# Still smell clorox in the water



## kelly3400

Hi. I'm new to this thread. I'm hoping to get an answer to a question that I cannot find anywhere on the internet. My boyfriend shocked our well because we had our water tested and there was bacteria. We were told the water was safe to drink but that before getting a UV light or anything else that's costly we should shock the well. We went by the instructions of the professional and what we've read on the internet that were all similar as to how to shock it properly. The only problem is - it's been two days and there is still the smell of chlorine in our water. Everywhere I've read it says to run the water out of a hose until you don't smell chlorine anymore. We couldn't drain the well dry in the process. Why does it still smell of clorox? How long will it take to go away? Is this normal?? Thank you


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## Well_Driller

Just keep pumping the well and it will flush out. Make sure you run all the taps in the house to get it flushed out of all the plumbing including the hot water, but first keep running the garden hose until it goes away. Then flush out the taps in the house.


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## kelly3400

Or maybe we shouldn't have run the taps in the house until it was completely out of the hose?


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## kelly3400

For some reason my last comment didn't post - I also said that I hadn't run the hot water when flushing the taps in the house. The only hot water used was to get a shower.


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## ONEOLDCHIEF

It takes a few days for the shock to dissapate. I have poured bleach into our water barrels and it took a week and a half before the smell became week. 
Good luck...


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## JayJay

Can you add Tang to camouflage the smell?? If it's your drinking water?
Vitamin C and I like the taste.
I have lots and lots of Tang, Country Time, instant tea, instant coffee, Koolaid mix, and tropical punch drink mix... for this problem if I have it, just in case the Berkey doesn't filter, the extra filters fail, and I must use pool shock.


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## Well_Driller

kelly3400 said:


> For some reason my last comment didn't post - I also said that I hadn't run the hot water when flushing the taps in the house. The only hot water used was to get a shower.


When you do the shock treatment on a well you're supposed to make sure the chlorine goes through all the plumbing in the house hot & cold before you let it set for 24hrs. This is to make sure all the bacteria is killed throughout the entire water system. Best place to flush the well out once you're done is by putting a hose on the tap at the pressure tank and running the water until it no longer smells. Then flush it from the rest of the plumbing. A garden hose can typically run 6 gal/minute so if the well holds a lot of water it might take several hours of pumping.


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## Well_Driller

JayJay said:


> Can you add Tang to camouflage the smell?? If it's your drinking water?
> Vitamin C and I like the taste.
> I have lots and lots of Tang, Country Time, instant tea, instant coffee, Koolaid mix, and tropical punch drink mix... for this problem if I have it, just in case the Berkey doesn't filter, the extra filters fail, and I must use pool shock.


If you drink the water then you better make sure the chlorine is at a safe level or it will make you sick.....


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## kelly3400

Well_Driller - thank you for all your advice...All I know is that my boyfriend listened to the professional who tested our water. I know I've heard every step he took so far sounds correct but am not sure if he opened the hot water. We did leave it set for 24 hours. We ran the garden hose down our driveway. I live in a mobile home. I wasn't told anything about pumping it out from pressure tank. Also, we have a hot water heater. I don't know if this makes a difference in anything. We are not drinking the water. The most we've done is used it to shower. 
I suppose when I get home from work I'll run the outside water for a longer period of time. Like I said, I am afraid to drain the well. 
Oneoldchief - I am totally hoping you are right!! My boyfriend told me to chill out & it will eventually go away. 
JayJay - TANG? The funny thing is I haven't bought tang since my kids were little and I just bought some yesterday to mix a yucky tasting medicine in. Maybe it's a sign, lol. 
All I want to know is will the clorox smell eventually work itself out? I get overly paranoid when it comes to trying new things around the house.


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## TheLazyL

Chlorine in its natural state is a gas.

Fill a glass container up with water and put in the refrigerator (I prefer cold water) before you go to bed. 

Next morning you will see bubbles attached to the side of the glass container. Those bubbles are chlorine gas. Tap the sides of the container to “release” the gas.


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## kelly3400

TheLazyL - you confused me, lol


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## TheLazyL

kelly3400 said:


> TheLazyL - you confused me, lol


If you smell chlorine in your drinking water, leaving the water in a container for a period of time will allow the chlorine to evaporate.


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## kelly3400

OOOOHHHH! Thank you for elaborating  And we won't drink the water until we're sure all of the chlorine is out of it. Everyone has been such a help on here. I will let you all know how I make out. We're going to see if there's a way to hook up the hose to the pressure pump.


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## Well_Driller

kelly3400 said:


> Well_Driller - thank you for all your advice...All I know is that my boyfriend listened to the professional who tested our water. I know I've heard every step he took so far sounds correct but am not sure if he opened the hot water. We did leave it set for 24 hours. We ran the garden hose down our driveway. I live in a mobile home. I wasn't told anything about pumping it out from pressure tank. Also, we have a hot water heater. I don't know if this makes a difference in anything. We are not drinking the water. The most we've done is used it to shower.
> I suppose when I get home from work I'll run the outside water for a longer period of time. Like I said, I am afraid to drain the well.


If you don't have a tap at the pressure tank just use the outside tap. The clorox can't stay in there forever so don't worry about it. If you do pump the well down it will come back just shut the water off, but if you've pumped it for several hours and not run out it must be a pretty good well. It usually doesn't take very long to pump the chlorine out of a well that doesn't produce much water....


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## JayJay

TheLazyL said:


> If you smell chlorine in your drinking water, leaving the water in a container for a period of time will allow the chlorine to evaporate.


I do remember letting water set overnight to water my plants with..years ago.


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## kelly3400

Well we've pumped it for several hours but not all at one shot. Like I said, I was afraid to drain the well. I guess you're right, it can't stay in there forever but it certainly smells like it wants to! We're going to pump it again now. My boyfriend is going to check if we have a tap on the pressure tank. Wish us luck! I'll check back in a few hours. If that don't work I can always throw some tang in the well. haha - sorry - I did get a laugh out of that one. Thanks again for the advice.


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## kelly3400

I think it's getting better


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## kelly3400

YAY - we are chlorine free  I think pumping it from the hose at a faster pace & letting it run longer helped. Plus, we turned on the hot water this time. Well_Driller TY


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