sulphur smelling well water

[grumeti]

Hey all,

Experiencing a mild-strong sulfur smell in well water. Well was drilled a while back, but just outfitted with new pump and pipes. Smell is worse when water is heated, and has a slight rusty tinge. Tastes just fine when filtered, but when using it for other uses (showering, dishes, etc) the smell is pretty unpleasant. Any ideas on what is causing this, and how to mitigate/correct. Google revealed some potential issues/solutions, but wondering if this is something folks have dealt with locally, and if so, what they did and who they worked with...

Thanks!

[TomLostRiver]

My pal Steve Nelson had a timber frame place just up the hill from the coop on rendezvous rd 25yrs ago.his well went dry and Steve shard worked with him drilling a new well.they had to go deep.he battled the identical problem you've encountered.the remedy was some sort of filter and im going off memory from way back but I think it had to do with sand being the filter.there was a solution for the smell.in terms of water quality it was fine for everything but his cloths smelled like that after washing and it was terrible enduring that smell at his place.the good news its fixable and you got water.anyone in the world would step up for the system to cleanse that water of its smell.steve sold his place smell and all to a Dr I believe.when you head up rendezvous rd going by coop you can see that timber frame sort of to your left heading up.it boarders 600 across of state land and the access goes right past his driveway.its a 20 acre plot with timber frame skirted with river rock pulled from lost river.you can find it easy.ask the homeowner what they did to fix the rotten smell.hope that helps ya.happy holidays

[cdom25]

We have this issue as well. I think it's somewhat common issue with wells. We worked with Cascade Quality Water out of Wenatchee and they were extremely helpful. In our case, the smell is from sulfur bacteria. Good news is they are generally not harmful to humans but can smell really bad. I think fist thing to try is bleaching your well and pipes. Tha didn't cut it for us. Ours was also worse with hot water, which probably means they are in the water heater. We ended up with an air over media filter to get rid of the smell and a uv light to kill incoming bacteria from the well. It works pretty well. We do need to bleach the pipes on occasion if the bacteria manage to reinfect the pipes downstream of the filter (can happen if water is on when pump is backwashing etc). Troy from Cascade quality water is your man. Definitely recommend giving them a call.

[RAK]

I would shock chlorinated my well and house system. If it is a function of the time between the drilling of the well and its use, this might correct it. If the groundwater has a higher concentration of Sulphur than normal, it might not help.

https://extension.msstate.edu/sites/default/files/publications/P3398_web.pdf

https://eppwellsolutions.com/blog/should-you-chlorinate-your-well-when-and-how-to-properly-shock-a-well


Rick

[moose]

You can also research chlorine dioxide for treating your water system. Lots of free info available online

[SpencerBeck]

We had this problem with well water up Twisp River Road. I used to work at a water and soil testing lab so I got the water tested for sulfur as well as sulfur reducing bacteria, among other things. In this case, all were negative/below threshold. After doing more research and talking to other labs, we determined it was hydrogen sulfide in the water, which wouldn't show up on the generic suite of drinking water quality tests most labs advertise. We ended up adding activated carbon filters to each building with water, and it fixed it. I'd maybe try that! It sounds like you're experiencing the exact same symptoms. We do have to swap out the filters about every year when the water starts to smell again, but then it's instantly better.

[grumeti]

Thanks everyone for the great advice and contact info!!