Shock Disinfecting a well

So my water is tinted black coming from my well at my house. I am reading a few things online to see if i can figure out a solution rather than paying someone a lot of money to do something I may be able to do myself.

It seems like the first thing that is usually done is Shock disinfecting the well with chlorine. If anyone has any different suggestions I will definitely take them.

If not I may try to do this myself but I am not quite understanding the procedure. My well looks very much like this

So do i understand correctly that I would introduce a chlorine solution into this pipe?
Is there a way to find out how deep it is so i can accurately calculate the amount of bleach to mix?
If I am correct so far, I would run a hose into this after introducing the chlorine to circulate the water?

Wells are new to me, I have always been on city water so I am hoping this is something i can do to save myself a service call.

Thank you in advance!

 

Yikes...I think you might need a pro to look at that. My concern would be the source and location of the contamination. My understanding of wells is that they pull from an aquifer deep in the ground. It is likely that you and your neighbors (even ones miles away) share the same water source to some extent. I would think if you dumped chlorine in there - one it may be ineffective based on the volume in the aquifer, and two it would be temporary - ie...as new water flows in....it flows out and then you have the same problem again. I could see chlorine working in a closed system - like a cistern- but in a well like you have...not so sure. That being said...I live in GA, and have city water so I don't have any first hand experience with this. Are you sure the water in the well is the problem? Could it be farther upstream in your house (bad water filter/softener, etc?).

 

Yikes...I think you might need a pro to look at that. My concern would be the source and location of the contamination. My understanding of wells is that they pull from an aquifer deep in the ground. It is likely that you and your neighbors (even ones miles away) share the same water source to some extent. I would think if you dumped chlorine in there - one it may be ineffective based on the volume in the aquifer, and two it would be temporary - ie...as new water flows in....it flows out and then you have the same problem again. I could see chlorine working in a closed system - like a cistern- but in a well like you have...not so sure. That being said...I live in GA, and have city water so I don't have any first hand experience with this. Are you sure the water in the well is the problem? Could it be farther upstream in your house (bad water filter/softener, etc?).

 

Tough one. You may want to PM AZ and see if he can give you some guidance.
You could also call around and get quotes and ask those probing questions on what they do.

 

What you have pictured is called a pitless adapter. The well, pump and piping are below ground and this is just an access point for the wiring to the pump.
I would not attempt to disinfect the well without knowing more about it such as the static water level in the well, the drilled depth, the inside diameter of the well casing, the pump setting or depth, the well pumping rate, the well drop pipe size and so on. These numbers would give you the total volume of water inside the well casing so you can determine the amount of chlorine it would take to properly disinfect the well, casing and pump without adding too much and potentially causing damage. Do you have any idea if what you are seeing is manganese, sulfides, sulfate reducing bacteria, iron bacteria or?

I think you need more information before proceeding. My suggestion would be to contact the well driller or pump company that has historically serviced the well and pump as they will be most familiar with local water quality and subsurface geology and microbiology.

If you do not already have one, I would have a water quality analysis done on the well. The cost is not really that much and it will tell you a lot. Here is one example of a lab I use locally here in AZ and you should be able to find a testing lab close to you. Look at the different packages they offer and let the lab suggest added tests after you explain your issues to them. I recommend having this done at least every 5 years at a minimum if not more often
http://www.legend-group.com/services/homeowners/privatewells

 

I worked for a shallow well drilling company in GA a few years ago. I have never seen black water except for right after a well has been drilled and is being flushed for the first time. It could be a result of it being an old well, as they can eventually build up a black sulfate eating bacterial layer on the well screen, but usually there is not enough to make the water black. When we drilled a well we would just pour bleach down the pipe and let it sit overnight. Then we came back and ran the well for about 15-20 minutes, while letting all that bleach water flush out onto the ground. This was our procedure for cleaning a new well. The alternative method we used when cleaning an old well was more often using muriatic acid (HCl). We would pour about 1/2-1 gallon depending on depth and water table (more water volume in pipe = more acid). Add a hose and pump fresh water for about 5 minutes to help it mix and flush threw the screen to fully clean it. We then let it sit for a day, come back and flush the same as with bleach but for about 30 minutes.

The big thing is that this is all for a shallow well. Deep wells generally go by the same procedure, but more chemical because deep wells usually have more well pipe water volume. Also with deep wells the flush out times are much longer for the same reason. My friend and I just switched from a shallow to deep well for our culture tanks and every treatment we did to the deep well we flushed it for close to 24 hrs constant running. Like everyone else said though, check with the people who drilled the well to get the specs on it first. Then from there it should be pretty simple to figure out volumes of chemicals. In generally the chance of hurting anything with bleach is low, with muriatic the risk is higher, but only if you add way to much.