Testing well water?

[EdKuhn]

So I have a free source of water for periodic fills, that being a well next door that I can tap into if needed. Now, last year when the well became available, I topped off the pool one night and the next morning there was fine black material all over the bottom of the pool (manganese?) and the FC was down to near zero. I freaked and haven't considered using that well water since. We use it for garden watering only but I'm tempted to explore using it for pool stuff since it's so convenient (and free). For a rudimentary demand test I was thinking of just adding some bleach in a quart jar, measuring FC, and then measuring again in 10-12 hours. I guess metals would be a concern...Is there a recommended suite of tests to run to see if there is anything lurking in the water? Thanks!

 

[ajw22]

Metal tests are expensive. We usually recommend folks go to the best pool store in your area for water testing but we do for you to ask them to test the water for metals.

 

[Texas Splash]

Ed, well water is best tested for metal (iron) content before adding chlorine, so if you take a sample to the local store, make it fresh stuff. Levels over 0.3 are concerning, although remember ... it IS pool store testing. As you suggested, you could do an experiment at home. Two teaspoons of bleach should increase the FC in a 5-gallon bucket of well water to about 50. I suspect overnight you would probably start to see a reaction to iron. Try placing something in the water for the iron to precipitate to like a white piece of plastic or maybe a small white cloth? The bucket itself may also show a staining. It's a simple test. Can't hurt.

 

[EdKuhn]

DUH, I'm in the env. engineering field and I could def. take some fresh water to one of the labs that we use from time to time. So, for analysis, I'm thinking total and dissIolved iron? Mabye manganese....I don't think it would be too expensive but I can find out.

 

[Texas Splash]

I'm in the env. engineering field and I could def. take some fresh water to one of the labs that we use from time to time.

Outstanding! Doesn't get any better than that. We'll watch for your results tomorrow.

 

[EdKuhn]

Outstanding! Doesn't get any better than that. We'll watch for your results tomorrow.

Well first I need to see if I can get a favor on the analysis...results maybe in a week or two (expedited result turnaround costs more). Can't believe I didn't think of this before hah ?