These are the instructions for how to shock a well:
1. Turn off (or close) all water faucets outside and in the house so that you don’t lose pressure.
2. Tilt the top of your tank up and use a bucket or can to remove some water from it.
3. Fill up your tank from the ground valve with water from the hose or bucket, making sure that your hose is set on “jet.” It is important not to use too much water because you want to leave some room in your tank for air bubbles that come out of the ground when you shock it .
4. Open the top (tank) valve and let this water run down the outside of your well.
5. Close the tank valve so it is not draining into the ground any more, and switch on the air pump.
6. Open the ground valve on your well, making sure you are not standing in water when doing so. The pressure of the water coming out of your ground pipe will be above 30 pounds (if it is less than 30, you should shock again or call a professional). After a while, air bubbles should be seen coming up from under your ground pipe. This means that all of your water has been replaced with fresh, oxygen-rich water .
7. Close the ground valve.
8. Turn off the pump and close all faucets.
9. Open just one faucet to release all of the air pressure and then turn it off.
10. Turn on all of your outside water faucets and let everything run until you have good pressure coming out of them again, which may be a few minutes or longer depending on how much water is in your tank and how old it is .
11. Repeat step 2 every two months for best results . You can tell if your well needs shocking by testing the water from your tap . If it has an odd taste or smell, or bubbles slowly when you first turn on the water, you should probably shock it .
Tips for Shocking a Well
1. Don’t use the electric pump to shock a well. It can be dangerous.
2. If the water in your well is not bubbling when you first turn on the water, either the ground pressure is low/”dead” or your water heater has gone out and has not released any air bubbles into your tank. In either case, you will need to wait and/or call a professional to repair or replace your heat pump or hot water heater.
3. When choosing a well pump to use, do not get one directly connected to an electrical generator because they may emit toxic fumes when they start up and upon shutting down that are harmful to anyone nearby (and these fumes may contain lead which can cause brain damage in children).
4. If you are working with a well that has electricity going through it, make sure that the fuses on your electrical panel are not blown and/or that the circuit breaker is not tripped or turned off.
“New Brunswick’s Department of Natural Resources says one of the most important things people can do to protect their well water is to shock it regularly.” “Shock treatment involves adding new water from a garden hose to the top of the ground tank of a well and then flushing it down through the system with an air compressor. This replaces old water in pipes with new, oxygen-rich water.wd
