WELL TREATMENT

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I get calls from time to time from someone that has a well that is severely incrusted, and when I say severe, I mean to the point where an 8″ discharge pipe has a 2″ to 3″ opening…..really severe!

This is just the part that they can see, everything under the static water level is just as bad or worse. So I’m asked the question I’ve heard too many times to remember, “Will your stuff get this out?” My answer is “Sure!” But let’s examine a few things and I’ll share the best procedures to remedy the problem.

In most cases this is caused by iron, iron bacteria, maybe a little manganese (that is like a steroid to iron presence) Iron bacteria grows in layers on top of each other and creates a scale that gets thicker and thicker. Ferrous iron is a muddy, slimy consistency that is almost clay like in texture. These form together and stop a well up. There are a lot of these deposits down the hole, there’s no way anybody can measure this without pulling the pump and running a camera down the hole. This is expensive and you still can’t see what lies behind the formation around the well screens. There’s no way to determine how much product we’ll need but, we can get pretty close! One treatment is easy to achieve in most wells but, sometimes it does take more than one treatment to get the well back to operating at the level you’re expecting.

When I see a well that is severely encrusted with the above mentioned deposits, the first thing I suggest is to super chlorinate the well. You can see how to do this on my Treating a Water Well link. However, I want to add to this since we’re talking about severe cases. With these wells, I suggest that you repeat this procedure until the water is fairly clean when you turn the pump on and nothing seems to be breaking loose from the well. Also, on each treatment, agitate it by turning the pump on until the water reaches the top, then turn it off. Do this every 30 minutes for a couple hours and then let it sit for 4 hours. If you’ve done this enough and nothing really seems to come out, it’s time to start the real treatments. Don’t be fooled and think this is all that needed because sometimes this procedure seems to have helped a lot. Don’t fall for this because if not treated, it will come back fast because we still have bacteria down the hole and in the formation.

Now we use the Clear Well G/A & B/E together at twice the recommended dosages. Follow the directions and after  8 hours, pour in enough water to displace the product back into the formation and let sit another 8 hours before agitating. 

This is the best procedures to follow if you don’t pull the well, obviously the best thing is to pull the pump and brush the casing and screens first, but that is costly. Sometimes you have to treat a well more than once when it’s this severe but this will give you the best results that can be expected for the life of this well.

Any well that has any of these characteristics should implement a maintenance program, it will save you money time after time.

After time has elapsed, turn pump on and pump to waste until well is completely clear. After it clears, turn pump off, wait a few minutes to make sure all the water has fallen back through the column pipe and pump, then turn well until it reaches the surface and turn off, do this 3 or 4 times to help stir the well up. Then turn well on and let it pump until it’s clear. After the well clears, you should repeat this process until the well makes clear water all the time.

Never turn your well on while water is falling back into the well or the pump is spinning backwards.

Chlorine and Clear Well Products DO NOT MIX