How to properly test, clean and restart a well

[imautoparts]

Hi all,

Just purchased a home with a well - my first one.



It has a shallow well with aboveground pump/pressure tank. Pump is old and is being replaced right away.

1. Should I power up the old pump long enough to clear any rust/debris/infiltrate between the pump and well before installing the new pump?

2. Is it possible to 'clean up' a shallow well using readily available tools? How much would it cost to have a well guy rebore the hole just to be sure it is clean and OK?

3. Should I expect my electronic water softener to be OK after 3 years of no activity?

4. I'm planning on a whole-house filter. Are the carbon filters that self-flush and don't take big filter elements OK for this? Lots of iron in the water even post-softener. The filter I'm looking at costs about $175.

5. What is the best procedure for locating where my well and septic tank are in the winter? The prior owner is long gone. If the best answer is 'wait for spring' just say so - we have a lot of time for this project.

[Waterwheel Farm]

Not sure I quite understand your post.

How deep is your "shallow well"? Is it a hand dug well, about 20-30 feet deep?

Shouldn't need to be re-bored. If you have a collapse of the bore hole or something as significant as that, you're probably looking at drilling a new well.

Do you not know where the well itself is located? At my last place, believe it or not, I found it with two coat hangers. The well head was buried and I had no idea where it was. A guy I worked with came down and showed me how to do it. He bent two coat hangers in the shape of an "L". The longer ends of the "L" stick out in front of you, and you hold the shorter ends in your hands, with your hands about 4 inches apart. You hold them lightly and let the hangers lightly rest on each index finger point forwards, angled downward just slightly so they stay pointed in front of you. We walked back and forth from the point where the water line came out of the ground and when we crossed the water line, the two coat hangers pulled themselves together and we stuck in a little wire with a flag on it. We tracked the water line all the way back to the well casing, which we didn't know because eit was buried. I had a hammer and iron rod and drove it into the ground looking for the casing. We hit it the first try. Call it dumb luck, a buncha crap, or whatever you want to but all I know was it worked. I had been randomly driving a rod in the ground everywhere trying to find the casing. I'm still amazed at that.

Or you can dig up your water line and track it back to wherever the well is.

[Danaus29]

Debris will fall off the old pump when it's pulled so any water you would have pumped through will get dirty again. With new pump in the well just run a bunch of water through, but out on the lawn, not into a septic that hasn't functioned in a few years. To clean, just shock it with bleach like any well.

Location, use a metal detector. Easiest way I know of. But I've never tried dowsing for a well or septic.

Softener, if the old one hasn't froze and was just sitting idle it should be good. In an older model I would question if the electronics and other stuff in the top were rotted or plain worn out. Shouldn't be a problem in a 3 year old unit.

Rust, you almost have to use a salt cleaned softener. We've got a lot of rust in our water and the particulate filters don't work. The oxygenating filters might but they cost big $$$$$. I'm too cheap for that.

[Nimrod]

The last time I responded to one of your questions you didn't like the answer but I'll try it one more time.

If you have the pump and pressure tank on the surface you are dealing with a shallow well. Pumps can not suck water up from more than 25 feet. Wells that are deeper than 25 feet have submerged pumps that push the water to the surface. Deep wells usually have a 4 inch or bigger casing and have to be drilled. Shallow wells can be hand dug or a driven sandpoint.

The well pump uses either 120 volt or 240 volt power. Check the circuit breaker for the well to figure out which and buy a pump that works on that voltage. Some are switchable to either.

1. Do power up the old pump. If there are any pieces of gunk big enough to damage the pump they will break the old one.

2. If the well hasn't been used in a few years and you want to shake any gunk loose you can open the top of the casing below the check valve and fire a 22 down the well. The shock will knock the gunk lose. Just be sure that your body parts are not directly above the casing when you fire the gun so you can't be hit if the bullet ricochets. Run the well pump with the garden hose faucet open until the water runs clear. You can check the water by flushing the toilet and looking in the tank to see if the water is clear. Pour a half gallon of unscented bleach down the well and let it sit overnight. Run all your faucets in the house until you don't smell the bleach. This will disinfect your well and pipes. Have the well water tested. The county Health Dept. here does cheap tests of wells.

There is no need to have someone rebore the well unless the sandpoint is rusted away and letting sand into the water all the time. It is normal to have sand in the water at first when you start using the well after long disuse. The well probably wasn't bored in the first place but has a sandpoint driven in.

5. The well is probably right where the pump is. The septic tank should have an inspection pipe sticking above the ground.

[1shotwade]

I just put a new pump and line in for my 85 year old mother last week. She has a shallow well,35 feet deep with 100 foot of line to the pump in the basement.There is a foot valve on the pick-up line and once primed the 1/2 horse pump has no problem drawing water that far.
These old vein fed shallow wells don't take a lot of care if in continual use.I'm the guy that cleaned it out the last time and that would have been around 1961.If you have a shallow well and it does need cleaned out (this is a dry season job) it will need pumped out.Then rope down and shovel all the debris into buckets and haul it up until the well floor is clean and the vein is opened up and re-established.If it is a hand dug shallow well it will be laid up in rock and once you are at the bottom you should be able to see "toe-holds" in the wall to use to climb back out. You can not see them from the top.
After you get done what ever it takes to re-establish water flow from the vein I'd bleach as was said.And btw,"witching" as was described will work also.


Wade

[Helena]

Also..make sure you use CLOREX bleach..not the off brands of bleach. Clorex is stronger %. Had a friend that was bleaching his well and not killing the bacteria from after a flood on his property..he learned to use the stronger Clorex..Good Luck..

[imautoparts]

Thanks all - I'm going to go with the shock with bleach/pump out onto yard method, then I'll replace the pump.

It has an electronic salt type softener - if as you say the carbon whole-house filters don't help iron then I suppose I'll just have to live with whatever is coming out of the pipes past the softener.

The softener is full of salt about 3/4 of the way but no water or antifreeze is in evidence so I hope it will be OK.

I'm surprised filters don't work on iron. I'm going to do some direct research on that and if I learn anything interesting I'll post on this thread again.

Thanks again - Oh and BTW - found the well in a crawlspace under the breezeway between the house and garage.

[Gravytrain]

Originally Posted by imautoparts

I'm surprised filters don't work on iron. I'm going to do some direct research on that and if I learn anything interesting I'll post on this thread again.

Filters will work on particulate iron, but not dissolved iron.

[simi-steading]

If you have a lot of iron, you can get a system that injects hydrogen peroxide, then a large charcoal filter just past that. It will oxidize the iron, suspend it, and the filter will take it out.

We're looking at getting one of these systems for our place. You need to know the flow rate before ordering. It will decide what size system you need. They run from around $1000 to $2000 for a good system.. Just depends on your flow rate, and how much water you use.

[Bret]

Congratulations on your new home. May it always be a happy one.

[Rustaholic]

Do I see other close houses in that picture?
And a shallow well?
Not for me.

[simi-steading]

I'd find a place to test the well. You just have to send them a water sample. They'll tell you how they want it drawn..

It would be good to know what the water is like before you put any bleach in it... Especially how much and what kind of bacteria. It will tell you a lot about the ground water in the area.