Iron and Sulfer bacteria in well

I have a family member who has their own well and has iron and sulfer bacteria in their system. They have purged the well multiple times and it is OK for a while but the stains and smell always returns. They have a water softener and that seems to handle the hot and cold soft. But their hard cold can be nasty. They have tried inline 0.5 filters…not effective.

Anyone suggestions what else could be tried?

We had the same problem. Called the people that put in our softener and I think they added a sand filter and that helped big time. Water for the outside faucets you can smell the sulfer but inside the house it’s good.

I soften all the water in my home, and I use the reverse osmosis For drinking water and ice cubes.

You can also try a company called big iron auto Saint cloud they have a pretty good system but it’s expensive

Dumping some bleach down the well might help with the sulfur but it will be expensive to get rid of the iron

Our new well developed this same issue about 2 months into using it this summer. Shocked it with chlorine using directions from our well installer. Worked like a charm. So far.

.5 micron filter is a particle filter. It will do nothing for iron or smell no mater what the guy at the store or the neighbor tells you. What they are best at is getting you to buy more filters.

Get your water tested and see what is in it. Then treat the water for that. Or talk to a well company about a new well and if there is better water in the area.

Well people recommend chlorine shocking your well every two to three years. You also should look into “red out” or “rust remover” rock salt for your softener.

If you shock the well it is gong to take 3 or 4 days of use to clear the well.

Then I would treat the softener two or three times with “Rust Out”

Rust Out®

follow the directions on the package it will clean the resin in the softener.

Then used “red out” salt from that time forward.

Mike W wrote:

Get your water tested and see what is in it. Then treat the water for that. Or talk to a well company about a new well and if there is better water in the area.

Right on Mike. Years ago we had a well water issue very similar to this and had the water tested to find out why it smelled and rusted so bad. Turned out a neighbor had done something that had local contamination of the water table we were using. We had a new well put down and lived happily ever after.

All the short term remedies is like hanging an air freshener in the schnit house….it works for a while then the stink come back. Stick comes from some source, why cover it up. Get the water tested.

I talked to them yesterday. It turns out theirs is not the only well in the area with the same problem. So it sounds like a water source issue. Interestingly they said they talked to the local well driller and he said drilling a deeper well in the area draws on water with different issues. They have purged/shocked the well regularly and he recommended doing it more frequently, at least once a year.

djshannon wrote:

Well people recommend chlorine shocking your well every two to three years. You also should look into “red out” or “rust remover” rock salt for your softener.

If you shock the well it is gong to take 3 or 4 days of use to clear the well.

Then I would treat the softener two or three times with “Rust Out”

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Rust Out®

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follow the directions on the package it will clean the resin in the softener.

Then used “red out” salt from that time forward.

Do that Rust Out and Chlorine Shock as well as Install an Iron Filter, similar to a Softner but removes Iron.

That is what my dad did for many people years ago, he sold and serviced water softeners and iron filters for 40+ years.

Tom Sawvell wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Mike W wrote:</div>
Get your water tested and see what is in it. Then treat the water for that. Or talk to a well company about a new well and if there is better water in the area.

Right on Mike. Years ago we had a well water issue very similar to this and had the water tested to find out why it smelled and rusted so bad. Turned out a neighbor had done something that had local contamination of the water table we were using. We had a new well put down and lived happily ever after.

All the short term remedies is like hanging an air freshener in the schnit house….it works for a while then the stink come back. Stick comes from some source, why cover it up. Get the water tested.

Agree!

I sell well water home systems in Richfield, Mn for homes all over the world as we remove iron, arsenic, chemicals, etc and turn it into bottled quality water. When a homeowner buys a system, we provide a water test package that ends up getting tested by NTL (National Testing Lab) in Michigan so we know exactly what is in the well water. Some people think that if the water looks clear, it’s fine to drink. Our system consists of activated carbon, birm in two separate tanks but have a copper ionization chamber in the plumbing line to kill bacteria, coliform, etc. Part of the process is also oxidization (producing oxidization) in the chamber. I attached our manual if anybody wants some education.

Attachments:

1. 

   POE-Well-Water-Manual.pdf
   

The well water has been tested.

Just to clarify, they have iron bacteria and the water is not red and does not have an iron taste. The only smell they have is on one toilet line and it thought that is from the sulfer bacteria. If the “smelly toilet” is flushed regularly there is no smell, so we are thinking it is a problem with the lines (pex not copper) to the bathroom (buried under drywall). They get some stains on cement outside when watering their lawn. No staining on any sinks or toilets inside. They use a reverse osmosis system for drinking/cooking water (also tested).

I appreciate all the responses and ideas. The water is not a health concern, more cosmetic.

we had a new 100′ well dug on our cabin property a few years ago and only our hot water gets a rotten egg smell if we haven’t been up there in a few weeks. Our solution is to run the bathtub for 5 minutes when we first get up there and it’s fine the rest of the weekend. Does anybody know if new hot water tanks take a few years to condition properly? I ask because before we remodeled the cabin, the old hot water tank didn’t have the smell issue…

Joe
I also have a lake home on cedar and have the same problem.if we’re not there for a while our water does the same thing.The cold water is ok but the hot water stinks like rotten eggs.what kind of water heater do you have gas or electric? Maybe mike W
Could chime in this could it be the something about electric
Water heater that we have.

If it’s just hot water it is likely this: Smelly Hot Water

I had a friend that had this problem, and he replaced the sacrificial anodes, as suggested.

We also have this problem at our cabin, but we just live with it.