Drinking water odor

[powerdam1953]

I didn't know where to post so hope this is the right place.

I have a pond that supplies water to our house. I have an iodine filter system and so far, no problems at all. But about 2 years ago, I bought a doublewide mobile home and had it put on my property, with full foundation crawl space. I had the plumbing contractor hook this house up to my pond also and he installed a chlorine system. Everything was great till about 6 months ago. Then we had a rotten egg smell in the doublewide house, but still no problem in my house.

My daughter lives in the other house and I had her call the plumber to investigate it. He shocked her system, I think, and the problem subsided, for about a week.

Anyone have any idea's. Both houses on same pond, one smells, one doesn't. Any help would be appreciated, thank you

Roy

[Phil V.]

It's sulfur that gives your water the rotten egg smell.

[copperkid3]

Hydrogen sulfide to be precise. It's caused by sulphur loving bacteria.

What are the differences between the two reidences, in how the water is

transported from the pond, stored and then distributed within the building?

I'm thinking that once you find the 'key', you'll be able to get a handle on fixing

the problem permanently. Here's a helpful link to give you some clues as well.

http://wellowner.org/water-quality/hydrogen-sulfide/

[fishhead]

I would guess that the plumber didn't 'shock' the entire plumbing system all the way to the pond. That allowed the remaining bacteria to recolonize the rest of the plumbing.

It's important when shocking to run water out of every possible tap until you smell chlorine. Then shut off the tap and let it sit overnight.

[Ceilismom]

What kind of water heater (gas or electric) is in the doublewide? Is the smell worse with the hot water vs. the cold water?

[powerdam1953]

Everything is the same for both houses except the filters, main house has electric hotwater and problem house has a propane hotwater heater. Each house has a separate feed line from the pond and each has it's own pond filter on the pond end.

[Bearfootfarm]

Each house has a separate feed line from the pond

The bacteria generally enters where the pipes run underground.
I suspect there's a leak somewhere

[powerdam1953]

Originally Posted by Bearfootfarm

The bacteria generally enters where the pipes run underground.
I suspect there's a leak somewhere

I hope not, it was all just put in 2 years ago. I know that a leak can happen any time. We are going to do another shock and then let it sit for 24 hours this time. Last time they only waited 2 or 3 hours. Hoping that works, if not will be looking at other things to do.

[Fire-Man]

Does these houses have water pumps? If So, are the pressure tanks the same? Or is the New home using a bladder tank and the old house a non-bladder tank?

[Bat Farm]

Well since there are two different types of filters and only one is smelling, I'm going to be Captain Obvious and suggest the problem is in the pond and the chloride filter can't handle the problem and the iodine filter can.

[powerdam1953]

I am not sure about the pressure tank on the new system, my system is serviced twice a year while the other one gets serviced only once a year.

There is no odor at the pond though the aerator has been down for a while. Getting that replaced soon. That may be part of it too. Cost has given it a lower priority but will get another aerator as soon as I can.

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions

[MichaelZ]

A way to shock your own plumbing is to put in an inexpensive inline water filter (Omnifilter makes one for under $20) ahead of your plumbing. Soak a filter in some bleach water. Open each tap enough to get a little of the bleach water through. Then, if you are concerned about your septic, attach a hose to one of the faucets and let it run outside til you get most all of the bleach. Do this once a month or so.

[fishhead]

Where are the intakes located? In the water column or are they in the soil?

Iron precipitates out of water when it comes in contact with oxygen. I saw that in my fish ponds. The water would have a blueish tint to it coming from the well but within a day the iron had turned to rust and settled out of the water.

The most efficient cost effective way to aerate ponds deeper than say 4' is with compressed air pushed through air stones suspended near the bottom.

If your pond is deep and has been without aeration be careful when you start aerating again because it's possible to mix the bad water with the good and make it all bad. That's why it's recommended to only run the aerator a couple of hours each day for a while preferably during the middle of the day when the sun is up.

[Fire-Man]

Originally Posted by powerdam1953

I am not sure about the pressure tank on the new system, my system is serviced twice a year while the other one gets serviced only once a year.

I am not familiar with a pond water supply. I am familiar with a 230ft well and pump/tank setup. After many years with no smell(unless the air volume control went bad and had to be replaced a few times) My non-bladder tank went out so we installed a bladder tank, within days we had a rotten egg smell in the water, the well man said that we needed to instal a "air injector" for $100's of dollars. Money was tight around my house so I found a used non-bladder tank and installed it after the bladder tank and I put air in that tank(with a small air compressor) about once a month till I got the air volume control fixed on the non-bladder tank. The rotten egg smell was gone.
Now knowing that the rotten egg smell will go away when the water is exposed to air makes me think that your pond needs to be aerated and/or you need a non-bladder tank that can have air put into the top of it with a air volume control. If you already have a non-bladder tank it is probably water logged(no air in the top) which means the air volume control on the side of the tank is bad. Good Luck

[powerdam1953]

Originally Posted by fishhead

Where are the intakes located? In the water column or are they in the soil?

Iron precipitates out of water when it comes in contact with oxygen. I saw that in my fish ponds. The water would have a blueish tint to it coming from the well but within a day the iron had turned to rust and settled out of the water.

The most efficient cost effective way to aerate ponds deeper than say 4' is with compressed air pushed through air stones suspended near the bottom.

If your pond is deep and has been without aeration be careful when you start aerating again because it's possible to mix the bad water with the good and make it all bad. That's why it's recommended to only run the aerator a couple of hours each day for a while preferably during the middle of the day when the sun is up.

The aerator we had was just a well pump suspended about 4 feet underwater with a spray nozzle making a fountain in the center of the pond. I believe this helps with eliminating any sulphur with the spray as it also brings oxygen to the surface. I was going to try the airstone and air pump, but was told that wouldn't help with getting rid of the sulphur. Here in Ohio, sulphur is a problem, whether well, pond or city water, but ponds seem to be better.

[fishhead]

I don't know why they would say that because both operate by adding oxygen to the water and expose water to the atmosphere to allow other gases to escape. Compressed air and suspended airstones does it more effectively in deep ponds.

[powerdam1953]

Originally Posted by fishhead

I don't know why they would say that because both operate by adding oxygen to the water and expose water to the atmosphere to allow other gases to escape. Compressed air and suspended airstones does it more effectively in deep ponds.

my understanding on this is that the spraying water removes the sulphur into the atmosphere and the airstones do not accomplish this, both oxygenate the water

this is what I was told, whether right or wrong

[Raymond James]

If the rotten egg odor is only in the hot water. Turn off the hot water heater for two to three days, Flush the tank , then turn it on . Odor gone it was iron loving bacteria that collected in the tank they like hot temperatures. Lowering the temperature and flushing the tank will get rid of the odor for 6 months or so.

[preprunner]

I wanted to chime in on this thread as I am a Water Treatment Plant Operator for a municipality.

Hydrogen sulfide is indeed what's causing the rotten egg smell your experiencing. And it is produced mostly by sulfur reducing bacteria that consume natural sulfates in the water and produce the gas. Although it does occur naturally as well from decomposing organic matter. If you're noticing a black residue in toilet tanks or grey or black tint to your water that's from sulfur oxidizing bacteria that make that "slime" as a byproduct or consuming the sulfur.

The way you deal with this is to oxidize it or filter it. You can do that primarily in 3 ways. 1) Exposing it to atmosphere, 2) Chemically oxidizing it (usually with chlorine) 3) Using a manganese greensand filter. Fourthly a charcoal filter can eliminate low levels of hydrogen sulfide as well but is usually not a preferred route to go if you're dealing with any significant amount.

In municipal systems aeration is usually the preferred method. And that's accomplished by either cascading it over a waterfall system, or drawing the water through a column filled with what are essentially golf balls with holes in them and having a blower blow air through the water as it passes through. You'd have to look into residential sized systems as I'm unfamiliar with those.

A greensand filter or Ion exchange filter (operate much like a water softener) might be the best option to treat all the water coming into the house although I hear they can be a pricey option. A reverse osmosis system would also work but those are usually reserved for just drinking taps and such as the waste stream on them is significant and the water can be corrosive after it goes through them.

Here are my thoughts. Your chlorine shocking is going to work, but it's always going to be temporary. Chlorine degrades rather quickly, and without fresh chlorine coming into the system it's going to degrade away and your bacteria multiply again and you have more sulfide gas. You can shock the system for as long as you want but it's always going to be temporary as your constantly bringing more bacteria and sulfates back into the home via your source water.

My thoughts on why you have a problem at one house vs the other would be this. Are you water usages the same? Perhaps the water sits longer at the problem house allowing the bacteria in the pipes enough time to produce a detectable amount of odor. Whereas the other houses consumes enough to keep the water fresher and thus odor free. The other thing to look at would be the hot water. If you notice its only when you're running some or all hot water then the first thing I would do would be change out the sacrificial rod in your hot water heater. Most use a magnesium rod that can chemically change sulfates into hydrogen sulfide. So look into replacing it with an aluminum one or some other metal if that appears to be the cause. Go ahead and flush the hot water heater as well as they are a very nice environment for sulfur bacteria and the sediment that accumulates can harbor them. Additionally if the problem house has a water softener on it, those can be a hotbed for sulfur bacteria as well. Many people think that by simply unplugging or turning off the unit it takes it out of service, but that's not the case. You have to physically move the valves to "Bypass" the unit.

Dunno if that helps much but maybe that gives you some ideas to work with and troubleshoot.

[powerdam1953]

TY Preprunner

the smell more noticeable in the cold water, the water heater is not electric, there was no problem for the first year and a half. Not sure which house uses more water and neither house has a softener. We have shocked and flushed the whole house and will be running an aerator in the pond in August and will go from there. I drink bottled water in my house where there is no smell and my daughter also drinks bottled water by the case. I have a cooler with the 5 gal bottles.

I appreciate all the ideas and will try different things till we are satisfied. The company that installed the new bleach system had an optional whole house filter but it was an additional $750 on top of the about $5000 I spent, and we opted not to get it. Maybe I should have but not absolutely sure. It is still an option if all else fails. I felt that what they installed WAS a whole house filter and figured it would just be overkill.