Think of shock chlorination as giving your well a nuclear enema. You dump a huge amount of chlorine (like household bleach, but a lot more) down the well, let it circulate, and then flush it out. It’s the “hold my beer” approach to well cleaning.
This method is aggressive, effective, and temporary. You’ll need to turn off your water softener, mix the bleach carefully (use a gallon for every 100 feet of well depth), then run every faucet until you smell bleach. Let it sit for 12–24 hours, then flush, flush, flush until the chlorine smell disappears.
Fair warning: your water will look like a rusty root beer float while flushing. That’s normal—it’s the bacteria dying and letting go of their iron snacks. Open all windows, because the bleach smell will make your house smell like a swimming pool that had a fight with a laundromat.
