Well Was Shocked, I have few questions

[gmrules]

I replaced my pump and did not know I should have shocked the well. anyway

As normal course of things I get the county to test my water every year so happened I tested it last week and it tested positive for Total Cloiform no E. Coli thank god. so over the last few days I shocked the well with Pool Shock
Calcium hypo chloride 9 oz per 100 ft I used 24 oz as my well is 225 ft

My question is I just finished flushing it andyou cannot avoid getting chlorinated water in the septic tank, I flushed the outside lines till they testes zero but as you I had to bring the treated water to all the facets to to flush them they will get in the tank

I was told to put dog food down the drain to put the bacteria back the chlorine is going to kill, if dog food is right how much do I need? its 1200 gal tank


is that right or do I have to buy the special Septic stuff?

I was up to between 100-200 PPM in my lines

Thanks George

[cacher_chick]

I don't have an answer, but your question has me curious-

If all the bleach/water is run out through an outside tap until none remains, the only remaining bleach is that which is in the branch piping. Much of this could be removed with a bucket.

Will the little bit that is not removed from some of the pipes really cause that much of a problem?

[speedbump]

Rid-x. You can buy it in practically any grocery store.
http://www.rid-x.com/

bob...

[Gary Slusser]

You should not run all the bleach into a septic but, you could and as soon as you use the bathroom, you add back the bacteria needed to restart the digestion process in a septic system.

Whoever told you to add dog food oughta be shot. Dog food does not contain bacteria needed to start a septic system!!!

Coliform, fecal Coliform and E-Coli etc. etc. come and go, so your pulling the pump etc. may or may not have caused this bacteria problem.

DO NOT ever again use swimming pool chlorine. It is not the same as chlorine used for potable water treatment.

[gmrules]

WOW I got this information and told to use that chlorine from the County health dept


It was plain Shock just Calcium Hydrochloride 65% free nothing else was in it

the dog food was from the same dept at county health dept

she said to me not to use ridx as thats what I said

[Gary Slusser]

As far as I can tell, she is giving bad info. But I know dog food doesn't have bacteria in it and pool shock isn't approved for potable water use to my knowledge; but then neither is bleach. Chlorox actually not to use it for water treatment.

[gmrules]

What would you suggest then gary to restock the bacteria??

she also said the county does not recommend Rid-x Why No clue

She was very nice

then again she said use dog food

[cacher_chick]

As far as I can tell, she is giving bad info. But I know dog food doesn't have bacteria in it and pool shock isn't approved for potable water use to my knowledge; but then neither is bleach. Chlorox actually not to use it for water treatment.

While there might be "more perfect" options, everything I have ever read said to use 5% sodium hypochlorite, which is standard household bleach.(unscented) Normally 50 ppm is adequate for shocking a well if it is left in the system for the recommended minimum of 8 hours.

What you do want to avoid is the shock "pucks" commonly sold for pools. Any solid bleach materials (granules for instance) should be blended in water to liquefy them before the solution is added to the well. If any solid particles are dropped into the well they will be likely to find a resting place on the pitless adapter, pump wire, torque arrestors, etc, where they will cause corrosive damage.

Unless Gary or anyone else can link us to a reputable source saying otherwise, survey says that household bleach is fine for shocking a well. Pool shock may not be, depending on the actual content of the product.

[Waterwelldude]

Since you have used the pool shock, it would be a good idea to wash down the well with fresh water, to wash off any granules that may have gotten stuck on the wire or any other places that may have stopped it from falling into the water.
I don't think you are going to get enough chlorine in there to do it much harm anyway.


The dog food thing is an old wives tale. Some of the older septic guys used to put dog food or a dead chicken in the sewer to help get the bacteria started.

Any of the over the counter enzymes or (sewer bugs) to help start a septic system is a waste of money.
A septic will start it's process on it's own.
We would tell customers, that brought up the dog food or anything else for starting the system, If it makes you feel more at ease, toss it in there.


Travis

[gmrules]

I pre diluted the shock it was all liquid when I poured it in I used 5 gallons of Hot water to mix it was no real granules left.

she wanted me to super chlorinate , 100-200 PPM preferred 200, she gave me some litmus type paper and I had 200 ppm pretty much all outlets.

She wanted it to stink of chlorine, and then after the verified amount at each outlet let stand fo 24 hours.

I let mine stand 36 or so then flushed it. She said it would take days to flush I was testing clear in like 3-4 hours cannot recall.

I used my pool test kit. I have CSV 1-60 in front of my tank not in well so I opened the boiler drain at the well head took some time for the pump to kick in and get good flow from well head once I got that I it run 1 hour then I connected 3/4 hose to the boiler drain on my Tank tell after the CSV and let it run. I ran like this till tested no chlorine at the well head and the tank tee


then I opened the outside hoses let them run clear as the one on the right side of my house is the end of the main trunk so once it was clear all the main line would be


they said the Clorox was not strong enough to get the 200 PPM needed to SUPER chlorinate the system.

Is this last bit she told me right, I should still consider the house as infected till after we retest, she said to retest the house 1 week after the chlorine is our.

Says I should boil the water before drinking and using it to wash food.

One last question, How would I know if I have an issue in my tank, meaning I killed all the bacteria and now its not eating the waster as it should?

[jeremytl]

strong argument for the calcium hypochlorite as opposed to household bleach:


http://www.survivaltopics.com/surviv...sinfect-water/

and others:

http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/eng/water/...gfactsheet.htm

http://www.boquetriver.org/chlorine.html

http://wellwater.oregonstate.edu/shock


http://www.water-research.net/shockw...tion.htm#HOWTO

[Gary Slusser]

AFAIK, there is only one form of chlorine that is FDA approved for use in potable water. That is in pellet form. I and most all water treatment dealers sell it under one brand name or others.

Government agencies, universities etc. (that basically embellish and then repeat what was said by someone else 25 years ago) and well drillers, pump guys and some unknowing water treatment dealers and neighbors etc., etc., hear chlorine and use or tell people to use, whatever they want to (and more is better).

Swimming pool chlorine has many inhibitors in it and I thought that was what had been used. I am not familiar with Shock chlorine for a pool.

Chlorine requires a minimum of 20 minutes contact time to kill bacteria.

Here we have instructions running from 8 hours to 24 hours.... and someone extending that to 36 hours!

ALL with no thought of the damage that chlorine can cause metals, concrete, power cable, pumps, well casing or the water quality in the recovery area of the well. Hell if X is good *** should be better.

Shocking a well rarely cures or prevents a Coliform bacteria problem. Feel good type shocking gets you to feel good that for a few bucks worth of chlorine you can escape a problem. Test for Coliform once a month for a year and see what results you get. And recall that a Colifrom test is a gauge of the biological water quality and because there was no E-Coli found doesn't mean you are home free. There are many harmful types of bacteria found in groundwater other than E-Coli.

I say that after many years of testing and remediating many hundreds of wells under PA DEP, FHA and VA supervision.

Restarting a septic is very simple, do what anyone does to start a new septic, simply use the toilet.

[cacher_chick]

The first link you posted was the only one that recommended calcium hypochlorate, and it was not referencing shocking a well.

All of the other links specify sodium hypochlorite, which is common household bleach.

strong argument for the calcium hypochlorite as opposed to household bleach:


http://www.survivaltopics.com/surviv...sinfect-water/

and others:

http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/eng/water/...gfactsheet.htm

http://www.boquetriver.org/chlorine.html

http://wellwater.oregonstate.edu/shock


http://www.water-research.net/shockw...tion.htm#HOWTO

[speedbump]

I agree, bleach degrades over time. That's why folks in my area who buy swimming pool bleach think they are getting ahead of the game with the 10% pool chlorine. They don't realize that this bleach is sitting in large plastic tanks outside in the hot sun degrading to something less than grocery store household bleach in a short time. The pool bleach like all the pool powders and pucks have stabilizers and other sorts of non potable chemicals in them. They are Not for drinking water. There is nothing wrong with using pool shock for disinfecting wells as long as it's all flushed out later. The way you get it all into the water is by pouring 5 gallon buckets of water down the well after the bleach. Your local health dept won't tell you that either.

The reason I like to leave bleach in the well as long as possible is to be sure to get all the little guys that may be hiding behind something that takes the bleach a while to get through. Just a little more prevention.

I too have treated a lot of wells that had sat for a long time and came back with issues. I'm sucessful 98% of the time. Now and then a casing will have a hole in it letting in contaminated water and all the bleach in the world won't keep the bacteria out for more than a few days.

There are no harmful bacteria in any well water that comes from a deep source in my area. Only the very shallow wells have the contamination problem and I shy away from them for this reason.

bob...

[Gary Slusser]

Yeah flat Fl has a geology that is different than most of the rest of the country but I hear they are having more problems with bacteria contamination than there used to be. Mostly because of the honeycomb limestone underlying most of the 'boot' of FL.

My record is a new 605' well in the hills/mountains of PA with their multiple folded layers of various types of rock. From 60-80% of wells found to have Coliform bacteria and then "shocked" were retested within a week or two and found to be recontaminated. That type geology is more common around the country than Fl's. MN, WI and MI have recently found wide spread bacteria contamination after decades of priding themselves on their ability to prevent it with their tight well construction regulations.