Is it normal for the smell of well wqter to change?

pheasantplucker · #1 01/16/13, 05:16 AM

My wife and I bought a house this past autumn. When we were looking at it for the first few times, I ran the water to verify adequate water pressure, and I drank some to see how it smelled and tasted. It was free from all smells and was really beyond my highest expectations! Now, here it is, four months later, and I'm noticing the "sulphur" smell, getting stronger with each day. You can smell it when you're washing dishes and even when you take a shower. Is this something that is cyclical and might go with the seasons? Is there something that can be done to rectify the situation? Thanks

coup · #2 01/16/13, 05:27 AM

we had the best tasting and no smell water for 30 years or more...about 3 years it began getting a sulpher smell and sometimes some better....the hot water doesn't smell or taste and i can't figure that out.....
people say to put in bleach or pyroxide but i don't like to or want to .
figure it out let me know..........

sammyd · #3 01/16/13, 05:35 AM

where are you at in Ohio? My family is originally from around Elmore and the water there is horrible. Friends in Monclova have the nasty stuff as well, couldn't even hardly brush our teeth there.
One grandma had a water softener installed the other just lived with the stinky water, I suppose you might get used to it, but I used to dread going down to visit at Christmas time...

mekasmom · #4 01/16/13, 05:45 AM

There was a drought this year around the nation in different places. As the wells got low, more issues like this came up.
You can get a water filter/softener to help. As far as the hot water being better than the tap water for the other poster-- hot water heaters have a "coil" type thing in them that helps to react with the sulpher to make it less noticeable.
Where we live, even the "city" tap water is gross right now. We use bottled water for drinking/tea, and only use tap for washing/cleaning/showers.

thequeensblessing · #5 01/16/13, 05:49 AM

We have an ionics water softener that removes all smells, tastes, and hardness from our water. We LOVE it. When we moved to our new home 8 years ago, we made sure to take the thing with us. We'll never be without it (or one like it) again.

bergere · #6 01/16/13, 06:27 AM

Almost sounds like you are tapped into a mineral spring.

At the last farm, we got away with bleaching the Well every six months...
Here, I have to do it every couple of months or the taste gets weird. However the Well here is only 40ft.
Though I am not sure in your case, bleaching your Well is going to make a difference?
You could give it a try.

Other wise a water system would go a long ways to making your water drinkable.

Fire-Man · #7 01/16/13, 06:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pheasantplucker

My wife and I bought a house this past autumn. When we were looking at it for the first few times, I ran the water to verify adequate water pressure, and I drank some to see how it smelled and tasted. It was free from all smells and was really beyond my highest expectations! Now, here it is, four months later, and I'm noticing the "sulphur" smell, getting stronger with each day. You can smell it when you're washing dishes and even when you take a shower. Is this something that is cyclical and might go with the seasons? Is there something that can be done to rectify the situation? Thanks

Have you checked your pump/tank to see if it is water logged which would cause this problem?

seedspreader · #8 01/16/13, 07:18 AM

What kind of softener do you have?
When was the last time you changed your filter?
Most likely, the previous owners shocked the well at some point.

The sulfur smell is most likely iron or sulfur bacteria causing Hydrogen Sulfide.

Pretty typical in Ohio.

http://ohioline.osu.edu/aex-fact/0319.html

**Cabin Fever** · #9 01/16/13, 08:16 AM

I agree with seespreader. Disinfect your well casing and household plumbing - including the water heater - and the odor will likely go away. You may end up having to do this every few years as the iron and sulfur bacteria population build up again in your plumbing system.

simi-steading · #10 01/16/13, 08:55 AM

I agree with Seedspreader and Cabin Fever.. Since the problem wasn't originally there, it's probably caused by bacteria....

You can however have dissolved sulfur in your water with some wells. I sadly am on a well that the smell is caused by dissolved sulfur along with Iron and manganese. I've had it tested, and it's not a bacterial problem.. .

With your well you should be able to treat and solve the problem with bleach. A well like what I have I will need to install a Greensand filter to remove the particulate...

Have you had your well tested? It never hurts to have it tested once or twice a year... Just because the water smells and looks good doesn't mean you can't have a lot of e-coli or similar swimming around in it..

I used to be on a well that I had to treat with bleach 3 or 4 times a year to kill the e-coli.. the levels would get so high they couldn't be counted, but since I had been drinking the water for so long it didn't effect me or my family but it would if anyone came over that wasn't used to it..

woodsy · #11 01/16/13, 09:37 AM

We shocked our drilled well early this past summer with bleach. It had some odor and taste for a long time. Gone now. Might not work for everyone but its an inexpensive start and not that difficult to do.
Also Replaced the old style well cap with a tight fitting sanitary cap helps keep bugs out.

WoolyBear · #12 01/16/13, 11:30 AM

Ah the good old stinky water problem. We have the same type of problem at our house also. Our place is located in a shale area - makes the water stinky and have a lot of iron in it too. We had to put in a water softener and an inline water filter. Never knew what color the filter would be when it was time to change it. Sometimes it was clay mud color, other times it was stinky black color. The color changed with the weather - a lot of rain would stir up the well. The well is about 40-50 feet deep.
Some years ago we put in a new water heater. Talk about a stink! I told hubby to rip it out and check it inside because I was sure that a mouse had died in it. It smelled so bad I just knew something was dead in it. Turned out that the hot water heater had a magnesium rod inside of it - when it reacted with the iron/sulfur water it was enough to make you gag. Once hubby removed the rod the smell went away.
Last summer we had to replace the water softener so we went with one from Sears that is both a softener and a water filter. So far (knock on wood) the water taste and quality is excellent.

theemon · #13 01/16/13, 04:14 PM

is it all ur water or just your hot water?

Danaus29 · #14 01/16/13, 04:43 PM

Whole house filter. Our water smells when the filter needs to be changed. It needs to be changed now. Our problem comes from a vein of black sand that usually infiltrates the water lines. A regular fiber particulate filter takes it out. You can use a charcoal filter in addition to or instead of the fiber one.

chestnut · #15 01/16/13, 08:13 PM

My brother had the same problem. He lived in the same house for 20yrs and had great water. About 2yrs ago he started to get the rotten egg smell, just after we had a noticable earth quake on the east coast. Anyway he fixed it with a different anode in his water heater. Here is just one link i found that explains it.
http://www.watertechonline.com/artic...ng-rid-of-odor

pheasantplucker · #16 01/17/13, 05:08 AM

Thanks for all the responses, folks...I've been doing a little homework. The smell occurs in the hot water only, not the cold, so that helps to pinpoint the problem...I suspect that it is the new hot water tank. The old hot water tank was an Electrolux (from around 1956, believe it or not). We installed a new Bradford White 40 gallon hot water heater. I'm guessing that because the annode tube in this tank is magnesium, it is what is causing the sulphur smell. From what I have garnered, if I switch this tube out with an aluminum one, and shock the tank with bleach, it will take away the problem. I will give this a try and report back to folks. Thanks again, all!

**Cabin Fever** · #17 01/17/13, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pheasantplucker

Thanks for all the responses, folks...I've been doing a little homework. The smell occurs in the hot water only, not the cold, so that helps to pinpoint the problem...I suspect that it is the new hot water tank. The old hot water tank was an Electrolux (from around 1956, believe it or not). We installed a new Bradford White 40 gallon hot water heater. I'm guessing that because the annode tube in this tank is magnesium, it is what is causing the sulphur smell. From what I have garnered, if I switch this tube out with an aluminum one, and shock the tank with bleach, it will take away the problem. I will give this a try and report back to folks. Thanks again, all!

I'd say you have it figured out!

solidwoods · #18 01/17/13, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pheasantplucker

Thanks for all the responses, folks...I've been doing a little homework. The smell occurs in the hot water only, not the cold, so that helps to pinpoint the problem...I suspect that it is the new hot water tank. The old hot water tank was an Electrolux (from around 1956, believe it or not). We installed a new Bradford White 40 gallon hot water heater. I'm guessing that because the annode tube in this tank is magnesium, it is what is causing the sulphur smell. From what I have garnered, if I switch this tube out with an aluminum one, and shock the tank with bleach, it will take away the problem. I will give this a try and report back to folks. Thanks again, all!

Don't shock the tank with bleach Bleach is very corrosive to steel and the anode. When steel corrodes it off gasses one of the hydrogen sisters (she smells) if the smell is coming from that cause (hydrogen creation) its from some metal rotting. That is why we are not supposed to drink water from water heaters with anodes unless you feel your body is lacking in said minerals/gasses/metals. I'd know which type anode is in the tank before I put a wrench on it (some times its nasty to get them out). I would put a ground wire from the tank to the ground (yes I know your home wiring has a ground to the unit also). Anodes are used so that electrical discharge doesn't eat the tank (tank go Boo Boom Water) it eats the anode. The increased grounding can help reduce electrolysis if that is the core of Senior Smell. jim

**Cabin Fever** · #19 01/17/13, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by solidwoods

Don't shock the tank with bleach Bleach is very corrosive to steel and the anode. When steel corrodes it off gasses one of the hydrogen sisters (she smells) if the smell is coming from that cause (hydrogen creation) its from some metal rotting. That is why we are not supposed to drink water from water heaters with anodes unless you feel your body is lacking in said minerals/gasses/metals. I'd know which type anode is in the tank before I put a wrench on it (some times its nasty to get them out). I would put a ground wire from the tank to the ground (yes I know your home wiring has a ground to the unit also). Anodes are used so that electrical discharge doesn't eat the tank (tank go Boo Boom Water) it eats the anode. The increased grounding can help reduce electrolysis if that is the core of Senior Smell. jim

http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/e...tml#probheater

unioncreek · #20 01/17/13, 06:20 PM

We had this happen to our last home. We get a lot of winter moisture most in the form of rain. In the spring our water goes to the point of not being able to drink it. It clears up in June. We put a water filter on and use a charcoal filter and that solved the problem.

Bobg