slightly off topic - well shocking

Well - it's about IRON anyway! The well at the cottage is getting progressively worse - sulpher smell and iron stains etc. I think the well needs to be shocked - but the well-head is about 4 feet underground out in the yard between two trees. I really don't want to have to dig it out one weekend, leave it open , work on it a few weeks later, then backfill after I'm sure the shock had done it's job. Really should extend the well casing above ground level if I do dig it out - all more work than I really want to do before freezup.

So - the question - With a submursible pump, could I just tap in to the line between the pump and the check valve and install a "tap" that I can connect a garden hose to, fill the bathtub with water, add chlorine to the tub, shut off the pump, connect the hose to the tap and the tub, open the tap and siphon the chlorine mix from the tub into the well? Or ose a little "pony" pump to pump the water from the tub into the well?

The tub is a good 5 feet higher than the water line. The pipe from the well to the checkvalve is black plastic, so putting a tap in should be less than an hour's work - even counting a run into the hardware store to get the parts.

What say you guys with well experience - can it be done?

I know it will not be as effective as flooding the well casing from the top - but it might make enough improvement to carry through to nice weather next summer????

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Reply to
clare at snyder dot ontario do
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this topic is often commented upon in alt.home.repair. you might try there.

Reply to
charlie

Unfortunately, submersible pumps have a check valve which prevents exactly what you're trying to to -- reverse the flow thru the pump.

Reply to
Ned Simmons

Are you sure? There is a one way valve at the pressure tank. Does the system need 2? There is no need to hold prime, as the pump is always in water. Not saying you are wrong - but DEFINITELY wanting to know FOR SURE.

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Reply to
clare at snyder dot ontario do

I don't know if every submersible well pump has a check at the pump, but it seems to me a deep well pump (more than 30 ft, or 1 atmosphere of water column) should. I do know mine does, and if you look at the documents on Goulds' site all their deep well submersibles also do.

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But in light of the amount of work involved, I don't blame you for wanting to be sure. You could open the line as you propose for the tee, but first pressurize it with a small air reservoir and see how quickly it leaks down. You'd need enough air pressure to overcome the pressure of the water in the well. Which brings to mind the fact you'll need to know what that pressure is in order to select a pump to force the chlorine solution to the bottom of the well, if you do find there's no check down there.

Our well pump is down 225', and water weeps out the top of the casing most of the year, so the pressure at the pump is over 100 psi.

Reply to
Ned Simmons

The check valve at the submersible is required since below 33 ft the water column would separate and you would get a big BANG when you started the pump and the columns collided.

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Reply to
nick hull

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