A gallon of bleach to clean my well?

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Bigbeavk

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I'm going to start brewing at home and since I'm on a well I've heard it is recommended to dump a gallon of bleach in the well to kill all the germs in my pipes. Any advice on this would be appreciated.

As far as I 've heard it goes something like this.

Dump Bleach in the well
Open all faucets and allow the bleach to enter each pipe until you smell it's presence.
Close faucet and allow a certain amount of time for the bleach to do it's job.
Open all faucets to flush the bleach from the system.
 
I've never heard of this, nor would I recommend it. Do you drink the water out of your well? If so, why isn't the water suitable for brewing then?
 
Ummm, so, if you dumped the bleach into the well proper.......


Wouldn't you have to drain the well dry to get rid of all the bleach?
 
I don't know about it killing germs in your system, seems like it might dilute an awful lot. That said, growing up we had terrible hard sulfur smelling water and my dad used to dump a cap full of pool shock down the well each week. It kept the rotten egg smell to a minimum, but the first shower after treatment burned your eyes the chlorine was so strong. So, maybe it won't dilute that much.

Of course you're going to boil all of your water before fermentation, so germs shouldn't really be an issue.

Terje
 
Ummm, so, if you dumped the bleach into the well proper.......


Wouldn't you have to drain the well dry to get rid of all the bleach?

The well is tapping into the underground aquifer so it will dissipate in time. The object is to clean the pipes I guess. And I've heard some horror stories of people not flushing it all out and then ruining a couple loads of wash. We haven't done this in the 20yrs we've lived here but getting into brewing I just wanted to make sure. I will get a sample pulled this spring to see what we have to start with.
 
There is no reason to pour bleach down your well. Probably is illegal in some states too. A well is not a container. Putting bleach into the aquifer would be like putting bleach into a river. It will be diluted out of existence extremely quickly. If you have a bacteria problem, it will still be there. Further, if you have a bacteria problem, beer would probably be the only thing I would make with it. You should not be drinking it or cooking with it and certainly not showering with it. Get a water test or leave it alone.
 
What you describe is pretty much the SOP for "shocking" a well after it has been subject to potential contamination but unless you have had some work done on it or have reason to believe mice have been pooping in or something like that you shouldn't have to worry about doing this. You can have a bacterial analysis done - look in the phone book under water testing.

The procedure is to simply dump bleach down the well. Bypass filters etc. Household bleach is usually 5 trade percent. I think shocking is often done with stronger hypochlorite solution. It should be allowed to sit for 24 hrs after which a hose should be connected and allowed to run for 15 minutes per hour (to prevent the well from running dry) emptying far from the well or septic field if you have one. This is repeated until you don't smell chlorine exiting the hose. You can then turn on taps inside the house, letting them run until you smell no chlorine. Don't do any laundry, shower or drink water until the chlorine aroma is no stronger than that of normal municipal water. To be on the safe side wait until you can't smell chlorine at all.

You can, after dumping in the chlorine, run taps in the house until you smell chlorine in order to let the chlorine at the pipes over the 24 hour period but this should not be necessary unless you suspect contamination in your pipes.
 
ajdelange is spot on. I have to do this procedure every 8-12 months. My water system gets a bacteria that produces sulphur smells when it builds up in our pipes. You should determine the right amount of bleach to use, I gallon is too much. I have a really deep well and I use 4 cups to get the right solution.

First be sure to empty your tank, then dump the bleach in the well and take your hose to recirculate water back in the well. Buy a tin of pool water testing strips and dip one in the recirc water until it shows the chlorine. Go to the furthest part of the house and run water till the bleach shows up. You can flush the toilets, but no consuming any water or running the washers. Wait 24hrs and go to the furthest place and run water until the test strip shows it's OK to swim. I"m lucky in that I can't pump water out faster than the well recovers. If you aren't, be careful not to run it dry. Bleach at these levels won't hurt your septic system.
 
For 16 years, I owned a house with well and septic. The well had "iron bacteria" that would eventually destroy the "plates" on the well pump. I was instructed to use pool chlorine, dump about a half-quart of tablets down my well, stick the garden hose into the top of the well and circulate the water for about an hour. Then, run the COLD water taps inside until chlorine was detected, and then shut everything OFF for 24 hours. Then, put the garden hose near the culvert, and run the water until no chlorine was detected. It certainly DID remove the bacteria from the well, and cleaned up the pipes in the house. I also had a filter on the water line BEFORE the water softener. That had to get changed about twice a month, because it clogged up with those pesky "iron bacteria." I would think that a treatment before brewing may be a good idea...ONLY if harmful bacteria are present. Get the water tested!

glenn514:mug:
 
You can google shocking a well and find plenty of info. If you're going to test maybe do a before and after test to see if shocking gains you anything. In general shocking is used to knock out bacteria that thrives on the iron oxides growing on your well pump screen, impelar or jet, casing etc. as all ready stated. Make sure you water testing covers iron as you don't want anymore than a trace of that in brewing water. Typically you can smell a high iron content and see rusting evidence in the fixtures. Treatment can range from periodic shocking and simple cartridge filters all the way to a regenerating filter and/or bleach injection system.
 
I don't know about iron bacteria, but my grandfather's well was just clean out this way because of a presence of E. coli in the pipes. As long as you run the sinks in the house for 2 hours at a time for 5 or 6 sessions, you'll flush all of the bleach out.
 

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