Water Softeners and Air Filtration Systems - More smelly water questions

Hi all,

I hope you can help me. We built a new house this past year. The well was drilled around Sept. 04 and we've had relatively good water...until now.

In the past month we have noticed a sulpher smell. It has gotten progressively worse, and is getting unbearable.

My water goes from the well to a pressure tank. From there it goes to a prefilter which is changed monthly then to a two tank water softner.

We first noticed the smell in the master bathroom which is the furthest from the source. Now it is in all the sinks.

Last night I pulled some water from the spigot before the pressure tank and could not smell any sulpher. I then drained some water from the water heater and could smell it.

Any thoughts? I think I'm going to try to change the anode rod in the water heater first.

Hi CRCNC,
- I'm going to move you to "Filters and Conditioners". Gary knows much more about this problem than I do. :cool:

Do it Right - Do it once.

Ok,

So I couldn't get that damn anode rod out of the water heater, but I did drain the water heater and then refill it. I also increased the temperature up to around 140. This morning there was no more rotten egg smell.

Does this mean that it is the anode rod that is causing the smell and it just didn't have time to react to the fresh water? Of is it possible the higher heat killed the bacteria that cause the smell? I didn't use any chemicals at all. Mostly because I couldn't get any access into the water heater to add them.

I looked at the water test I had done before I moved in. I had the test run after I had run off the chlorine water that I'm assuming the well digger put in. At that point I had 58 mg/L of sulpher which was at the very low end of the "satisfactory" range according to my state testing dept.

On a side note, I do have a slimy layer inside the water take of my toilets. I read somewhere that that is an indication of something, but I can't remember what. Any thoughts?

Is your pressure tank a bladder, or galvanized?......If you don't have an impact, sometimes the annode can be VERY hard to break loose :mad:
My suggestion is to get a couple of buddies, a breaking bar with socket and a 2 foot cheater bar and a few beers!!!! Make sure one of you are used to try to keep the heater from moving!!

You should be chlorinating your well once a month to remove the rotten egg smell. It is a bacteria that bleach will kill. Hydrogen Sulfide (rotten egg smell) grows w/ heat, therefore is very prominate in water heaters. The reason why when you drained and refilled it and it didn't smell is because it didn't have time to grow, the bacteria that is. Yes, removing the rod stops the bacteria from getting worse in the hot water heater.

You should have cap on your well that you can pour about 1 cup per month of bleach into.

This should fix the problem.

Go to Yahoo and type in the search engine "rotten egg smell - water" and you'll find all sort of information to help you.

don't scare people, just because a "rotton egg" odor is present, does NOT mean there is H2S present.......that's pretty wreckless

I moved into a newly constructed home last october. Water seemed find but by late December, I would get what smelled by sewer gas coming from the master bath sink's over flow hole for he 1st 5 seconds or so in the morning early.

Because of this I've had the plumbers (They said nothing was wrong) out a few times and just today, the county plumbing inspector. The inspector says is sulfer and to get a water conditioner.

What are your thoughts on this?? Will a conditioner fix this problem or do you think it's bacteria of some kind?

Thanks!!

sounds more like a drain problem, like maybe water is not being held in your p-trap.....