Well owner guides

How to Shock a Well, Step by Step

How to shock a well the traditional chlorine way and the chlorine dioxide way: sizing the dose to your well, running the treatment, and proving it held with a residual test.

Iron Bacteria in Well Water: the Orange Slime, Explained

Orange slime in the toilet tank and rusty stains are iron bacteria building biofilm in your well. Why bleach keeps failing on it, and what removes the colony instead of its surface.

Rotten Egg Smell in Well Water: Causes and the Fix

A rotten egg smell comes from hydrogen sulfide gas. One quick test tells you whether the source is your well or your water heater, and each has a different fix.

Coliform Bacteria in Well Water: What a Positive Test Means

What total coliform and E. coli results actually mean, what to do the day the test comes back positive, and how to shock the well and retest so it stays clean.

Low Water Pressure From a Well: Causes and Fixes

Weak water pressure on a well usually means a clogged system, a tired pressure tank, or a pump problem. How to tell which one you have, and what iron bacteria has to do with it.

Cloudy Well Water: Why It Happens and What Fixes It

Cloudy or murky well water comes from air, sediment, or a disturbed well. The glass test that tells you which, and when cloudiness means the well needs attention.

Rust Stains From Well Water: Stop the Orange Staining

Orange and brown stains on fixtures, tubs, and laundry come from iron in your well water, dissolved, particulate, or living as iron bacteria. Each kind has a different fix.

Black Slime on Faucets: What It Is and How to Get Rid of It

That black gunk on aerators and in the toilet tank is usually manganese plus bacteria living in your plumbing and well. What it means and how to clear it out at the source.

Metallic Taste in Well Water: Causes and the Fix

Well water that tastes like metal usually carries iron or manganese, and sometimes a low pH that is dissolving your own pipes. How to pin down the cause and clear it.

Well Water Smells Like Sulfur in the Morning: Why, and the Fix

A rotten egg smell that shows up only in the morning points at water sitting overnight, in your water heater or your well. The two-faucet test that finds the source, and the fix for each.

Hot Water Smells Like Rotten Eggs: The Water Heater Fix

When only the hot water smells like rotten eggs, the water heater is making the gas. Why the anode rod is usually the cause, the three fixes that work, and how to tell when the smell is really the well.

Well Water Test Kit Guide: What to Test For, and How to Read Results

What a well water test kit should cover (coliform, nitrate, pH, iron, hardness), when a home kit is enough and when you need a certified lab, and what each failing result means for your well.

Well Service Near Me: What a Service Call Covers, and the Part You Can Do Yourself

What well service companies do on a visit, which jobs need a licensed pro, what a well cleaning runs versus pump work, and the one job on that list a homeowner can do for 1/3 of the price.

Well Maintenance Checklist: The Yearly Routine That Keeps a Well Clean

A private well maintenance checklist: the yearly water test, the wellhead walk, the pressure tank air-charge check, pump warning signs, and when a cleaning is due. Most of it costs nothing.

Well Inspection When Buying a House: What Gets Checked, and What to Do If It Fails

What a well inspection covers in a real estate sale (flow test, equipment check, water quality panel), what lenders ask for, and how a failed bacteria test gets fixed before closing.

Iron Filter for Well Water: When You Need One, and What to Do First

Which iron filter fits which kind of iron (dissolved, particulate, or iron bacteria), why filters clog on a slimed well, and the cleaning that should come before the filter.

Well Shock Kits Compared: Bleach, Pellets, Pro Service, and Ours

Every way to shock a well, compared on what you get: the $45 chlorine sanitizer packs, plain bleach, a contractor visit, and a chlorine dioxide kit sized to your well record.

Chlorine Dioxide vs Bleach for Well Shocking

The chemistry behind the two ways to shock a well: how chlorine dioxide and chlorine bleach differ on killing power, pH, biofilm, byproducts, and what each one ships in a kit.