"Rotten egg" smell in the well water

[trimmer21]

Our test came back fine... but it only tests for potability. Good to drink but still smells - cold and warm water.

We need to get it tested now for the other stuff to figure out what is in our water. No idea about PH, iron, other mineral counts.. I just don't want to dump bleach down the well as some sites suggest. We get the place in 2 days so we will spend a few days trying to figure this out. I am wary of the crooks out there who want to sell you a $1500 system.
The dry pellet chlorinator recommendation sounds interesting since we are pretty certain it's hydrogen sulphide... it has all the symptoms of being that.

If anyone can recommend a good, trustworthy company that can test our water then recommend a product without getting ripped off, I would appreciate it.

thanks

I'm glad to hear that your tests came out OK. A retired friend of mine was a Culligan dealer for decades. I knew his company and their reputation,so,I don't hesitate to recommend them. There's a dealer in your area. Of course,there's others. Next time should you decide on another rural property,always be sure to include complete water tests and full disclosure as a condition of purchase. Too many people don't and get whacked for full systems worth thousands of dollars to rectify the situation orworse,need to dig new wells. Buyer beware. Take nothing at face value.

[Bo D]

We've experienced the same problem where we live, but it's only at certain times of the year. Last's for a week or two then it's gone. We have a water softner and water filter in the system yet for a week or two during the course of a year we are saddled with the problem. We've had our water tested and other than the smell it's fine.

[Pat32rf]

Drilled or dug well? Possible runoff getting in during wet periods only. We had to landscape the lawn around our dug well a few tears back. It only happened in the spring when the lawn had heaved in the frost....

[Fenelon]

Nothing to get worked up about. It's quite common, esp. with heavy clay-limestone based soils. The real estate agent that tested the water needs to taken out behind the chicken shed for a discussion, with a nice spruce lathe stick in your hand. The water is still considered potable, but it's pretty sad that they lied and didn't admit there was a sulphur issue with the water. It would have reeked when the sample was taken. All you do is let it oxidze (gas-off) by letting the sample sit for a while, and the water won't stink. The driller would have known this. Check the well log for the well. Anyway, no big deal. We ran in to this 22 years ago when we bought our house. Aeration is by far the easiest and healthiest way to get rid of it. We still are using our same system that was installed 22 years ago and it still works fine. It's simply a by-pass valve after the pressure tank, with a pair of scuba bottles (filled with sand media) that have aeration venturi jets on them. The rig is on a timer, so it can back-wash itself 3X per week, at night when you're sleeping. No chemicals involved. All it's doing is injecting oxygen into the water, changing the H2S in S04 (sulphate) which precipitates out of solution. The backwash sends the precip to your septic. Water is fantastic. Perfect, no odour. You're prob. looking at about $2-3K for the system, but they last a long time. Untreated, H2S is corrosive to all your plumbing and appliances, like your dish washer and washing machine. You'll also have bowel movements that mimic a mudslide if you drink it. We dealt with McLeod Water out of Peterborough. Excellent folk with no BS. You're best bet is to call a reputable local company. Get them to come and test your water on site at your house (no charge). Based on your H2S level, they can recommend the best system for capacity that you want. Get a quote and call others for the same. You do not need bleach, unless you want to shock your well to try to deal with either anaerobic iron bacteria (would have been introduced by the driller by bringing in contaminated equipment), or coliform bacteria.

Dave

[impact]

Great write up and explanation Dave.

Question....Would a well casing that is slowly rusting also introduce anaerobic iron bacteria. I disturbed mine when I pulled out my submersible pump last year and seem to have to shock my hot water tank a little bit more frequent now.

[C.A. in TO]

Nothing to get worked up about. It's quite common, esp. with heavy clay-limestone based soils ......
Aeration is by far the easiest and healthiest way to get rid of it. ......
The backwash sends the precip to your septic. Water is fantastic. Perfect, no odour. ......

You'll also have bowel movements that mimic a mudslide if you drink it. .......

Dave

Dave's solution is bang-on. Growing up, my parents owned a bar/restaurant with the smelliest high sulphur content water. We had monthly testing by the Dept of Health and passed with flying colours. And no smell unless there was a power outage. (No power = no aeration)

As for it's effect on the body -- the body gets used to it too.
Oh yeah -- expect to use extra fabric softener and hair conditioner unless you also spring for water softening.

[Fenelon]

CA - you must have a cast iron colon if you can partake of the egg water without getting "the scours"!. I remember going skiing once at Blue Mountain as a teenager, and a bunch of us rented a couple of chalets at the base of the hill. The sulphur was so bad you could barely have a shower in it. Anyone who drank it was pissing out of their bums so bad it literally ruined their ski trip. It was priceless - all the hot chicks in our group would be squirming on the chairlift during the 10 min ride to the top, then they'd frantically ski-skate into the nearest patch of trees to bark out a spray of tar. Nobody wanted to date these hot chicks after seeing that.

Re"iron bacteria - you'd have to Google it to be sure, but this is not the standard iron oxide rusting you see on the steel casing when it's exposed to air. This is an anaerobic bacteria found where's there is no oxygen. It creates slimy, ropy masses as it grows. Drillers are supposed to clean and disinfect their rigs, as it's easy to spread it to a new drill location. It's a pain when you get it. You'll gradually see the output from your well decline as it bungs the interstitial spaces up in the water-bearing formation that your well point is in. Chlorinated bleach will kill it, put simply pouring a jug down the casing will not do the job very well. It's best to get the driller to water purge the well with a good pump and a tanker truck of chlorinated water. When I saw it done properly, they poured 4 full jugs of bleach down, then ran a 4"hose down the casing to the bottom of the well. Then they opened the gate valve on the truck and pumped the whole 1500+ gallons of water down the well at high pressure. It put a 15 foot plume of water in the air, and blew all the iron bacteria goop onto the lawn. Looked like something that would come out of a grown man's colon after a week at the deer camp. Goopy stuff with fine white threads in it. They then get you to pump down the well and run it off on a garden hose, to bypass your septic (bleach will kill the poop critters in the septic). A pumping test will show the effect of the clean-out. Much better recharge time on the well, and much greater capacity.

[Fenelon]

http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$departm.../all/agdex1142
Amazing what you can get on the computer. Description of how to shock your well if it has iron bacteria

[patvetzal]

We just pump out our dug well and add five gallons of pool chlorine. Five minutes later when the water level is back up to the pump intake we open the taps in the house and run each one until we smell chlorine. By then the well is normally filled so we pump it out again to get rid of most of chlorine. (It will have already killed any bacteria) takes a day or so for the smell to leave the hot water in the house....

[gassyplumber]

I just swapped the anode in my hot water tank. All of a sudden my hot water stunk. Had a magnesium changed to aluminum all fixed.