mud pump for 100 feet dug wells free sample
Typically, well pumps can be broken down into two categories: jet pumps and submersible pumps. Each design is built to fit the needs of various well sizes and conditions.
Most shallow well pumps are found in wells that are less than 25 feet deep and in areas with a high water table. These pumps have few running parts and require little maintenance.
This type of pump is located above the ground, typically just inside the well house, and generates high pressure to pull the water from the well and into the home using an inlet pipe. A tank or well booster pump is recommended to accompany this type of well pump to increase water pressure to the home.
Unlike its shallow counterpart, a deep well jet pump is located within the well, though its motor stays in the well house. This pump uses two pipes: one for drawing water out of the well and another for directing the water to the home. Deep well jet pumps are typically used in wells that are 110 feet deep.
A deep well submersible pump sits at the bottom of the well directly in the water. Using its motor, the pump draws water from the bottom and pushes it out of the well into your home’s water lines. These pumps can be used in wells up to 300 feet deep. The pumps work similar to sump pumps, which draw water and pump it out.
Although professional well pump replacement comes with high pump installation costs, you may have no choice but to call a professional depending on the well pump you have. Certain pumps, like deep well submersible pumps, require special equipment to get them out without damaging components or wiring. In addition to the fragility of the well’s components, removing a well pump can be very labor intensive, with some pumps weighing more than 100 pounds.
Even if you’re considering replacing your well pump on your own, call a plumber to confirm that the well pump is the issue with your system before removing it. This will prevent any unneeded work or unintentional damage to your well system.
Use the tool below to find a well service contractor who can diagnose your well pump problem and help you determine whether or not you can replace it yourself:
We provide advice about what to do when things go wrong, how to inspect hand dug wells for safety, safe practices for actually digging a well, and how to address hand dug well sanitation
The world wide popularity of hand dug wells is accounted for by the ease of construction without specialized equipment, the simplicity of water raising equipment (a bucket on a rope has worked for thousands of years), and the ability of the Dug well to hold a large volume of water in storage for times of peak demand.
on hand (the well"s static head) in a hand dug well depends not on the well"s overall depth, but the depth and diameter of the column of water in the well when it is at rest and fully recovered from any draw-down.
of a hand dug well depends on its standby volume or static head, the rate at which water flows into it, and the lift and pumping capacity in gallons per minute or liters per minute of the pump being used.
Depending on the well depth, flow rate, storage capacity, and usage requirements, any of a variety of devices or pumps might be used to draw water from a dug well, including
hand pumps using a lever and piston mechanism to lift water from the well, for the properties of hand pumps and the use of hand pumps to deliver water from any well, drilled or hand-dug,
More commonly hand dug water wells range from about fifteen feet (4.5 meters) in depth, to a practical depth of around 100 feet (30 meters) though 200 foot deep hand dug wells certainly exist.
Watch out: digging a well by hand is quite dangerous, risking collapse on and death to the excavators. Also, in very deep wells, there may be air quality safety hazards. [2]
Dug wells are usually constructed during dry weather when the water level is at its lowest, both for safety (less likely wet soils cause well collapse) and to determine the necessary depth of the Dug well to obtain adequate water supply.
As we show in this sketch at below left, courtesy of Carson Dunlop Associates (found at page bottom, Click to Show or Hide), Usually a hand dug well is less than 20 feet deep.
wells continue into modern use, often with the installation of either an in-building jet pump draw water from the well into the building. We weren"t sure what the little cover in our
Sources for repair parts and installation instructions for hand pumps on dug wells and shallow wells are provided at our reviewers list at the end of this page.
The hazards of hand dug wells include poor sanitation (ground water and surface runoff easily enter the drinking water supply), and cave-ins during construction or injuries to tools dropped into the well during construction.
At HAND DUG WELL PROCEDURE we describe all of the detailed steps in the procedure for constructing a hand-dug well with concrete well rings in Mexico.
But do not begin a well digging project without advice from an expert and do not try digging a well without following these and any other recommended safety measures for well excavation:
The following advice is adapted from The Hand Dug Well [instruction manual,by Henk Holtslag & John deWolf, Foundation Connect International. Links to a copy of that free manual are at our references section [2].
Photo above: this looks like a hand dug well that has an above-ground protecting wall and a cover over the actual well opening (you can just see the red edges of the cover.
If there is a concern for people tossing trash or contaminants into a dug well, a screen or grate may not be enough. The solid iron cover over the dug well shown below is installed at Campo St. Maurizio, Venice, Italy. The domed top sheds rainwater and keeps out tossed or other debris and contaminants.
Dug wells and hand pumps on old water wells are an attractive nuisance, especially to small children. The cover should be secure against entry by children. Photos above: the thin cover over this dug well was easily kicked aside (after we removed the toddler who was found standing atop the well - Ed.)
Watch out:Provide a child-safe heavy, secure cover at ground levelfor dug wells with no above-ground wall or for any below-ground well pit - such as the well shown in our photos just above.
At a Connecticut home in the U.S. our clients, whose family included small children, was worried about lead paint hazards as their foremost concern. We arrived early and had already made a note of a rotting and unsafe cover over a hand-dug well.
As he began jumping up and down, pumping the lever, we ran to him and scooped him off of the well top just before the entire rotting cover fell into the Dug well.
requires that the well be protected from someone falling into the well; a smart abandonment will also protect the dug well from being used as a refuse or chemical dump - doing so risks contaminating the aquifer and is illegal in most jurisdictions.
U.S. EPA, DUG WELLS [PDF], U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, retrieved 2021/05/31 original source: https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-11/documents/dugwell.pdf -
AB, TROUBLESHOOTING WATER WELL PROBLEMS [PDF] Alberta Department of Agriculture, retrieved 2022/07/16 original source: https://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/ deptdocs.nsf/ba3468a2a8681f69872569d60073fde1/ b235a3f65b62081b87256a5a005f5446/ $FILE/WaterWells_module7.pdf
BC, DUG WELL BEST PRACTICES [PDF] BC, Department of Agriculture, retrieved 2022/07/16 original source: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/ assets/gov/environment/air-land-water/ water/water-wells/best_practices_for_dug_wells.pdf
OXFAM, REPAIRING, CLEANING & DISINFECTING HAND DUG WELLS [PDF] OXFAM-TB6, - retrieved 2022/07/16, original source: https://sswm.info & https://give.oxfamamerica.org/
Oxfam helps communities around the world fix up their wells and learn how to treat their drinking water to avoid water-borne diseases. It’s particularly important during times when people are short on food, due to bad harvests following drought, floods, or any sort of humanitarian emergency.
SCW, DUG WELL RESTORATION [PDF] South Coast Water, Hapshire, U.K., Email contact form at https://www.southcoastwater.co.uk/contact.html - retrieved 2022/07/16, original source: southcoastwater.co.uk/well-restoration.html
We can clean a well even if it is completely filled in with rubble so do not think it will never be a usable well again. All it takes is for us to remove all the rubble and debris, clean and restore the walls and the well will be good to naturally refill with water ready for use again. Please visit our well cleaning page for more information.
www.who.int/water_sanitation_health - retrieved 2022/07/16, original source: https://wedc-knowledge.lboro.ac.uk/resources/e/mn/ 031-Cleaning-and-rehabilitating-hand-dug-wells.pdf
Thank you for an interesting geothermal system design question. I don"t know a solid answer but I suspect you may need to install a small circulating pump to mix the water if you"re diagnosis is correct.
I have a dug well consisting of a 150 gal cistern with (3) 48" well tiles stacked on top of the cistern. It has a deep well pump at the bottom of the cistern. This well is for my pump and dump geothermal system. This being my ejection well and my injection well ~ 100 ft away is 12ft deep.
My theory is the water at the top which can be within a foot of the well cover is cooled by the frost and since it wants to sink because of it"s density there is a constant circulation of cold water dropping down to the pump where it gets picked up and fed into the geothermal system. I"m looking at putting a cover on the top of the cistern to break the circuit. Does this sound feasible.
If your dug well is normally filled with water it would be a surprise but certainly possible for the soil conditions or surrounding geology to change such that the well stops giving water and instead drains it away.
Our place has two hand dug wells on it. At this time one is dry. The other is not, but it has quite a bit of fallen-in lumber from an old cover that collapsed. What is the safest way to retrieve the lumber from the well? Would a grapple hook work or is there something better?
A hand dug well is just that: a large-diameter hole in the ground, dug by hand. There is no "well point" - a well point is used in a driven point well like those shown and discussed at
I have a hand dug well and every year it runs dry between August and October, comes back between November and January. My property is at 800ft elevation. A friend of mine keeps telling me to dig out the well point... how do I do that and what will it do?
Read through some of the dug well cleaning and restoration articles there to see the range of tricks and tips people use for a faster, more-efficient, and safer way to remove crud from the well bottom.
more-sophisticated well cleaning methods are described in procedures for drilled wells where there is less working room. There you"ll see some interesting well cleaning methods using special siphon pump arrangements that pump water down through a suction device that picks up the silt and returns the glop to the ground level through a second pipe.
Watch out: When you"ve got tree root invasion of the dug well sides, as we see in your photo, there are increased risks of both water contamination - surface runoff following tree roots into the well, and of well collapse.
Need to carefully remove 3 feet of silt from 35 feet down, water level is at 21 feet, I got a rough estimate of 65 feet from linking conduit together, air lift wouldn"t seem to work in these ranges. !00 year old well estimate of 65 feet 4 foot diameter, house and old pump house right beside.
Can"t tell if there has been collapse of wall below the root levels of two huge sycamore trees. Ground has subsided and both structures leaning into each other for mutual support. West coast drought has dropped it about 20 feet.
6 people on the property, I have replaced the configuration as seen to shallow well pump but need to return to deep well configuration, any ideas for removing silt and sediment?
Do you have any idea for hand bailers for such a need or a better procedure. I was thinking of a two stage arrangement of two sump pumps. One in the well the end of it"s hose in a bucket with another sump pump to pump it out the rest of the way.
Our nonprofit African Educate has had a hand dug well constructed in rural Uganda for 2 years. The contractor now says the bore hole needs maintenance. Does this seem reasonable?
When a dug well is lined by hand-built masonry, the opening is dug large enough that the finish-opening diameter, when the masonry liner is installed, is the desired dug-well size.
Other than safety precautions appropriate for working in the bottom of a hole (collapse, air, safe entry/exit, not working alone, helpers to lower materials, etc) it"s standard stonemasonry.
My back yard stays saturated year round. I need a system of acquiring the water for use in my home for water only for bathroom, dishes and othe non drinking uses. I need to dig a well and set up system for use. Thank you
Keep in mind that it is just about impossible to assure that water from a dug well is sanitary - free from surface runoff and bacteria - so at the very least you"d want your well water tested, annually or more-often, at the very least for bacteria.
I have a dug well that was dug in 1980 when we purchased the property. Has been great water and very plentiful. Have not ever had a dry well. Started getting some sand in the water lines and 14 months ago cleaned out the well and added pea gravel. The well is 25ft deep.
While cleaning out the well noted some of the tiles are chipping and some sand getting in. Now water line is dirt and sand. Is there someone who can dig out the silt and replace tiles? What/who would I look for? Husband passed 13 yrs ago and unfortunately for me took his wealth of knowledge. Appreciate any info
It is not safe nor durable to use greenboard nor any plasterboard or drywall as the protective surround for a dug well. That material will not endure outdoor exposure to the weather and it also lacks adequate strength to assure a safe barrier.
It is not safe nor durable to use greenboard nor any plasterboard or drywall as the protective surround for a dug well. That material will not endure outdoor exposure to the weather and it also lacks adequate strength to assure a safe barrier.
A lot depends on whether the damage is entirely above ground or whether the sides of the dug well below ground are damaged and to caving in. Obviously above ground is easier to repair on site. Perhaps you can post photos, one per comment, so that we can see the situation there.
I don"t know for sure what"s happening but I suspect that something is temporarily draining the aquifer that is supplying your shallow well. The effect could be weather related, not just dry or wet spells that affect the groundwater level but even more-subtle changes such as in barometric pressure.
At an old well that served for years but now lacks water, we might ask what has changed. Global warming, changes in weather, may lower an aquifer such that the supply to your well is now "on edge" and is more-obviously impacted by barometric pressure or other variables.
We have a 15 ft dug well. We went to bed and the water in the well was almost overflowing. We woke up the next morning and the cut off valve had kicked in because the water level was so low. It rained all night. There was no water being used. The pump never turned on. We had a plumber come in and he said there are no leaks in your lines.
Your pump is working fine. The well still didn"t seem to want to recover. We turned off the breaker and the well recovered to full in two hours. We turned the breaker back on and turned the pump on and for the next two months no water issues.
Well always full to overflowing. Last night went to bed lots of water in well, no water used, this morning we have no water. Pump turned off because water level drained to cut off valve. What is going on? Why is our water disappearing? It is not coming in to the house.
It may be possible to make minor repairs to the surround for your well, but take great care not to enter, nor fall into the well, as obviously that would be fatal.
You should also make some diagnosis of why the existing masonry wall is failing, so that that underlying problem is corrected. Otherwise you"re wasting your effort.
If you post some photos, one per comment, I may be able to offer more specific suggestions. Without knowing the present construction and materials it does not seem useful for me to propose specific repair items or methods. For example, I don"t know if your well surround is made of stone or concrete or concrete block or something else.
MY dug well that has an above-ground protecting wall and a cover over the actual well opening is in my bard yard across a stream no equipment can get to it, the wall is splitting and cracking and falling on the ground can I repair this and how
Water in a hand dug well or even a bored well can freeze, depending on the climate, air temperature, and distance from the surface of the water to the ground surface. It"s not common but can happen, especially in very cold weather and where the well water level is close to the ground surface/.
Then in cold weather that dug well water may freeze. The ice on the dug well water will be of course at the surface; it might be just a skim coat that your character can break through by dropping a heavy bucket down into the well (on a rope of course) to fetch water.
But in prolonged very cold weather the surface water in the dug well could freeze to inches or even more. and in unusual cases might be so thick that people would have to look elsewhere for their water.
So if the top of your well water is just 2 feet below the ground surface in New England, or just four feet below ground surface in Two Harbors Minnesota, in very cold winter weather the well top may freeze solid.
... protect all wells from freezing, mowing, livestock, etc., by enclosing the well within an insulated well house. ... https://efotg.sc.egov.usda.gov/references/public/AL/642_Water_Well.pdf
Forgive me Sharon but it"s not both a spring and a well; If the water source is a spring, perhaps feeding water into a springhouse from which water is pumped to cisterns serving each home, it is, in almost all locations in the world, impossible to guarantee that that water remains potable - free from bacteria or other contaminants, as it"s exposed to surface waters and runoff;
The well I believe could be another 5-6" deeper. this would put us well into the water table and would provide better capacity during dry periods where the water table has dropped. I believe it was only made 15" deep as that was as far as the back hoe could reach when they dug the well.
It may be possible to return a dug well to service but I can"t estimate the cost because I have no idea of the conditions. You need a secure well-structure, a safe well cover, and of course you need water in your well.
I have an abandoned dug water well that was dug many years ago. I wish to get it operative with possibly a hand pump. Can it be done and at what cost?
And though it can be a costly survey, ground penetrating radar has been used for determining the depth to water, as you can read in Johnson 1992. That survey combined use of ground penetrating radar and also measurement of water levels at local ponds in the area of study. That data permitted a map of the water table. But be sure to take a look at the abstract that we quote below.
Hengari, Gideon M., Carlton R. Hall, Tim J. Kozusko, and Charles R. Bostater. "Use of ground penetrating radar for determination of water table depth and subsurface soil characteristics at Kennedy Space Center." In Earth Resources and Environmental Remote Sensing/GIS Applications IV, vol. 8893, p. 889318. International Society for Optics and Photonics, 2013.
Johnson, David G., USE OF GROUND-PENETRATING RADAR FOR WATER-TABLE MAPPING, BREWSTER AND HARWICH, MASSACHUSETTS [PDF] (1992), USGS, U.S. Geological Survey, Water-Resources Investigation Report 90-4086, Prepared In Cooperation With The
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"Comparison of large and small diameter wells", Natural Resources Management & Environment Department, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO Corporate Document Repository - Self-Help Wells - see http://www.fao.org/docrep/X5567E/x5567e04.htm
Access Water Energy, PO Box 2061, Moorabbin, VIC 3189, Australia, Tel: 1300 797 758, email: sales@accesswater.com.au Moorabbin Office: Kingston Trade Centre, 100 Cochranes Rd, Moorabbin, VIC 3189
Australian supplier of: Greywater systems, Solar power to grid packages, Edwards solar systems, Vulcan compact solar systems, water & solar system pumps & controls, and a wide rage of above ground & under ground water storage tanks: concrete, steel, plastic, modular, and bladder storage tanks. wners
Typical Shallow Well One Line Jet Pump Installation, Grove Electric, G&G Electric & Plumbing, 1900 NE 78th St., Suite 101, Vancouver WA 98665 www.grovelectric.com - web search -7/15/2010 original source: http://www.groverelectric.com/howto/38_Typical%20Jet%20Pump%20Installation.pdf, [Copy on file as /water/Jet_Pump_Grove_Elect_Jet_Pumps.pdf ] -
This well-focused, up-to-date reference details the current medical uses of antiseptics and disinfectants -- particularly in the control of hospital-acquired infections -- presenting methods for evaluating products to obtain regulatory approval and examining chemical, physical, and microbiological properties as well as the toxicology of the most widely used commercial chemicals.
When Technology Fails, Matthew Stein, Chelsea Green Publisher, 2008,493 pages. ISBN-10: 1933392452 ISBN-13: 978-1933392455, "... how to find and sterilize water in the face of utility failure, as well as practical information for dealing with water-quality issues even when the public tap water is still flowing". Mr. Stein"s website is www.whentechfails.com/
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Drilling a well by hand is a lot of work, but it can be done with the right equipment. Whether you’re looking to drill a shallow or deep well, this skill is perfect for those seeking self-reliance.
Wells are normally drilled on private land where city or rural water isn’t available. It’s possible to hire a licensed professional to provide this service but you can expect to spend several thousand dollars. If you want to save money, you can do it yourself, but prior to getting started, you need to research local regulations.
Once you receive a green light to move forward, it’s time to learn more about your land. Go to thecounty agriculture extension office to find out what soil type you have. This could include sand, clay, rock, or a combination.
The local courthouse may also have well drilling logs from professional well drillers. These will include things like when they hit first water, what type of soil condition they encountered, and how deep they drilled the well. This could be helpful information but do remember that every property is different. The very first step might be determining how deep you need to drill.
The final thing to do before drilling is to contact utility companies to make sure you don’t hit any underground pipes or lines. Sometimes this information can be found on your original land plot, but it’s always good to double-check.
Drilling a shallow well is a pretty simple task, going down about 25 feet or so when you hit first water (at least in my location). This type of well could be drilled in a weekend by hand using a general purpose, extendable post-hole auger.
This type of well can be cased off with a manual pump and used for irrigation. This would be more of an emergency setup that could also provide water needs at a weekend cabin in the countryside.
Shallow wells have a difficult time keeping up with average water usage. It’s estimated each person uses between 80 and 100 gallons of water a day. Imagine storing 20, 5-gallon jugs a day per person.
Professional well diggers will often recommend a depth of 200 feet or more, but remember, for hundreds of years every well in this country was hand-dug and that’s how people survived.
In addition to the drill, you’ll also need a very powerful air compressor to run the equipment. These can easily cost two or three times as much as the drill. A couple of ways to keep costs down include purchasing a used compressor, or purchasing a new one and then after the project is completed, selling the almost-new equipment for a few hundred dollars less than what you paid.
This brings us to the drill setup. This will require a day of planning before drilling begins. Most home improvement stores will carry almost everything you need.
Step 1: After purchasing the necessary supplies and choosing the drill location, begin digging the main drill hole with an auger or post-hole digger. Dig about 4 or 5 feet. Then, if necessary, cut the 8-inch PVC to fit the hole, allowing 4 inches to stick above ground. In the side of the PVC pipe aligned with the settling pond (see Step 2), drill a hole large enough to insert the 2-inch connecting PVC pipe.
Step 2: Dig a shallow settling pond 10 feet behind the well, no less than 4 feet across. Then dig a shallow 8-inch ditch connecting the pond to the well hole. Connect these spaces with 2-inch PVC pipe and cover. This pipe will transfer clean water from the pond to the drill hole. The pipe opening in the pond will need covering with netting so debris doesn’t flow back into the well.
Step 4: Attach 1-inch PVC pipe to the pneumatic drill using PVC glue and secure with duct tape to prevent leaks. Use a marker every 5 to 10 feet so you can keep track of how far down you have drilled. Rest the other end of attached PVC pipe in the 55-gallon drum. While the drill is running, mud and water will enter the pipe through small holes above the drill and be pushed up by the compressed air, traveling through the pipe into the drum and settling pond to be cycled back into the well hole.
Note: Depending on your soil type, you may not need the 8-inch PVC. Our soil, for example, is hard clay and stable enough to keep the hole from collapsing without the pipe.
Drilling a well with this tool can take anywhere from 15 hours to weeks depending on the soil type, so make sure a chair is handy and you’re working with at least three people. One to operate the compressor, another to drill, and a third for breaks.
The air supply to the drill should never be turned off while the drill is underwater. If this happens, you’ll have to stop drilling and clean the motor before starting back up. This can take time and delay progress, which means it’s important that your drill team understands the process from start to finish.
Begin by filling the well hole with water. Turn the drill on before inserting, and then begin drilling. The bit will drill through all soil types, but when it hits clay or rock the process will slow down. Don’t get frustrated, just keep drilling and, before you know it, first water will be hit.
Move the drill in an up, down, and side-to-side motion as this will help the drill drive through the soil. The motion should be constant but not forceful; the drill will do the work. When you reach the point of needing to add more pipe, pull the running drill from the hole and, once it’s out of the water, turn the air pressure off. As you add pipe, secure each addition with PVC glue.
Add the next several feet of pipe and start again. Once the desired depth is reached, it’s time to case off the well. Casing is a matter of inserting SDR 35 pipe and securing in place with pea gravel and concrete. To do so, drill a hole through both sidewalls of the first piece of pipe, 2 or 3 inches from the bottom so you can attach the rope to lower the pipe into the well. When the top of the pipe is even with the ground, apply PVC glue and attach the next piece of pipe. Let dry for 15 minutes and then continue to lower down and add pieces as you go to meet the depth of the well. The last piece of pipe will be cut about 3 feet above ground level and capped off.
Pour pea gravel between the casing and the dirt. Next, mix the concrete and pour between the ground and casing. This will prevent the well from becoming contaminated from runoff. Once this is complete and you’ve added a well pump, you’ll need to run the well for a couple of days until the water is clear, and it’s always a good idea to get the water tested before using it for drinking.
Drilling a well can be a long process, but if you can save money and learn a new skill at the same time, why not give it a try? It’s a matter of getting back to basics and doing more for yourself.
Install the pump as close to the bottom of the well as possible during the flushing stage. For fractured or very porous rock formations, it may be necessary to move the pump up and down the length of the exposed borehole to assure water movement into the entire well bore.
Generally, the longer the flushing time, the better. A suggested minimum is to pump until at least 20 casing volumes have discharged from the well. For example: A 100-foot deep 5-inch well has a casing volume of 100 gallons. A minimum of 2,000 gallons of water (20 casing volumes times 100 gallons) should be flushed from the well.
In some cases, flushing without further chlorination has been effective in correcting contamination problems. Some local health departments have found that allowing water to discharge from a garden hose continuously for a period of at least 24 hours or more has corrected the contamination problem without the need to treat with chlorine. The hose is discharged into a roadside ditch or into the yard away from any on-site sewage disposal system. Open the sill cock valve all the way during the flushing stage.
A water sample should be collected from the water supply after the flushing period to determine if the flushing process has corrected the bacterial contamination problem. If coliform bacteria are not present in the water sample analyzed, the flushing may have successfully disinfected the water supply. However, a second water sample is recommended approximately one week later to verify that the bacterial contamination problem has been corrected.
The initial discharge of water from a recently chlorinated well may contain elevated levels of chlorine and chlorination byproducts. Do not run the water into a surface water body. Avoid flushing for long periods if discharge water will flow onto neighboring property or roadways, or otherwise create a nuisance condition.