Newbie to shocking well

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Stevedog

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Oct 16, 2020
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Location
Maine
Hi all,
Recently purchased a vacation home and I’ve never had a well before. Water test showed that there was coliform, so I did some YouTube searching for how to bleach the well. I diluted the bleach in 5 gallon buckets of freshwater. I realize that I used more bleach than needed. I was away from Internet service at the house and I couldn’t recheck the directions so I opted to use a bit more bleach then needed to be safe and also did not have to do the project again. 120 foot well and I ended up Using about 3 gallons of bleach, perhaps slightly less. I definitely know for next time that I can use much less to be affective. I flushed the whole system out After 24 hoursas the directions indicated and I no longer have a bleach smell. Any harm that could’ve come to the plumbing due to me having overdid it a bit?
Also, after reading up on it more, I see that some people bypass the water softener while doing this procedure. I did not and I wanted to see if there was any potential issues bc if that. Thank you all in advance!
 
The bleach should run through everything in the house, water heater, softener, filters, all faucets.
Bacteria can colonize everywhere.
Flush the water heater also, bacteria can colonize down in the sediment on the bottom.
Clean the softener with Iron Out, or by adding a few gallons of vinegar during manual regeneration cycle, when the salt tank starts to refill add the vinegar then.
Then manual regeneration again.
Don’t add Iron Out and vinegar together, only on separate cycles.
The softener venturi orifice and screen filter might clog up from bleaching or water heater flushing.
You can find how to pull it and clean on Youtube.
Orifice is tiny, don’t lose it.
 
You want the chlorine to stay in the lines for a while to do its thing. But you don't want to flush into the septic system as the chlorine will stop the good bacteria. Flush on the ground until the smell is faint before letting it go to house and septic.
 
Did he say he has a septic tank?

Maybe he does, based on being on a well and a vacation home.

The house plumbing lines and water heater and softener can still be full of bacteria.
Also stinky sulfur bacteria.

Good idea not to flush into the septic, yes it could shut it down.

I of course defer to your expertise as the well guru!
 

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