salt in well water
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Balin' Wire
Well-known member
Yes. There is one way I know of. Purchase a reverse osmosis system. It is not cheap and requires electricity. People usualy use this to down-strem of a salt type water softener to remove all of the sodium that it ionizes out so youcan drink the water and not raise your blood sodium level. It removes everything else too. I would call the well company and ask if they know of a higher or lower water bearing strata in the area. If so, maybe they can go back in the bore and pre-complete into it. Does anyone else in the area have this problem? I would ask my neighbors.
backhoeboogie
Well-known member
Chevy":37ntk5kj said:
The sulfur at my house was awful. An overhead tank helped but no enough. I have gone to a hydrogen peroxide injection system that works wonders. The strongest peroxide you can buy now is 37% and it will burn you. 50 gallons sells for around $800 delivered to my house and it will last well over 4 years.
Great idea! I think we have one maybe! :lol: Well, we have something down there, but its not hooded up....its came with the house.... Idk its something down there! :lol: Maybe its a "math lab" :lol: JUST KIDDIN"! NO its a water softer I think. What kind did you buy?
A
Anonymous
A chlorine injection pump and a contact/settling tank will take care of alot of the sulfur smell especially if used with a softener
Red Headed Farmer
Active member
I also use peroxid injection to remove the sulfur in our well. I runs about 60 parts per/million and there is no smell. Backhoe, where are you getting your peroxid at if you dont mind telling me. I have been looking for another source for a long time and have not been able to find it. culligan is where we get ours and its 7% and thier charging $28.00 for a 2.5 gallon bottle so i would love to buy it in bulk at a higher percentage if possible, thanks for any info
Greg.
Greg.
backhoeboogie
Well-known member
Red Headed Farmer":2e440797 said:
Mine is shipped out of Tyler, TX. A friend in the business gets it for me. Used to get 50% before 9/11 . Now 37% is the strongest you can buy.
It works amazingly well. People comment about how great my water is now. If they would have taken a drink 5 years ago, they would have held their nose.
We gota spring right down the road we go get our drinking water from. My hubby's boys love it! We had our well tested, which they said it was good to drink, but the smell on raining day could knock your socks off. How I get my hands on that thing yours talking about!? You gota well fresher bootlegger!?
backhoeboogie
Well-known member
It was cheap enough to just let them install the entire system. A little twist injection meter pump is controlled by the existing submersible pump switch. They simply get in parallel with the switch contacts. When the submersible pump is running, the meter pump is running too. The water goes in to the existing tank. The sulfur gas is oxidized away. Amazing.
First of all, there's very seldom any such thing as "sulfur in the water." What causes it is bacteria, which generate hydrogen sulfide gas. That's what you smell. When you "bleach" the well, it kills the bacteria. For a while. Run a glass of your stinky water and let it sit for 20 minutes. Then smell of it. Still stink? If not, there's no sulfur. It's the hydrogen sulfide gas that escaped from the water. If it's really "sulfur in the water," it would stink an hour later.
Be REAL careful about these water filter sales people selling you all kinds of junk. Our well water stank, too, until I looked closer. Check: does it smell like that AT THE WELL, or just coming out of the faucets? If you run just a cold water faucet for a while, does it still stink, or is it just the hot water - again, after running for a minute or two.
If they know what they're doing, they should be able to talk to you about hydrogen sulfide gas. Just ask them, "how do you know whether it's really sulfur, or hydrogen sulfide gas?" If they give you that deer-in-the-headlights stare, politely say good-bye, and call somebody else.
I must have had 4 or 5 different companies try to sell me injection systems, evaporation tanks, etc. for THOUSANDS of dollars, and it was all snake oil. What causes the stink in many cases is the magnesium anode in your water heater. It interacts with the water chemistry and creates - you guessed it - hydrogen sulfide gas. Replace it with an aluminum or zinc rod and within a few days the smell will vanish. It's dismaying how many people don't know about this. The water filter industry makes tons of money off of them.
Be REAL careful about these water filter sales people selling you all kinds of junk. Our well water stank, too, until I looked closer. Check: does it smell like that AT THE WELL, or just coming out of the faucets? If you run just a cold water faucet for a while, does it still stink, or is it just the hot water - again, after running for a minute or two.
If they know what they're doing, they should be able to talk to you about hydrogen sulfide gas. Just ask them, "how do you know whether it's really sulfur, or hydrogen sulfide gas?" If they give you that deer-in-the-headlights stare, politely say good-bye, and call somebody else.
I must have had 4 or 5 different companies try to sell me injection systems, evaporation tanks, etc. for THOUSANDS of dollars, and it was all snake oil. What causes the stink in many cases is the magnesium anode in your water heater. It interacts with the water chemistry and creates - you guessed it - hydrogen sulfide gas. Replace it with an aluminum or zinc rod and within a few days the smell will vanish. It's dismaying how many people don't know about this. The water filter industry makes tons of money off of them.
TexasBred
Well-known member
Makes sense...Years ago we had a well that was connected to the house with the old black rolled plastic pipe....water didn't smell bad at all until a gopher would chew a hole in the pipe and then it would stink to high heaven. Fix the leak and the smell soon stopped. Well was probably 1200 feet from the house.
Red Headed Farmer
Active member
Ruark":b8bomttt said:
You are correct about the smell most of the time not being sulfur. Our is sulfer, I have ran the water for a week and it still stinks. It also stinks at the well. This is normal in our area. We hauled water for 3 years before we came up with a soloution and that was peroxide injection then ran through a media filter. Ours is injected in the house. I do like the way backhoes is done where the peroxide is injected in the cistern. this would give it a place to settle and let the gas evacuate out the cistern. The peroxide turns the sulfer into its elemental form and then is backflushed out of the media and into the ceptic system. If you know of a cheaper and better way to remove the sulfur I would really like to know. The sulfur is so high that if for some reason the peroxide doesnt get into the water for any length of time, it ruins the media and has to be replaced.
Thanks for any info you can provide.
Greg.
backhoeboogie
Well-known member
My water can sit in that closed tank for a week with an air pump bubbling all through it. That water still stinks. Out of the well head it would gag you so you can eliminate bacteria. Iron settles in that tank too.
I've had this well for 32 years. It is a deep well.
Peroxide injection fixed my issues. Chlorine is a joke. Been there and done that. Done all kinds of other things too.
Wells elsewhere on my properties do not have iron sulfide. Water goes straight out of the ground and is nice. Friends take water from one of my wells in lieu of drinking city water. Wish that one was at my house.
I've had this well for 32 years. It is a deep well.
Peroxide injection fixed my issues. Chlorine is a joke. Been there and done that. Done all kinds of other things too.
Wells elsewhere on my properties do not have iron sulfide. Water goes straight out of the ground and is nice. Friends take water from one of my wells in lieu of drinking city water. Wish that one was at my house.
bear
Well-known member
Ruark":3509w8ns said:
Consider yourself fortunate if you were able to resolve your smell by replacing the water heater anode. Most others that experience the odor of hydrogen sulfide from a well are not able to solve their problem so easy. Shock treating a well with chlorine temporarily kills sulfur bacteria and oxidizes the hydrogen sulfide gas in the well. Residual chlorine left over from the oxidation process can create health safety issues. Before drinking the water after a shock treatment, the water should be tested for residual chlorine. If the chlorine was not used up in the oxidation process you must run water until chlorine is gone. Do not drain into your septic system.
Injection systems are a very safe and effective method for oxidizing hydrogen sulfide gas. Hydrogen sulfide gas can be oxidized many ways. Air is sometimes used as an oxidizer when the concentration of hydrogen sulfide is less than 10 ppm. Chlorine and potassium permangenate have been the most common oxidizers but ozone and hydrogen peroxide have become a more natural source of oxidizing agents for hydrogen sulfide. Hydrogen sulfide levels will fluctuate throughout the year and will require more or less oxidizing agent. It is important to test the level of hydrogen sulfide 3-4 times a year to maintain water quality. If you begin to smell hydrogen sulfide or taste the oxidizing agent, test the water and adjust the concentration of oxidizing agent.
Bear
