Shocking a well.

[Perry]

Well (pardon the pun) I did something today that was a first for me. Ever since I had the dug well connected to the trailer all I could think about was the water that had been sitting in that well for over 4 years without being used. I will be taking a sample for testing to make sure it is good for washing stuff in the honey house. I thought it would be a good idea to "flush" out the well and read up a bit on it. Turns out they recommend "shocking" a well that has unacceptable levels of bacteria etc. in it. While I was pretty sure the well was good I still wanted to give it a "shock" to improve the test results and eliminate any stagnation.

I used a submersible pump with a 2" output and lowered the pump into the well and pumped as much water out as I could. The well is about 7 crocks deep and there was about 15 feet of water so it took a bit. I never did get right to the bottom. I then poured 1 gallon of bleach into the well and will let it fill back up and sit for 12 hours at which point tomorrow I will pump it out again. Then just run the water through all the lines (all new anyway) and after 10 days I will take my sample to the hospital to be tested.

Anyone ever heard of shocking a well before?

[Les]

Did it to our home well years ago.  Took awhile for the chlorine smell to clear but we had no problems.

[iddee]

Quite common in shallow wells."less than 150 feet"
I use pool shocker from wal-mart.

[G3farms]

how deep is a crock?

yes have heard of it, never done it.

[Lburou]

I worked on a water well rig in high school.  We didn't shock our wells, but did let them pump for a few days before testing the water.    It sounds like you should have a good test when it is time Perry. 

P.S.  If your well has been idle for the four years since it was drilled and cased, it seems to me it would be a good thing to do a lot of pumping to establish good water flow.  Wells sometimes get clogged with disuse.  If you couldn't pump it all the way down today, you are probably in good shape. 

[brooksbeefarm]

My well is 340 ft. deep and i shocked it a few years ago with some chlorine tablets my well man gave me. My closes neighbor is a quarter mile away but i test mine every 3 to 4 years or when we have a lot of rain. My well feeds the Barn and two stock tanks, it must have a good water source because i've forgot to turn itoff after filling stock tanks in the barn and it ran for at least 10 hrs and kept the cattle supplied with water and never slowed down? I think they recommend having it tested every 5 years. Jack

[Perry]

The crocks are usually 36" wide and 30 to 36" deep which is standard. I will be going out today to pump out the water and bleach today and then just run water off and on for a few days and then test.

[lazy shooter]

The crocks are usually 36" wide and 30 to 36" deep which is standard. I will be going out today to pump out the water and bleach today and then just run water off and on for a few days and then test.

That sounds like a good plan Perry.  Lee is correct in that when wells are not produced for years, solids in the well water and in the formation migrate into the permeable channels and to some extent "plug" the formation.  It will become a non issue as you use the well more and more. 

My home well is an old irrigation well.  It hadn't been used in years.  I had a well service company use a large air compressor, powered from a generator to blow out 5,000 gallons of water per hour for four hours.  The well was then bleached and the submergible pump was installed.  I let the bleach sit in the well over night and then pumped another 1,000 gallons out on the ground.  It was probably over-kill, but I had the time and my wife had the money.

Do not let anything leak on the ground within a 20 foot radius of your well bore.  Chemicals can leach into the formation and follow the casing (crocks) to your water supply over a long period of time.

lazy

lazy

[Perry]

Some good tips.
I was out today and pumped everything in the crocks out that I could. The well would only empty so far and then I guess I was below the water table as what was coming in started to keep up to what the pump was pushing out. When we shut off the pump and pulled it out it still sounded like something was running in the well, and the only thing we could think of was the sound of water flowing back in.
I will leave it for a week, running some water through the taps when I am out there, and then test it at that time.