Pretty serious sulfur smell problem

[docdubz]

Hi all,

I just purchased a home which is on a well. And I know that a slight smell is normal for well water, but every time the shower is run the entire house stinks to high heaven for a good hour at least. I never had well water before so this is all japanese to me.

I called a water service company to come inspect my equipment and tell me what to do in order to fix the smell problem. He told me that my softener system works perfectly and he tested the water and told me the results very quickly, all I remember him saying was that the tds was 420 and that the sulfur level was at 32 which he said was almost 3 times above what is considered severe.

He then went on to tell me that the only way to fix the problem was for me to spend $2000 on a hydrogen peroxide filter and honestly his sales pitch sounded more like a scam than anything else.

Is there any other way to deal with this problem? I would imagine activated carbon would work... I'm basically looking for the most economical option just to at least minimize the smell from the faucet, I have an reverse osmosis filter for drinking water.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

[Reach4]

My filter which uses Centaur Carbon is effective against my sulfur and iron. However I have no clue what my sulfur number was. I suspect it was significantly less than yours.

Looking at http://www.wellowner.org/water-quality/hydrogen-sulfide/ if you have 32 PPM, that doesn't look good. Maybe that is not what you have.

Is your sulfur smell mostly from the hot water? If so, there can be a reaction with the water heater anode producing H2S. A powered anode may help with that. I ordered one and installed it. But I also got the backwashing filter, which did not leave the anode with a lot to do except to protect the water heater very effectively. Some people just replace the anode with a plug. That does not protect the water heater.

Also, you might try sanitizing your well. http://www.moravecwaterwells.com/disin_test.htm is my favorite procedure. It is a good DIY thing.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[_John_]

30+ ppm hydrogen sulfide is crazy high.

Oxidant/backwashing filter is probably going to be the most suggested thing here, and you will be using A LOT of oxidant to take care of 30+ ppm h2s.

You could remove "most" of that h2s and still be very displeased with your water.

 

[Reach4]

You might want to seek out a second test.

 

[docdubz]

Yes it was 32 ppm, according to the service tech at least. And my water heater is 2 months old and the smell is coming from hot and cold. I guess I'll have another test done.

Thanks for the helpful links.

 

[LLigetfa]

The sulfur smell often comes from bacteria that could be in the well and/or in your plumbing. The bacteria often establishes in the HWT, in the softener media, and in plastic/rubber supplies to fixtures. Chlorine is usually the most effective way to control the bacteria.

Some mild cases of smell can be effectively treated with basic aeration and some well/pump men advocate galvanized hydro-pneumatic tanks and set the airmakers as appropriate. My well water stinks, not so much with sulfur but rather of iron and manganese. The micronizer aeration and HP tank followed by an iron filter takes care of the smell.

 

[ditttohead]

Nasty water. You could try a few cheap solutions first to see if you can control the problem. Sanitize/shock the well. Bacterial issues can compound and create some nasty water. If chlorination works, see how long. Constantly sanitizing the well is probably not the best solution. What is your current setup? Do you have an atmospheric storage tank or is it a pressurized storage tank?

Standard carbon will be minimally effective for your water.

 

[IsopureWater]

I agree. Chlorination is cheaper solution and may be more effective control than carbon filtration especially since your levels are so high. If you really want to go the route of filtration but don't want to spend too much (just to test it out), try getting a drop in cartridge filter. Something that has probably either KDF-85 or catalytic carbon and measure the time between replacements. It'll cost you a fraction of the price compared to the $2000 they quoted you.