Chlorine shock / flushing a well problem
Last week, I pulled my submersible pump (4″ well, 360′ deep), and as suggested here, shocked the well with a gallon of bleach. I ran water until i smelled chlorine; i let it sit overnight, and i flushed it until it ran odorless. I flushed the cold water first, then drained the hot water heater and the hot water lines. The water ran clean and odor free throughout the system, and even directly from the well tank.
Today, the chlorine odor came back around 6 pm. I repeated the flushing process, and now the water is odorless again.
Is it normal for chlorine smell to re-appear after shocking 24 hrs later? Or, do you think I used too much chlorine or made some other mistake?
Many people shock chlorinate their well but there are more effective ways than just pouring bleach down the casing.
The problem with this method is that you do not get even mixing.
The proper way to shock a well is to premix the bleach in a pre-determined concentration with a volume of water that will displace the water in the casing.
In addition to affecting the casing the chlorine will also leech into the aquifer giving you a more thorough disinfection.
