[JeffJordan]

Okay - we got water run to the house we are building - had to run a line about 500 yards from the old house to the new. The well is about 3/4 mile from the old house and thus about a mile from the new one. The guy put in a 1 1/4" PVC pipe and actually used 12' segments glued together. That was about 3 weeks ago. I finally got a valve on the end of the pipe and turned the water on today at the connection at the old house. WOW, the smell out of the line. At first I thought it was the PVC cement as air blew out for about 3 minutes - then a spurt of water and... nothing - pipe stopped up on the valve I put on - I took a screwdriver, stuck it in and TWO DEAD ROTTEN MICE CAME OUT :eek: - obviously they were in one of the pipes he put in -- No one knows this but me - and I have to figure out what to do to disinfect the pipe or I will never be able to drink the water …..

The only place to get to the pipe is at the well where there is a small - 15 or 20 gallon pressure tank. So what do I do? Can I pour bleach into the well - seems like not a good idea. Or how would I get bleach in the line - the well pump is a submerged pump down in the hole. Or do I need to do something else – not bleach and how do I get it flushed through a mile of PVC pipe? I ran about 500 gallons of water through the pipe today out into the back of the yard. Does not seem to smell now, but I cannot drink it... :(

[speedball1]

Hey Jef,
When I got through gagging I reread your complaint. You have a bladder tank
Near the well head you also have a check valve in the suction line to prevent the water from running back into the well and lose prime. You do have options here. You can remove the bladder tank and load the discharge line up with a bleach solution and then pump it throughg the discharge line or you could cut the line and fill the line with a bleach solution and let it set over night in the morning drain the line, connect it back and flush it out with the pump. Remember it's only the discharge line that's contaminated so that's the line to concentrate on. Good luck and I'm not sure that even disinfecting the line would stop me from buying bottled water. And one more thing. I'd keep the dead critters between us. I for sure wouldn't share this with my family. Good luck, Tom

[JeffJordan]

If I unhook the line upstream of the bladder tank, it is about 1 mile to the house and it is uphill somewhat so I will have about 336 gallons of water run back through the pipe and into the aea where the well/tank sits (bascially in a concrete bunker area). I cannot force anything into the line unless I empy it I assume - maybe I could empty it above ground level with an attachemnt to the end of the pipe and gravity pushing the water out (or a lot of it). The weight of 336 gallons of water in the pipe would create a heck of a pressure at the well the minute I unhook it...

I assume if I can find a way to get 5 gallons of bleach into the line and turn the water back on - it will bascially push the 5 gallons through the line, diluting it some... No idea if that is enough or not. But will the bleach wash out compeltely from the line or will water taste like bleach?

[speedball1]

"the weight of 336 gallons of water in the pipe would create a heck of a pressure at the well the minute I unhook it."...

True, you would have 336 gallons of water in the pipe but the pressure of those 336 galons will be determined by the height of top end of the pipe not the volume in the pipe. If you wish to figure it out for yourself it's .434 PSI for every foot of elevation. For every 10 feet of fall you'll have a little less then 4 1/2 pounds of head pressure.

"will the bleach wash out compeltely from the line or will water taste like bleach"
The bleach will disinfect the pipes and the bleach taste will wash out of the pipes. Good luck, Tom