Puretec BoreSafe Bore Cleaning and Rehabilitation

BoreSafe cleans a fouled bore. Over time iron bacteria, mineral scale and biofilm build up on the screen, the casing and the pump itself, and the symptoms are the ones people usually blame on the pump: yield falling away, water going dirty, a rotten egg smell, or a bore that used to keep up and now does not.

Blast 5 or Blast 98? Blast 5 is the standard cleaning granule and the right first choice for routine maintenance or moderate fouling. Blast 98 is the high performance version for heavy iron bacteria and badly fouled bores, or where Blast 5 has not shifted it. BoreSafe Eco is the liquid, easier to dose and better suited to smaller or regular treatments.

Working out how much you need

This is the part people get wrong, and it decides which size you should be buying. The dose is per metre of water in the bore, not per bore, so a deep bore needs a lot more than the bucket sizes suggest.

Step 1. Work out the depth of water: total bore depth minus the depth from ground level down to the water. A 100 m bore with the water sitting 40 m down has a 60 m water column.

Step 2. Choose standard or shock. Standard is maintenance, for a bore cleaned regularly within 12 months. Shock is for a bore that has not been cleaned in years and has solidified iron build up. If it is severe, step up to Blast 98 rather than shock dosing Blast 5.

Step 3. Multiply the rate below by your water depth.

Worked example. A 100 mm bore, 100 m deep, water at 40 m. Water column is 60 m. Standard dose is 385 g per metre, so 385 g x 60 = 23.1 kg. That is more than a 20 kg pail, which is exactly why it pays to do this sum before you order. A 50 mm bore with a 20 m column needs only 1.9 kg, and the 5 kg tub covers it with room to spare.

Puretec publish this as a guide. The full spec sheets are linked below and carry the same table.

How it goes in

Dissolve it first, 10 litres of water for every kilogram. Divert the bore discharge back down the bore so the system recirculates, staying within the pump's specifications, then pour the dissolved product down while it circulates. Leave it recirculating 6 to 8 hours. Then move the discharge away from the bore and flush for at least an hour after the colour and odour have gone. It is biodegradable, but keep the flush water off foliage and anything it could stain.

Get the titration kit if you are treating regularly. It is how you confirm the dose landed where you wanted it and later that the bore has cleared.

Before you replace a pump, consider that a fouled bore looks exactly like a tired pump from the surface. We have pulled plenty of perfectly good pumps out of bores that only needed cleaning. If your yield has dropped, talk to us first.

Genuine Puretec product supplied with the manufacturer's warranty. If anything arrives faulty or is not as described, come to us first and we will do the legwork with Puretec on your behalf.

Pump Stuff is the online side of TW Farm & Electrical, a real trade business with real stores in Waihi and Thames. We do bore work, and this is the chemistry we use. Cleaning a bore is a fraction of the cost of redrilling one, and a long way short of replacing a pump that was never the problem. Email or call. A real person picks up.