Frequently askedwell & water questions.

These instructions are provided as a courtesy by Cribley Drilling Co. based on our experience with well chlorination. There is no guarantee that chlorination will solve your well issues and you may have to repeat this process. We suggest consulting a professional well drilling company about your well's symptoms before chlorinating. Cribley Drilling Company, Inc. accepts no responsibility for the outcome of this procedure. Proceed at your own risk.

1. Bypass your water softener and turn off feed water to any point-of-use drinking water systems (such as reverse osmosis).
2. Turn off power to the well pump at the circuit breaker.
3. Remove the well cap:
   • If the well cap has three or four set screws around the top, this is a job you can do yourself.
   • If it has one large bolt in the center of the cap, DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS SERVICE YOURSELF!Contact a licensed well contractor to do it for you. If you are in doubt, get as much information off the top of the well as you can (dimensions, number of wires, and pictures if possible), give us a call at (734) 426-4400, and we will advise whether you should attempt this yourself.
4. Add chlorine to the annular space of the well (see Figure 1 & 2). Do not add chlorine to the center pipe of the well:
   • For steel-cased wells: Use approximately one cup of granulated chlorine.DO NOT use liquid chlorine bleach on steel casing — it can break loose corrosion from the casing which may damage the pump.
   • For PVC-cased wells: You may use either granulated chlorine (preferred) or one quart of liquid chlorine bleach. Most hardware or pool supply stores carry granular chlorine, or you can pick it up at our Dexter office free of charge.
5. Secure the cap back onto the wellhead.
6. Turn on power to the well at the breaker.
7. Run cold water until every tap in the home smells like chlorine:
   • Begin with outside garden hoses to minimize chlorine dumped into your septic system. Run hoses as far from the foundation of the home as possible and turn them off as soon as the water smells like chlorine.
   • Run cold water in every tap inside the house until the water smells like chlorine (faucets, showerheads, toilets, and tubs). Iron may be released from the well and plug up aerators — remove aerators from taps beforehand to keep them clean.
8. Allow water to sit undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours. DO NOT USE ANY WATER AT THIS TIME!
   • Steel-cased wells should only sit with chlorine for 12 hours at a time, while PVC-cased wells may sit for several days if necessary.
9. Purge water from the house and well. First run outside hoses simultaneously until the water no longer smells like chlorine, then run cold water through every indoor tap until the chlorine odor is gone. Reinstall your faucet aerators.
10. If taking a coliform bacteria water test: Take it after full purging while the water conditioner is still bypassed. Otherwise, return your water softener to service and turn the feed line back on for any drinking water filters.

The object of this test is to make sure the well is free from coliform. Coliform is a common indicator bacteria which is easier to test for than other types of bacteria like E. coli.

1. Make sure you have completely purged the system of any chlorine. If the lab detects any chlorine, they will not test your sample. Purging chlorine can take anywhere from two to six hours (possibly more). If you smell chlorine, keep running the tap until you cannot smell it anymore.
2. Make sure your water conditioner is bypassed.
3. Identify a good faucet to take your sample from. We recommend using a laundry wash sink. Good faucets should be all metal for easier sanitizing, not be used for food preparation, and not have an aerator or screen (or have the screen removed).
4. Sanitize your sample faucet. If your faucet is metal, heat the spout with a propane torch or lighter for a few seconds (keep the flame in constant motion and do not heat until it glows). If using a faucet with plastic components, swab the end of the faucet with rubbing alcohol.
5. Run water for one hour before taking any water samples. Allow the sample tap to run undisturbed at ½ to ¾ speed — do not adjust the tap at all until after the sample is taken. Running two outside hoses at full speed for an hour beforehand also helps flush the well.
6. Collect water in a sample bottle obtained from your local county health department. Do not open the bottle until the moment you take the sample, do not set the cap on any surface, wear clean nitrile gloves and a mask, and fill the bottle in a single pass.
7. Immediately transport the sample to your county health department in a small cooler.
8. If you have already submitted more than one sample, ask the lab if they will give you a bacteria count so you can tell whether you are making progress.

Not likely. In Michigan, we are fortunate to have an abundant supply of water in huge interconnected aquifers that are continually replenished by water filtering through the ground. Most wells in Michigan don't go dry — instead, well screens become clogged with mineral deposits over long periods of time and do not produce as much water as they once did. When this occurs, the well can often be cleaned or blown out to restore flow.

In most cases, it is best to have your well drilled before constructing a new home so the house has water as soon as possible. The latest the well should be drilled is during the drywall stage of construction.

Washtenaw County "Well-First" Townships: Some areas in Washtenaw County are designated "well-first" by the health department. These sites must have a completed well (not including the permanent pump or underground water line to the house) before you can obtain a building permit. Augusta, Superior, and York Townships are designated well-first, along with portions of other townships in Washtenaw County. Check with the county health department or call our office to verify your parcel.

The best way is by reputation. Ask a friend or neighbor who has had a well drilled — they will often have a clear opinion about their experience. Price comparison is helpful, but should not be your only deciding factor; your well is one of the most critical infrastructure systems of your home. Evaluate how the company presents itself, its history in your township, and its standing with the county and state environmental health department.

Groundwater in southeast Michigan is generally very safe and dependable, and water testing is required before most homes are sold. If you suspect your water source has changed or been contaminated, have the water tested through your county health department (most commonly for coliform bacteria, arsenic, and nitrates) or through a certified private laboratory for comprehensive mineral and contaminant panels.

A water conditioner contains millions of poppy-seed-sized beads made of negatively charged polystyrene resin that naturally attract positively charged hardness ions like calcium and magnesium. As water flows through the resin bed, the beads exchange sodium or potassium for the hardness minerals.

When the resin bed has used the majority of its capacity, a metered softener regenerates automatically (typically at 2:00 AM) in five stages:

1. Backwash cycle (~10 minutes): Water is pumped down the center distributor tube and up through the bed to flush sediment.
2. Brine & rinse cycle: Brine solution is drawn from the salt tank so sodium or potassium exchanges with the captured iron and hardness on the resin beads.
3. Rapid rinse cycle (~8 minutes): Fresh water rinses downward through the resin bed and out the drain.
4. Brine refill cycle: Water is added to the salt tank to dissolve new brine for the next regeneration.
5. Service cycle: The control valve returns to service, delivering soft water throughout the home.

Quicksilver Up-Flow Brining: Our Quicksilver Water Systems introduce brine from the bottom of the resin bed instead of the top, resulting in roughly one-third less salt used per regeneration.

Yes, though while a single-tank water softener is regenerating, any water drawn in the house will bypass the resin bed and not be softened. Because single-tank units typically regenerate at 2:00 AM, this rarely conflicts with daily use. Twin-tank softeners (The Twin) have a second backup resin tank, delivering soft water 24/7 without interruption.

Most average households use 1 to 2 bags of salt per month. A properly calibrated softener is tuned to your water's exact hardness and iron content: a single-occupant home may use 15–20 pounds per month, while a family of six may use 60–80 pounds per month. Once we test your water and select your equipment, we can give you an accurate monthly salt estimate.

Water softeners can remove modest amounts of clear, dissolved ferrous iron when iron-removing salt is used. Higher iron levels — or water with ferric rust staining or iron bacteria — require dedicated in-line pre-treatment ahead of the softener, such as our chemical-freeQuicksilver Rustbuster (rated up to 25 PPM iron).

A quality, properly maintained Quicksilver Reverse Osmosissystem reduces most dissolved contaminants — including sodium added during water softening — by90% to 95%. Reverse osmosis is also effective against arsenic, fluoride, radium, sulfate, potassium, nitrates, and total dissolved solids.

Sodium added by water softening is modest compared to everyday food intake and depends directly on how hard your water was to begin with. To estimate milligrams of sodium in an 8-ounce glass of softened water, multiply your water's hardness in grains per gallon by 1.8:

For example, the Mayo Clinic estimates that water with an initial hardness of 7 grains per gallon contains about 12.5 mg of sodium per 8-ounce glass. By comparison, a single slice of white bread contains roughly 140 mg of sodium, and a slice of pizza averages 640 mg. If you are on a strict low-sodium diet, pairing your softener with an under-sink Reverse Osmosis drinking system removes 90%–95% of that sodium.