Getting my well shocked
 

Any one in the Calgary and surrounding areas know of a company that does this service. I am noticing a smell from my hot water, and I was told it is due to a bacteria in the well water. I do not know what companies do this service and feel it needs to get done ASAP. I also don't know if I should wait until after the spring thaw, since there will be a whole bunch of water going into all the water tables in the next month or two.

I do not have much knowledge about all this and any help would be greatly appreciated. I am a newbie living out in the sticks and did not get a guide for things of this matter. I just know to get the septic tank pumped out one or two times a year...

I have never had a well, so cannot comment. But I had a septic tank for 30 years. During that time, I only had it pumped out 3 times. Two that I remember, but that seemed low, so 3 it is.
If the septic tank is not overworked, ie proper size tank for the occupants, and you do not overload it, it should run fine. To me even once a year seems very high.

Hahhaaa the company that cleans septic tanks said once a year... there are only two of us living in the house as well. When we bought the house part of the inspection was to have the septic system looked at by a professional. You do what they they tell you to do... I knew someone that had their septic tank back up into the basement. It was really nasty. When I do water changes I do let about 50-90g of water go into the septic tank... I make sure nobody is showering or I am doing laundry that particular day.

What did you do to ensure you had enough bacteria and such for the septic tank. I am blown away you only did three cleanings for 30 years WOW!!! Maybe you had a really big field or something. I better do some more reading on septic tanks... what a crappy to have to read about... literally.

Diana i had the same problem before when I lived in the country down east. Its the water tables letting thespring run off in ande flooding too. trust me i know the smell. what i did was run a water softner for the whole house only during the spring. it went away.

I already have a water softener, and it is not helping. The smell is not too bad, but I honestly thought I must have some really bad BO when I hit the shower:lol: I am just concerned it might effect the water that goes into the tank. I am getting a new RO/DI system just to make sure. The smell is only in the hot water, not the cold water.

All shocking a well is, is chlorinating it. You can do this very easily yourself with a 5 gallon bucket and the chlorine you get for swimming pools. Mix a strong concentration in the bucket and pour it down the well. Let the well sit for a day or two without using any water, obviously this works best if leaving for a weekend. What I do as well is run some water through the house until I can smell a little chlorine in each tap to disinfect the pipes.

Once a day or two has passed, use a garden hose to drain the chlorinated water onto the lawn as you don't want it ending up in the septic tank. Not the end of the world if it ends up in there though, I've actually dumped "Prime" into the sink to de-chlorinate the water ending up in the septic system. Don't know if it did anything but I felt better about it.

Excellent info... I guess I should wait until the snow melts and to get my new RO/DI unit. How long will the chlorine stay in the system for? It seems like an easy fix but I better start researching a little bit about it...

The smell might only be in the hot water because heat causes separation of molecules/expansion of gasses and makes it more noticeable?

How deep is your well?

+ Do not pour saltwater into septic tanks.

Uh oh, why can't I put the tank water into the septic system? I guess I had better find a way to plumb it out into the woods from the sump for water changes. I had thought of this but we did the build during the winter, and had no other option due to ice and snow.

What is causing the smell in the water and is it bad for consumption?

I have no idea of how deep the well is, we bought the house like this... we had the water within the well checked for home inspection but the report does not mention the depth of the well. Is there any way to find out on my own, aside of falling down into it?

Diana we shocked our wells (my Moms and ours) back in Virden, MB as we both lived on acreages. All we did was take a 5 gallon pail and fill it half or three quarters full of water. (do this after supper when you are done using the water in the house)
Then add 1 cup of "chlorine product" and toss it down the well. It takes very little bleach to kill bacteria. Let the well sit overnight and then do some laundry or something to use up some water the next day. Or run the hose outside, whatever you like. We never had any problems with it going to the septic field. The idea is not to kill the bacteria in the septic field (as bugs are our friends out there!! LOL).....but we never noticed a difference.....we always ran it to the field with no ill effects.

We had a few years were we would do this now and again after the run off.

Brad :biggrin: