This post did not transfer during my 2018 blog migration. Original post and comments are here.
Updated 5/6/16 – SPOILER ALERT! We had to have the system I mentioned installing below (aerated) taken out, and the hydrogen peroxide one put in.
Part of the contingency of buying our house was that the bank (that owned the house due to foreclosure) inspect the septic and well systems and fix any issues with them. The septic tank had to be replaced and there’s money in escrow in case the drain fields need to be repaired (which is supposed to be inspected one month after living in the house – we’re pending an appointment to get it checked out).
The well tested with flying colors! Water is safe to drink/use. No issues there.
Except one.
The sulfur.
That rotten egg smell.
We couldn’t handle it. Ha! I am surprised people LIVE with that. We first thought the smell might go away after living in the house a bit. Nope. A few days after moving in, we had the well chlorinated. That made the smell go away for a few days, then it came back.
There was an existing water treatment system in our house (that wasn’t running). We had someone come over to look at it, and give us a quote for a new system (if needed). They suggested draining the old system. That made the smell even MORE intense.
Old system – the two blue tanks were the filters (water heater in the middle)
Eek!
I felt better when I talked to people about this, and heard that it is common with wells. “Oh yeah, my parents are on a well, so we don’t shower there.” “I had lots of friends on wells growing up, and they got used to the smell!”
We don’t plan on getting used to the smell (especially since it gets in your clothes… AND SMELLS LIKE ROTTEN EGGS – did I mention that?!) and we don’t want to be the house no one wants to visit because of that. And, I’d like to drink my water instead of buying gallons of it (I know it’s okay to drink, but ick).
So we had three different companies give us quotes for three different systems! The options were:
- An aerated system – least $
- A hydrogen peroxide system – $$
- A chlorinated system – most $$$
All of the systems used carbon filters. Each system was a different price, had different service plans, and required filters that could need to be changed every 3-10 years, depending on how hard your system is working! The aerated system gets out the sediment and gets rid of the sulfur smell, the hydrogen peroxide system does that and kills some bacteria, and the chlorinated system does all that and kills ALL bacteria. There’s more to it, but this is the gist of it. (And note: EVERYONE tried to sell us a water softener, but we’re not sure we want one, so we’ll wait on that.)
In the end, we decided to try the aerated system. It’s what our neighbors have, and it worked for them. Steven had a glass of water at their house, and it was fine. And, we’d like to try the system with less chemicals.
New system – filter on the left
We had it installed on February 26th and the sulfur smell left the cold water right away! Yay! I drank out of our faucet for the first time since moving in!
Steven drained the hot water heater to try to get rid of as much of the sitting sulfur water as possible. And… we still had some scent of it. Sigh.
The treatment system is set to “recharge” (clean the filter) every three days. We set it to two. Still smelled sulfur a bit toward the end of the day. We set it to ONE day. The most frequent we’re willing to go.
Ugh.
We had the installer come back and we talked to him about it. He had some ideas to try before we get a completely new system. He thought maybe there was still sulfur residue in the pipes, and that chlorinating the well would get it out.
Last time we had the well chlorinated, we paid someone to do it, but this time, we did it ourselves! You basically pour the chlorine in to the well, then run a hose back in to the well to make sure the chlorine is going through the system.
Our well is not what I picture in my head when I picture a well. I think of the typical storybook well, ha!
Then you have to run all the hot and cold water in the house in a certain order. Then not use your water for 24 hours (as to not put too much chlorine in the septic tank). Then drain it all out after 24 hours, and run all the hot and cold water in that order, again.
Fingers crossed this helps… otherwise, we might be getting a different treatment system installed!
This post did not transfer during my 2018 blog migration. Original post and comments are here.
