Well Water Chlorinator
I bought a home with a well water chlorinator system. I need to refill the solutions tank and don't have any real instructions. The former owner told me to fill it with three bottles of household bleach and the rest in water. My question...in the bottom of the solutions tank, there is some brownish, crytallized looking gunk. Is that residue from the iron-heavy water and do I dump all that BEFORE I add the solution, or does it stay in there? I'd clean it out. It has no use and is only a contaminate. Then, the normal dilution is 1:5 I always thought... That's one gallon of bleach (non fragranced, etc.) to 5 gallons of water. So, depending on the size of the container you have.. The key is to NOT have a chlorine smell to the water once it gets to your house. You can trial and error it from wherever you want until you find just the right amount so that any more concentration of bleach results in a chlorine smell to the water. Then you know you have it right. One gallon bleach to five gallons water...gotcha. I don't know how many gallons the tank holds but I'll find out. Thanks MD for your help. I cleaned it out and put in the water/bleach. It seemed to work for awhile. Now, I have a suspicion that the chlorinator isn't working. All I have is the maintenance manual for some reason and all it does is talk about initial installation. To test for operation it says I need, the proper testing equipment. The water seems to have a sulpher smell sometimes and no chlorine smell. When the well pump runs, I usually hear the chlorinator run as well, but lately, I haven't heard it. The amount in the holding tank is less than when I started, but lately I can't tell if any more has gone through. Tonight, I plan to mark the water level and see if it has dropped. In the meantime, does anyone know test the thing to make sure it's working? The chlorinator should be wired so that it runs when the well pump runs. Simply start the water running outside and wait until the well pump cuts on. Does the chlorinator pump run also? Even if it does, the chlorinator pumps the solution into a small tube and injects it into the main well pump drop pipe before the check valve (if you have one above ground.) That injector commonly gets clogged. You simply need to remove the injector and clean it. If you can, run the chlorinator pump with the injector removed to see the solution being pumped through the injector. Originally Posted by mdtaylor The chlorinator should be wired so that it runs when the well pump runs. Simply start the water running outside and wait until the well pump cuts on. Does the chlorinator pump run also? Even if it does, the chlorinator pumps the solution into a small tube and injects it into the main well pump drop pipe before the check valve (if you have one above ground.) That injector commonly gets clogged. You simply need to remove the injector and clean it. If you can, run the chlorinator pump with the injector removed to see the solution being pumped through the injector. Thanks, I'll figure out which one goes to the drop pipe. Will it hurt if air gets into it? Should I disconnect at the pump or at the drop pipe? (it's above ground). Or try both? Maybe a picture would help... a chlorine injection system usually has a small pump with a 1/4 or 3/8 line sucking the chlorine solution and a similar sized line (very flexible) that runs over and taps into your pipe just before you well water enters your tank. Take it loose there. The injector in screwed into the larger pipe and has the small tubing attached to it. If you have a jet pump then you may quite likely loose a prime, and you may even have tank pressure on that line all the time. Use caution. You may need to relieve the pressure on your tank. I found out it's only seven months old so I'm trying to get the guy that installed it out there. In the meantime, I took that hose off and nothing...just seems dead. Originally Posted by Needtawrite I found out it's only seven months old so I'm trying to get the guy that installed it out there. In the meantime, I took that hose off and nothing...just seems dead. The guy came out and replace it for free. Now, I have a different problem. I have a whole house water filter (one of those blue casings). I replaced the filter awhile back and am experiencing a weird problem. After less than a week, the water flow into the house slows to a trickle. I changed the house water filter again it worked fine...for awhile. Now, it's slowed again. The problem is somewhere in the filter setup. I've been trying to research into what would cause it but, no luck. Any ideas? I'm thinking the filter is the wrong one. After that week what does your filter look like? It obviously sounds like you have solids that your filter is trapping and it's clogging the filter. The fix would depend on what the filter is trapping. You may need a sand filter or a smaller screen on your well. Sometimes a series of progressively smaller strainers and filters will cure the problem. The real key is to attack the problem at it's source. You just need to find the source. Originally Posted by mdtaylor After that week what does your filter look like? It obviously sounds like you have solids that your filter is trapping and it's clogging the filter. The fix would depend on what the filter is trapping. You may need a sand filter or a smaller screen on your well. Sometimes a series of progressively smaller strainers and filters will cure the problem. The real key is to attack the problem at it's source. You just need to find the source. Thank you, I know it's hard to tell without looking at it. I believe I have the wrong filter (less than 20 microns) so I'll try a different one.
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