Pouring bleach in a well every year?

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  • edporch

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    My wife has been on me to pour bleach in our well to "purify" it.
    She says it should be done every year.

    I'm skeptical about doing it and am concerned that it may not be good for the submersible pump.
    And that there could be other downsides.

    Is this something I should want to do?

    I drink the water and it seems fine.
     

    Hoosier Carry

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    I believe that is something you do when a well has been sitting unused for awhile. I would have a water test done so you know if you really have any issues with your water.
    When we bought our house we were suggested to pour bleach down the casing to clean it. It was not passing an inspection test.
     

    tmschuller

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    Do it. It’s good for it and well companies do it all the time. It’s called shocking the well. Not just setting idle. Once a year is nothing uncommon. Just run the the water from an outside faucet. Chlorine is hard on resin bed of your softner. Pour it in and let it set for several hours and then run the water for a hour or two. Hope this helps. Blessings. Tim
     

    Jeepfanatic

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    My mom did this regularly growing up. It was all good until one year she did it on a day she was feeling extremely productive. She also felt she should clean out the fish tank in the same day.

    Poor fish never saw it coming...
     

    CampingJosh

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    It's a helpful thing. But you don't want to just let the bleach sit in there. I fill a 5 gallon bucket with one gallon of bleach and a couple gallons of water. Dump that in the well, then run a hose back into the well for an hour or so to circulate the water.

    Then before you use the water, run the hose out onto the ground until you don't smell chlorine anymore.
     

    bcannon

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    ^^^ what he said. When you run the hose on the ground after recirculating, run the hose to a area where you dont want things to grow. High probability of roasting everything it contacts. Ditches, field drain, etc. would be best.
     

    bobzilla

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    We usually have to do it every 2 or 3 years. It’ll get a little smell going and well put a half gallon in and then run it for a while. 14 years now with no issues.
     

    BigBoxaJunk

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    I wouldn't put Chlorine in my well unless there was a problem, or unless I'm breaking the well-head seal to fix something, which I've only done a few times in the twenty five years we've lived here. With an older well, it can be a catch-22, since you have to break the seal to add the bleach, but every time you break the seal, you're increasing the chance of contamination. Also, if you have older plumbing, with galvanized iron, or lead-soldered copper joints, adding Chlorine can strip off the internal coating and cause leaching of lead into your water.
     

    Butch627

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    My well hasn't had a thing done to it since it was drilled over 45 years ago. OP why does your wife think you need to do this?
     

    tmschuller

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    Not to knocking anyone but what happens when you add bleach to your laundry? Just food for thought. Plus using the outside faucet will eliminate any chances of that.
     

    BigBoxaJunk

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    Not to knocking anyone but what happens when you add bleach to your laundry? Just food for thought. Plus using the outside faucet will eliminate any chances of that.

    Our old septic system was set up so that the drain from the washer bypassed around the septic tank and connected into the leach field line. That was done in the old days, to separate grey water from black water (that needed to digest solids in the septic tank), but keeping bleach water out of the septic tank is a side benefit. That's why it's common practice to do an inspection under a house when it's connected into a new sanitary sewer, to make sure that they get all of the drain pipes connected.
     

    Timjoebillybob

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    I wouldn't put Chlorine in my well unless there was a problem, or unless I'm breaking the well-head seal to fix something, which I've only done a few times in the twenty five years we've lived here. With an older well, it can be a catch-22, since you have to break the seal to add the bleach, but every time you break the seal, you're increasing the chance of contamination. Also, if you have older plumbing, with galvanized iron, or lead-soldered copper joints, adding Chlorine can strip off the internal coating and cause leaching of lead into your water.

    Per the instructions I posted above you don't break the seal, you remove the vent. But I agree with the rest. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.


    I also wonder if part of the shocking the well every year by parents/grandparents was done in part due to lacking easy testing so do it as a precaution. Or because of practices back in the day septic systems set to close to the well, keeping farm animals near it, etc.
     

    edporch

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    My well hasn't had a thing done to it since it was drilled over 45 years ago. OP why does your wife think you need to do this?

    This well is in NW Marion County and somewhat iron water.
    We have a water softener, that i admit I sometimes forget to add salt to.
    My wife says because she smells an "odor", that means the well needs bleach.

    I don't smell anything from the water, and drink it all the time.

    As it is, my wife has always only drank bottled water in those flimsy hand held throwaway bottles.
    She will often leave them in the car and they get heated up from the sun.
    I tell this has a greater chance of harming her from the heat leached chemicals from this.

    I'll probably end up doing it to stop her bugging me about it.
    I just want to be sure I know what I'm doing enough not to screw up our well and water system.
     

    Butch627

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    We have lots of iron in our water and sulpher smell. I replaced the magnesium annode rod in the water heater with an aluminum one which cured the smell from the hot water. Cold water has no odor. I keep the water softener filled up and use a charcoal filter for drinking water. Drinking water has zero after taste. I suggest that maybe you should have your water tested to see if your water softener settings are correct.
     
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