Shared well - 3 homes but only one has bad water...

[Kay Doolittle]

We have a deep well shared by 3 homes. Each has 1+ acre of landscape; so in Oregon high desert, each home has a designated time for irrigation during summer/dry months. All 3 neighbors get along really well with that agreement (that wasn't always so with old neighbor), so I don't want to screw that up.

Each house has its own pump & water tank system. One home had a water softener system installed when it was built in 1992. The home with the softener system sold to new neighbors about 1 1/2 years ago. Since they've moved in the new neighbors have had recurring issues with water smell (sulphur) and bad quality... the other two homes have not.

New neighbor has "shocked" our common well a couple times since moving in. When this happens the running out of the chlorine tablets is a minor inconvenience; but the process brings a lot of sediment and rusty stuff into our system that takes a long time to clear up... thus changing our water from good to bad for a period of time.

Am I wrong to think the smell problem is in the neighbors' softening system since the other two homes don't have a problem until the well is shocked?

Any other ideas or approaches? Neighbors just returned from being gone a week and they say their water is bad again and they want to shock our well again... really would rather not if it can be avoided since it doesn't seem to permanently fix their water quality problem ...but I want to be a good neighbor.

 

[Reach4]

https://terrylove.com/forums/index....izing-extra-attention-to-4-inch-casing.65845/ is my sanitizing writeup. It could maybe be adapted to your well. What may be better includes using test strips for proper chemical dosing, and the use of a flooding volume to make the sanitizing more effective. The use of an acid such vinegar makes the chlorine more effective for the same level of chlorine. Also, the brine tank of the softener should be treated with bleach on occasion. Maybe every two years.

You might consider running the recirculation water through a cartridge filter during the sanitizing. I do that, although it is not common. It can remove solids that might get churned up during the sanitizing.

Regarding why one user has a sulfur smell and the others do not, it could be that the H2S is being produced in the water heater. The anode can help bacteria eat the sulfate in the water to produce H2S. It could also be that the plumbing to and in that house was not effectively sanitized to kill off sulfur bacteria. The softener resin needs sanitizing too, but at reduced levels from the more tolerant materials. A powered anode would protect the water heater while not supporting the bacteria.

One other possibility is that those neighbors have more sensitive noses. The threshold for smelling H2S varies with age and other factors.

New neighbor has "shocked" our common well a couple times since moving in. When this happens the running out of the chlorine tablets is a minor inconvenience

What do you mean about running out of chlorine tablets?

; but the process brings a lot of sediment and rusty stuff into our system that takes a long time to clear up... thus changing our water from good to bad for a period of time.

I would suggest you add a whole-house sediment filter on your house water anyway. Maybe a 4.5x20 cartridge. I like the Pentek Big Blue housings. They don't have a bypass, but you can put one in with valves. I don't currently have a bypass. I keep extra o-rings on hand, because otherwise an o-ring that will not go back when you change a cartridge could shut you down. I go over a year between filters. 5 micron is a good size. I use 1 micron, which is overkill.

Look at your sink aerators. See any particles? Flush your water heater during the wet season. See any particles? You would not with a cartridge filter.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[LLigetfa]

Am I wrong to think the smell problem is in the neighbors' softening system since the other two homes don't have a problem until the well is shocked?

If not their softener, then any other portion of their water works. Bacteria can get established in a water heater or any of the rubber lined supply hoses to faucets or wash machine. Clues on how best to mitigate depends on where they notice the smell. I would not let them shock the well as obviously it has no lasting effect.

 

[Valveman]

I think water heater also. Tell them to turn it up to 140, problem solved.

 

[Kay Doolittle]

https://terrylove.com/forums/index....izing-extra-attention-to-4-inch-casing.65845/ is my sanitizing writeup. It could maybe be adapted to your well. What may be better includes using test strips for proper chemical dosing, and the use of a flooding volume to make the sanitizing more effective. The use of an acid such vinegar makes the chlorine more effective for the same level of chlorine. Also, the brine tank of the softener should be treated with bleach on occasion. Maybe every two years.

You might consider running the recirculation water through a cartridge filter during the sanitizing. I do that, although it is not common. It can remove solids that might get churned up during the sanitizing.

Regarding why one user has a sulfur smell and the others do not, it could be that the H2S is being produced in the water heater. The anode can help bacteria eat the sulfate in the water to produce H2S. It could also be that the plumbing to and in that house was not effectively sanitized to kill off sulfur bacteria. The softener resin needs sanitizing too, but at reduced levels from the more tolerant materials. A powered anode would protect the water heater while not supporting the bacteria.

One other possibility is that those neighbors have more sensitive noses. The threshold for smelling H2S varies with age and other factors.

New neighbor has "shocked" our common well a couple times since moving in. When this happens the running out of the chlorine tablets is a minor inconvenience

What do you mean about running out of chlorine tablets?

; but the process brings a lot of sediment and rusty stuff into our system that takes a long time to clear up... thus changing our water from good to bad for a period of time.

I would suggest you add a whole-house sediment filter on your house water anyway. Maybe a 4.5x20 cartridge. I like the Pentek Big Blue housings. They don't have a bypass, but you can put one in with valves. I don't currently have a bypass. I keep extra o-rings on hand, because otherwise an o-ring that will not go back when you change a cartridge could shut you down. I go over a year between filters. 5 micron is a good size. I use 1 micron, which is overkill.

Look at your sink aerators. See any particles? Flush your water heater during the wet season. See any particles? You would not with a cartridge filter.

 

[Kay Doolittle]

I should have typed "the running out of the chlorinated water" - sorry.

 

[Ballvalve]

Gone for 2 weeks sounds like water heater anode. But do the other houses get this after a 2 week pause? If the other houses do ok without a water softener, get rid of it. He should have a look at the anode and try Magnesium if its in bad shape. Is he shocking this well correctly? Tablets are not the right way. Stop with the chlorine in the well, just causing corrosion.