(2009-11-18) Well Water Bacteria Testing

We had a couple of batches from our Rice Steamer get a funky smell in just 24hrs (not consistently, just a couple cases), so we decided to be paranoid about our Well-Water.

The Culli Gan guy who put in our SulfurCleer treatment system said he'd re-test after the system was in, so we nagged him to come back. He came back yesterday

Everything looked fine on his normal tests. But none of those tests were really for bacteria. So he finally pulled out an Irb Bart, and filled it from the RO-WaterFilter spigot. "If it turns brown in just a few days, you have an issue."

It turned brown in 1 day. FlickR:BacteriaTest.

He recommended a chlorine treatment of our well. Which we scheduled.

The previous Home Owner said the well was just treated in May or June.

The well-chlorinator guy said it's not a huge surprise that the issue has come back. He said that after their big treatment, it will be a good idea to do our own light treatment every 6mo.

After their "heavy" treatment, they suggest not running any water for 24hrs, so that the chlorinated water can sit in the pipes. (You run some water at each outlet right after the treatment to get the treated water up to that outlet.) No showering. Toilet use tolerated but not preferred.

Update

• if I do this myself in the future, and use chlorine pellets, it's very important to not drop them into the pump inlet. Two ways to avoid this are (a) have 6ft tube to place down well shaft pass inlet, drop pellets down the tube, or (b) stick broom-handle down shaft to plug the inlet, then drop pellets past it.