A water bore is an important part of your home irrigation system. Time, weather, over use and infrequent cleaning can all affect the frequency that you need to get your water bore cleaned. But what is a water bore cleaning, and why is it important?
Water bores that aren’t regularly cleaned can develop iron bacteria, rust and dirt build ups, and biofilm encrustations. This will not only affect the quality of the water, but it can affect the flow of water and damage the bore water pump.
But how are you supposed to know if your water bore needs cleaning, and what do you do if you see red flags in your water bore or water bore pump? Should you attempt to clean it yourself or hire a professional?
Fear not, we have put together this handy guide on everything you would need to know about bore cleaning.
Table of Contents
Why Does a Bore Hole Need Cleaning?
A bore hole needs to be cleaned to prevent hazardous build ups and maintain a certain quality of water. Iron based bacteria in particular can build up in bore holes when not properly cleaned, and can create blockages, contaminate water and reduce the life of the bore hole.
Keeping a borehole clean, well-maintained and sanitised prevents it from developing water blockages, extracting contaminated water and malfunctioning, making it a reliable and long-lasting source of water. Bore hole cleaning helps to prevent three main types of build ups:
Biofilm Build ups and Encrustations – This type of build up can lead to severe water blockages. When a water passage is blocked with an encrustation or a biofilm build up, not only would it make pumping more difficult, but it would also result in less water being extracted from the water bore.
Iron Build ups and Iron Bacteria – Iron will contaminate the water with sediments and other harmful substances, to the point where the water becomes unsafe for human use. In addition, water contamination, when not addressed immediately, contributes to water pollution that would create a more detrimental effect on the environment.
Dirt and Rust Build ups – Like the water drawn from them, the bores themselves become contaminated when you don’t clean them. Over time, when rusts start to develop and spread through the bore, its efficiency decreases which means you’ll need to spend money to replace it much sooner than necessary. Dirt and rust build ups can also cause irrigation valve problems, from simple blockages to irreparable damage.
Contamination – Contamination of bore hole water will not only compromise the quality of the water, but it can also damage irrigation filters and the rest of your sprinkler or irrigation system.
How Often Does a Bore Need Cleaning?
It’s essential to have your bore professionally maintained and cleaned every year. This will reduce iron bacteria, iron in your water and sediment in the well, which will reduce the life and quality of your bore and add to the cost of repairs and maintenance.
A water bore should be cleaned regularly, even if it has no visible damage or issues, or regardless of how clean it seems. Many suggest cleaning a perfectly functioning borehole at least once a year. But given that no two systems are the same, there is no standard rule for how often a bore should be cleaned.
For instance, a privately owned water bore used for applications like golf, sports field and commercial irrigation requires less frequent cleaning than a water bore designed for public use. The more people who use a bore, the more it is exposed to contamination and damage.
Another thing to consider is how the bore water is used. Water bores used to extract drinking water or bathing must be cleaned more often than those used as part of your irrigation system.
Signs a Water Bore Needs Cleaning
If the quality of your water bore is noticeably worse, the bore is less efficient or if it has been more than 12 months since the last cleaning are all key signs your bore needs cleaning. The smell, taste and appearance are the most obvious signs of a required bore cleaning.
Generally, a noticeable change in the efficiency of the water bore and alterations in water quality is a call for attention for cleaning a water bore.
The first sign that concerns a person whether a bore needs cleaning is the changes in water’s appearance or taste (if the water is potable). If you notice that the bore water is murkier or sediments are present, go ahead and clean your bore as it may indicate that your bore is dirty or damaged.
Another sign that a bore needs cleaning is when it pumps a lower water volume. A decrease in bore water volume may be an indication of three things: there are blockages inside the bore, there is a leakage on holes within the bore or the pump is damaged and does not function well.
Other noticeable signs that a bore needs cleaning are unfamiliar noise from the pump or boreholes, rusts, scaling, corrosion, damage brought about by natural events (such as earthquakes or storms) and pollutants in the surroundings.
How to Clean Bore Holes
Cleaning a bore hole is vital to the health of your bore system, as it prevents the build up of hazardous and toxic materials. There are several ways to clean a water bore: pressure cleaning, recirculation method, brushing and airlifting, and surging.
The first thing to remember when cleaning a borehole is to read and follow the specifications indicated by the manufacturer of the water bore you used. It gives you advice and instructions on how to maintain and clean the water bore effectively.
Jetting or pressure cleaning is the simplest and the most direct method of cleaning a water bore. It uses a high-powered compressor to pump jets of water, mixed with the recommended dose of a bore cleaning agent, from the bottom of the bore to the surface. The tremendous amount of pressure from the pump breaks down the dirt and sludge buildup inside the bore and brings them up to the surface. Using such a high pressure will create no further damage to a water bore that’s made of heavy-duty materials, such as steel and iron.
Meanwhile, on bores made of light or poor quality materials, such as plastic lining, an injector is used to release lower pressure that cleans without damaging them. Using the right pressure washing attachments is essential to properly cleaning bore holes with a pressure washer, so ensure you have chosen nozzles and attachments that are going to help you clean your bore hole properly.
If you prefer a more gentle solution, there are other ways to clean a water bore, such as the recirculation method. It is also called the ‘quick fix’ for smaller water bores. These are the steps in performing the recirculation water bore cleaning:
- Detach the discharge line from the bore and insert a pipe from the bore head, attaching it back down the casing for 1 metre.
- Use your preferred bore disinfectant or cleaning agent and pour a recommended dose down the bore casing.
- Switch on the bore pump and leave the mixture to circulate for about 10-12 hours or overnight.
- Discharge the cleaning agent mixture out of the bore and flush it until the water becomes clear.
If the bore water is used for irrigation, you may release the cleaner mixture directly to the irrigation system to help clean it. Otherwise, dispose of the cleaning agent as per the manufacturer’s instructions.
The recirculation method only cleans the surface where the circulation happened, such as the inside casing, pump intakes, impellers and headworks. It does not clean the outside surfaces like the gravel pack.
In the case where there is severe iron encrustation in the bore, brushing and airlifting, which are mechanical processes, are necessary. In these processes, two pieces of equipment are essential: mechanical bore brushes and vacuum. The mechanical water bore brushes are sized to fit the screen aperture to clean and remove all buildups. The vacuum, on the other hand, removes all loose deposits by sucking on them or lifting them out to the surface.
Following this process, a chemical treatment called surging is performed to clean that hard-to-remove dirt and crusts further. Surging also uses the recommended dose of your preferred bore cleaners and disinfectants. With a brush or a surge block, the cleaning agents are surged down, where brushes could not reach, into the aquifer, for at least six hours. Afterwards, the bore is left to stand overnight. Surging is performed once again but only for four hours before disposing the treated water into the absorbent ground.
In case of emergency damage on the water bore or its ground caused by natural disasters, such as earthquakes and typhoons, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has devised a standard procedure for cleaning and disinfecting boreholes. It is composed of a five-stage approach as follows:
- Step 1: Assessment of damage
- Step 2: Rehabilitation of borehole
- Step 3: Pump test borehole
- Question: Does quantity equal demand?
- No: Flush borehole. Then proceed to step 4.
- Yes: Step 4
- Question: Does quantity equal demand?
- Step 4: Disinfection of borehole
- Step 5: Dewater borehole
How to Clean Bore Pumps
Bore pump cleaning is an important part of your bore system maintenance to ensure your bore pump is working properly, and will do so for years to come. Cleaning bore pumps are often included when cleaning bore holes, however they can be cleaned separately if required.
Cleaning borehole pumps is basically the same and included in the water bore cleaning techniques mentioned above. However, when a noticeable change has occurred during water extraction, such as the presence of noise while pumping, too loose or too tight pump and decrease in the extracted water volume, you might need to inspect your bore pump closely.
Bore pump testing is simple. Firstly, clean the water bore and replace the bore pump. Normally pump out water using the water bore, and assess the produced water and compare it to what it typically produces. If the pumped water is significantly less than average, it may be an indication that your pump has a blockage or is broken.
The blockage within the bore pump can be mended by flushing your bore pump. Flushing uses compressed air or water to remove the sediments or encrustations around the water pump. Test the water again to check if the problem has been resolved.
Unfortunately, if, after several trials, your bore continues to pump insufficient or inconsistent amounts of water, there is no other solution than the replacement of your water bore pump.
Browse the range of bore hole pumps to buy online at Hills Irrigation, Australia’s leading irrigation supply store.
Choosing the Best Water Bore Cleaning Chemicals
Envirobore and Clearbore are two of the leading and most popular names in water bore cleaning chemicals. Both of these bore cleaning chemicals are Australian made and are non dangerous goods free from heavy metals, making them excellent choices for cleaning your water bores.
Popular bore cleaning chemicals like Envirobore and Clearbore commonly contain either of the two chlorine compounds: calcium hypochlorite as high test hypochlorite (HTH) in powder or granule form or sodium hypochlorite in liquid bleach form. Between the two compounds, HTH is the better choice because it contains 50%-70% of usable chlorine. Bleach, on the other hand, gives off hazardous chlorine gas. Therefore, in choosing a cleaning chemical for your bore, please select the one with HTH in its components.
The safe ratio of chlorine solutions to water volume is as follows:
1 L of 0.2% chlorine solutions: 100 L of bore water
Using Professional Bore Cleaning Services
It’s essential to have your bore professional cleaned, because a licensed bore cleaning specialist will have access to the tools and experience needed to clean it properly. It’s not advisable to attempt to clean your bore yourself to save money.
Part of the bore cleaning process is inspecting the bore itself. The process includes inspection of the ground, water testing and pump tests, among others. Depending on the result of the assessment, they would clean your water bore as needed. They would also recommend some immediate actions to be done to ensure the safety of your water bore.
Having your water bore professionally cleaned has several advantages, including:
- Saving time
- Work quality guarantee
- Improve the quality of your bore
Related Questions
How Do You Lower the Hardness of Bore Water?
To remove water hardness, add water softeners to your bore water. Water softeners remove soluble irons and other positively charged ions present in the water, such as calcium (Ca2+) and magnesium (Mg2+) ions, which cause the hardness of the water.
To check if your bore water is hard, the simplest test is the bubble test. Put your bore water in a bottle, filling half of it. Add a few drops of liquid soap and shake vigorously. If there are significantly fewer fluffy bubbles, your water might be hard.
How Do You Remove Iron From Bore Water?
The easiest way to remove iron from bore water is through filtration. It does not only remove iron in the water but also all the other non-soluble particles, such as sand, mica dirt and other sediments.
Cartridge filters remove ferric iron. For high levels of iron, chemical-free backwashing filters are the better choice.
Learn more about the importance of irrigation filters in our dedicated article.
Disclaimer:
This article is published for general informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Any action you take upon the information you find on this website is strictly at your own risk. Always ensure you have the right qualifications and certifications to carry out DIY work and never put your safety at risk. Hills Irrigation recommends consulting a professional for all electrical and plumbing work.
Vince is Managing Director of Hills Irrigation and is supported by Lisa in an administrative capacity. Andrew, Isaac and Megan look after the day to day needs of both online and shop customers. As Project Manager, Vince is also responsible for installation projects along with his team. It is his responsibility to work closely with clients to ensure that scope of work is understood and followed.
