Iron bacteria in well water (house, geothermal, snow, heater)
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I see some well experts on this forum from time to time. We have a well, 400 ft deep, ~100 ft static level, have been using it for about 14 years. We have a lot of iron, but a filter has generally taken care of the problem. No taste issues at all. About 2 weeks ago we suddenly got a nasty taste, sort of a diesel fuel taste/smell. Read up on it and iron bacteria will cause this. It presents no health issues but does smell and can lead to deposits in lines, toilet tanks, etc.
After reading up on the issue I shocked the well (1 gallon of bleach). Let sit overnight, flushed the system and it didn't really make much difference. After a few days I had the water tested, came back positive for iron bacteria (9000...don't recall the units though). Shocked it again over the weekend (2 gallons this time, still might be a little light). From what reading I've done this may need to be done a few times to get the problem under control.
Anyone had issues with this? What did you do for a long term cure?
Hmmm. I've never run across an "iron bacteria" in a well or cold water side of any water system. Just on the hot side which creates a sulphur smell from the hydrogen sulphide created by the specific organism. This bacteria thrives in HW heaters and is prevelant with hot water wells. Is your well hot? Sitting in a geothermal pocket? At that depth I can see that being the case. Wells that deep herebouts that are that deep usually have geothermal contact in the water table. I have seen issues with well water itself there. But these were also pretty large, municipal wells.
Hitting the hole itself with any chemical agents was ineffective just because of the depth necessitating a volume of chemicals that was impractical. You can't "shock" the whole water table. If you're 400 ft down and static at 100 that's a LOT of water just in the casing. A couple gallons of bleach (which is dilute any way) wouldn't do much. In the wells I mentioned a treatment system was required. Filtration and chemical injection. But again, these were large systems.
For a domestic well, I would think there is a more simplistic option. Perhaps a carbon filtration added in. I'd talk to a water treatment supply outfit. You have the labs on your well already, which they will need to answer your questions as to options. But I don't see direct infusion of simple household bleach being to effective.
I had this same problem in MN. A local well guy told me to use 8 gallons of bleach. Let it sit for an hour then run each individual tap/toilet, etc till I smelled bleach. Then use no water in the house for 24 hours. When the 24 hours is up, run all the taps etc till the bleach smell is gone. It worked for me!
I had this same problem in MN. A local well guy told me to use 8 gallons of bleach. Let it sit for an hour then run each individual tap/toilet, etc till I smelled bleach. Then use no water in the house for 24 hours. When the 24 hours is up, run all the taps etc till the bleach smell is gone. It worked for me!
I've done a similar thing to clean out HW heaters and lines in a residences. But in the OPs case with such a deep well IDK. How deep was your well? I could see that working in a well that was only 100 ft or so with only say a 6 in case. And no geothermal contact.
I have been dealing with this problem professionally for over 30 years. I work for a large water supplier with deep, high capacity wells, and iron bacteria is a common problem in many settings, especially groundwater. They are found naturally in aquifers, and their growth can be enhanced by the drilling process. There are numerous chemicals to kill or de-activate the bacteria, and there are numerous physical processes a well driller can use to detach them from the well's producing area and pump them out. It can probably be done in a day. They can use acid pellets or chlorine granules that dissolve after they have descended to the bottom of the well. The actual remedy depends on the depth of your well, its setting (sand and gravel, bedrock, etc.), what it's made of (steel, PVC, something else). A local driller probably has insight into the problem. I would speak to more than one, however, because remedies vary and experience helps
I have been dealing with this problem professionally for over 30 years. I work for a large water supplier with deep, high capacity wells, and iron bacteria is a common problem in many settings, especially groundwater. They are found naturally in aquifers, and their growth can be enhanced by the drilling process. There are numerous chemicals to kill or de-activate the bacteria, and there are numerous physical processes a well driller can use to detach them from the well's producing area and pump them out. It can probably be done in a day. They can use acid pellets or chlorine granules that dissolve after they have descended to the bottom of the well. The actual remedy depends on the depth of your well, its setting (sand and gravel, bedrock, etc.), what it's made of (steel, PVC, something else). A local driller probably has insight into the problem. I would speak to more than one, however, because remedies vary and experience helps
HTH pellets would certainly work better than dilute liquid household bleach. In a 400' well with I'm assuming an 8" case though possibly smaller or maybe larger, he didn't say, a couple gallons of Clorox wouldn't have much effect. That's a lot of water. I'm curious about this bacteria. OP says they have a diesel fuel smell, and the iron bacteria I've dealt with in HW systems has a rotten egg smell. Hydrogen Sulphide. This happens a lot with people who keep their water heater turned down to low for energy savings.
A couple gallons of bleach will do the trick in these cases, along with a good flushing. Since you know more about this well issue than I maybe you can answer a couple questions. Is this problem more likely to happen with wells in hot beds, or is it common with both cold and hot wells? My well I had on my ranch never had any such issues. It was a cold well, 160' pump at 80' in bedrock and pea gravel. The table was shallow, we hit water at 10', but went deep to get out of the sand strata. Didn't want sediment issues. The water came out at a nice 54 degrees, and we never had any bacterial issues. Calcium/alkali was common to all wells in the area, and showed up big on the swamp cooler as hard deposits .
The facility I worked on next town over the wells had to be DEEP and they were geothermal. The shallowest was 400' and the deepest 800. A few had to be taken out of service because of arsenic levels. That was a big problem. And of course right out of the ground the main well was 130 degrees and had a bit of a sulphur tinge. We had a big modern treatment plant with multi media and carbon filtration along with chemical injection and other stages of processing, but I don't remember ever having any bacterial issues to contend with. Just toxic minerals like arsenic and lead.
I've done a similar thing to clean out HW heaters and lines in a residences. But in the OPs case with such a deep well IDK. How deep was your well? I could see that working in a well that was only 100 ft or so with only say a 6 in case. And no geothermal contact.
Mine was 300ft deep. Not geothermal, the water was very cold year round.
We have had iron bacteria 'blooms' in our water when we have neglected our water softener and let the salt run out. We vow never to forget it again! It's gross... water will come out of the tap looking OK, but quickly turn yellow with an oily sheen on top in any glass or bowl that is exposed to air. When we've let it happen, we have just run a lot of water until it cleared up. Flushed it through all the lines. We've never used bleach or anything like that in the well itself. But that's us.... YMMV.
Never heard of this, and the house I grew up in had a ridiculous amount of iron in the water. I'm glad I saw this thread.
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