various well problems

[MikeNC]

All,
I'm just looking for any common experience or insight from you all with some well issues. I've been on wells before, but never had a single problem. By the way we're drinking bottled water until I get this all sorted out.

I have a new well that was shocked after drilling it, about 6 mos ago, and it passed the county ecoli test. We got 30 gals per minute! Neighbors well, at a similar depth about 200 yards away, therefore probably same aquafer, is pure as can be, so we expect the same. Life is good.

The vitals: 250 feet deep, 6 inch diameter, steel casing down to bedrock at 50 ft, PVC casing the rest of the way, static water level at 45 feet. 30 gal/min. I estimate about 300 gallons of capacity in the well. This is all very typical for our area, the flow rate might be a little better than average (south west of Raleigh, NC).

Problem #1: We noticed a sulfer smell, equally strong in hot and cold water. After doing research, guessed that it was due to "iron bacteria", and that another chlorine shock was called for.

So I shocked it this weekend, using 2 gallons of 6% bleach. I recirculated the water back down the casing for several hrs, ran all the spigots in the house, and let it set overnight.

Now, to purge the chlorine. Next night I hooked up a hose at the well head, and ran it for 4 hours. I estimate that I'm getting about 5 gal/minute out of the hose, so I should have refreshed the whole well about 4 times. Also purged the hot water tank, and pressure tank.

Problem #2: the water STILL reeks of chlorine

Next night, run the hose at the well head, but ALSO run a hose out of a house spigot, now I'm flushing maybe 8+ gallons/ minute. Do this for another 4 hours.

Problem #3: The water still reeks of chlorine, AND there is some serious sandy sediment coming up. We've had minor sediment all along, but now the waters brown. No indication that the well is dry, or the pump is above water.

Any ideas? Keep flushing? It's almost time to call in the expert$, but I'm trying to avoid it.

And I almost forgot the unrelated Problem #4: Had the county run additional water tests for pesticides, and petrolium, and organics. All is negative, except for 2 organics. "tetrahydrafuran" @ 4 ug/liter and "MEK" @ 8 ug/liter. It seems that these are reasonably small amounts, AND there happen to be the primary ingrediants of PVC cleaner, and cement. So I assume these are due to the PVC casing, or the PVC pipe from the well head to the house. I haven't been able to get any informed answers locally. Anyone think this is the cause? or am I on the wrong track?

So now I have sandy water that smells like chlorine. I hope the sulpher smell is gone at least...

Any ideas are appeciated!
Mike

[Phred]

Mike,

How much chlorine did you add?
That may be part of the problem and may require a lot of flushing if you added a lot.

The sulfur smell is like roten eggs?
If so its hydrogen sulfide.
Chlroine will oxidize this and percipitate out sulfur. The sulfur particles might be the source of the brown color in your water due to the chlorine you added?

I have a minor hydrogen sulfide problem and I am about to add a well top chlorinator. This will likely solve my problem and maybe yours as well.
Bad news is its not free.
http://www.awqinc.com/sentry.html
http://www.osmo.com/products/Page319.htm

Fred

[Alan_L_Texas]

As for the sulfur, if you have a bladder tank you might think of adding a regular galvanized tank where the water makes contact with air. This should help to release the sulfur into the air before it gets into your house.

As for the sand, hard pumping might have cause the sands to shift, and some smaller stuff got inside your screen. Hopefully this will clear up over time.

I had a problem with cloudiness - the brown water you describe, but running it would always clear it up. This was very small particles that take a 1 micron filter to take out. After 2 years, I haven't seen any cloudiness now in about 6 months.

I don't know anything about chlorine, as my well has never had any put in it.

[MikeNC]

Thanks for the answers, I haven't sat down at the computer this week, so I'm just getting back to this thread.

I've had some luck. Our water doesn't stink of sulfur OR chlorine, and we can take a shower without getting dirtier than when we started.

I managed to get a Water Guy to come out who was knowledable, AND didn't try to sell me expensive stuff I didn't need. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

I was under the mistaken impression that my sulfer smell came from "iron bacteria" and that chlorine would help kill it (several extenion services mentioned this). Like Fred said already, the Water Guy told me the chlorine was actually oxydizing the sulfur, not killing any bacteria. And now that the chlorine smell has cleared up, the sulfur smell is gone.

Here's what I learned:
- chlorine works like a charm to remove the sulfur smell.
- 2 gallons of bleach in a 6" 250 ft well is TOO MUCH. I finally flushed it, but it wasn't easy.
- Water Guy installed a $50 (including labor) sand filter that works great. Replacement filters are $3. No more sand problems, and I can probably rinse the filter a couple times.
- If the sulfur comes back, Water Guy can install a $50, simple, in-line aerator, or I can chlorinate again.
- Water Guy thinks the VOCs are from the PVC pipes, so I may run the test again in a year and make sure they went down.

I'm releived to have a cheap fix. Now all I have to do is go around the house a clean all the faucet screens one last time...

Mike

[Phred]

Mike,

Glad it worked out for you.
I hope the smell does not come back.

Happy new year.

Fred