

We had a few years were we would do this now and again after the run off.

Brad

[my2rotties]

So as in choline product, just bleach? Did the smell go away? That sounds really easy and our neighbors paid someone $300 to do it last year for them... I need to do this for a living... there is good money to be had!!!

Originally Posted by es355lucille

Diana we shocked our wells (my Moms and ours) back in Virden, MB as we both lived on acreages. All we did was take a 5 gallon pail and fill it half or three quarters full of water. (do this after supper when you are done using the water in the house)
Then add 1 cup of "chlorine product" and toss it down the well. It takes very little bleach to kill bacteria. Let the well sit overnight and then do some laundry or something to use up some water the next day. Or run the hose outside, whatever you like. We never had any problems with it going to the septic field. The idea is not to kill the bacteria in the septic field (as bugs are our friends out there!! LOL).....but we never noticed a difference.....we always ran it to the field with no ill effects.

We had a few years were we would do this now and again after the run off.

Brad

[MitchM]

Diana,

These are the guidelines I use for shocking our well:

http://www.water-research.net/shockwelldisinfection.htm

Plus we use a carbon cartridge in our whole house filter.

Also, follow up with Seashell (above) on getting that Waterwells for Life book.


Mitch

[SeaShell]

Water wells need to have regular maintenance. I work for Alberta Environment, and if you want to send me your mailing address in a PM, I'll send you a Waterwells for Life book.

Take a look in the back of the tank on one of your toilets. It should be clean. If there is a black slime, you have a bacteria problem.

Also, if only your hot water is smelling, you may have to clean your hot water tank. Bacteria can grow in them as well.

You may also receive information on shocking your well from your local Health authority.

[Ian]

If you don't want to use bleach pop into a hot tub store and get some Lithium shock for hot tubs, this will work and is not to costly and its easy to store leftovers for the next time. good luck