Q: When I replaced my water heater, the well water began to smell. Shortly after that I started to get rust stains all over my dishes.
I was told there is a magnesium core in the water heater that melts down with well water. Is there a way to get rid of that core before I install the next heater?
I read your solution regarding smells and it sounds like chlorinating the well is a good idea.
I have a rust removal softener but the rust has ruined my dishes. I even had the water line to the sink replaced, but it didn’t help.
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A: First of all, is the smell only in the hot water? If so, the anode rod inside the hot water tank should be removed. This can be done by your local plumber.
If the smell is in both the hot and cold water, you have a problem with hydrogen sulfide gas that is produced by sulfate reducing bacteria.
A properly sized retention contact tank should be installed. The chlorine has to be in contact with the water for a minimum of 20 minutes for effective bacteria kill and for proper oxidation of iron and manganese in your water.
Once this proper contact time is completed, the water can be filtered with a multi-media carbon filter. This filter will remove excess chlorine, dead bacteria, odour and the oxidized iron and manganese.
Your present rust remover softener is not effective because this type of system is designed to soften water and not remove bacteria.
Q: Our well water contains sulfur. We use chlorine injection with two large retention tanks, followed by a carbon filter, then a softener.
We have occasionally let the chlorine run out and sulfur water has gotten into our pipes. We have not been able to get the smell out of the hot water – there is still a slight sulfur odor, especially when the water is first turned on.
I thought maybe sulfur bacteria was in our hot water tank.
We removed the anode several months ago and that hasn’t helped.
So I turned the tank temperature up to 140 F for a day. Then I drained the tank, bypassed the carbon filter and let the chlorinated water refill the tank. We have a strong chlorine residual coming out of the retention tanks.
I let the chlorinated water run through all the hot and cold faucets and left it there about eight hours. Then I redrained the tank, turned the carbon filter back on, and refilled the tank with non chlorinated water. The smell was gone for a few days, but now is back.
The carbon filter did its automatic weekly backwash during those few days. I don’t know if that has anything to do with it. I am wondering if the smell could be coming from the carbon filter that has been in use for about one year. It is a rather large tank type filter. We have occasionally let sulfur water run through it when the chlorine ran out.
Also, for most of the year, the filter never backwashed because it wasn’t plugged in. We just discovered this a few weeks ago. The carbon still removes all the chlorine (I test at the faucets) so it can’t be completely depleted. Should we replace the carbon?
I am sure we have sulfur bacteria in our well water because when my husband had to replace the well pump a few months ago, the pipe had lots of white jelly-like slime on it.
Could the carbon filter be putting sulfur bacteria back in the water? It backwashes with chlorinated water. Should it backwash more or less than every six days?
A: The sulfur odour, which is also known as hydrogen sulfide gas, is eliminated once the proper amount of chlorine is injected into the water supply.
The carbon filter should be backwashed every night because it only uses water and no chemicals during the backwash cycle.
Monitor this over the next couple weeks to see if the odour is gone. You should have a chlorine residual of three ppm before the carbon filter.
Having this higher concentration of chlorine might eliminate the problem. If this procedure fails, I suggest replacing the carbon media and also the bed in the water softener. I am almost sure this will eliminate the problem with hydrogen sulfide gas.
As a preventative measure, you can also install a dry pellet chlorinator onto the well head and feed chlorine pellets automatically down the well to help control the hydrogen sulfide gas problem at the source.
If you have a water problem and need advice, write to the Water Clinic, c/o Philip Stadnyk, 850-47th St. E. Saskatoon, Sask., S7K 0X4,e-mail philip@thewaterclinic.com or phone 800-664-2561. Stadnyk is president of the Water Clinic and a member of the Canadian Water Quality Association. Opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the Western Producer.
