Treatment Options: H2S, Low pH, Iron

I've got my private well water tested by a local lab:

pH 6.8
Hardness 4
Iron 3.1
Manganese 0.094
Sulfate 22
No bacteria or other harmfuls.

I get a Hydrogen Sulfide smell on the hot water side. I cut off the anode rod with a hacksaw, but the smell came back after a week or so. Running the hotwater until it runs cold kills the problem, again for a week or so, then it creeps back.

I have three people in the house. Will the standard storebought GE, Sears or WaterBoss conditioners fix my problems? I'm trying to save money by Doing It Myself. I see WaterBoss has an acid neutralizing filter. Do I need one? Thanks.

 

With your water I'd stay away from the ready-built softeners in the big box stores. You have a real water treatment problem and you need a real water softener.

Trying to save money by doing it yourself is fine ... if you have the tools and the knowledge. Your water treatment is important.

To establish what you're up against (for comparison) why not do a little research on local water treatment companies? Ask your neighbors what they do for water treatment and who they use. Give a couple local water treatment pros a call and they'll come out, test your water, and make treatment recommendations. They'll give you a quote with installation and a warranty on parts and labor. You might be surprised at how reasonably priced an honest water treatment company will be and you'll get a FAR superior softener and associated hardware with less service problems and a lot longer life then anything the box stores can offer. At the least you'll have their recommendations and more knowledge than you have now.

If you find a local company that offer a solution that makes sense to you, will do a proper install (with permit if required), warranty their parts and labor, AND provide service after the sale at a reasonable price then give them consideration.

Check your PM

 

Dear Justalurker: I post on this site because the name of it is "Do It Yourself" not "Hire Someone Else to do it For You"

I've had a small parade of watertreatment sales people come through my house. Very nice people, all salesmen, willing to sell me anything I might buy. I've researched them quite thoroughly, and they don't appeal to me at all.

I want to do it myself. So, if you have any knowledge of water treatment (not treatment services) that you'd like to convey, I'm interested. But I'm not interested in treatment services.

 

Fair enough ... no help from me

 

I wouldn`t recommend a water softener alone to get rid of the sulpher smell . It won`t remove hydrogen sulphide smell. Your pH is not "terribly" low, 7.0 being neutral Your hardness is not bad at all , but your Iron content is considerable. I would look into a Manganese Greensand filter that utilizes potasium permanganate. It is an Iron/sulpher filter. It does have some drawbacks because the pot perm can cause pink water if the water is inadvertentaly used while the filter is backwashing. Just make sure you backwash when no one uses the water or flushes a toilet sometimes at night. Then there is chlorination , de- chlorination but that is another story and more expensive. The do - it yourselfer would have to find a supply house that would sell you a greensand filter or empty fiberglass tanks and water filter valves and distributer tubes and gravel etc,,, You would have to know what you were doing or get someone to explain it in detail. Most low pH and hardness issues are solved by using a neutrlizing filter follwed by a softener. Which in itself an excellent Iron filter .. but that may still not get rid of the sulpher smell........good luck

 

MarylandMan,

There should be no reason why any of the companies you've met with wouldn't allow you to do a "cash & carry" and install it yourself. I've offered it from time to time. The amount charged for the installation portion of the deal would then be waived. So long as you do it properly, the warranty usually will still apply depending on the company you choose. Have a nice weekend.

Art

 

This site should have everything you need to get.

http://www.ohiopurewaterco.com/shop/customer/home.php

You can buy everything from control valves to fiberglass tanks and resins and media all for the "do it yourself" type person. They even have a help section that tells how to install everything they sell.

Hope it helps.

Alex

 

Water heater problem. When the anode rod in a water heater is cut off there is still a portion of the rod attached at the fitting. This will consequently cause degrading and a smell. If the rod was attached to a seperate fitting on top of the water heater take that out and replace it with a galvanized plug. The anode rod is sacrificial so there may be particles of it in the bottom of the heater (causing smell). It also helps to add a small amount of household 5% bleach to the water heater after pulling the anode rod. Let it sit for a short time (half hour) then flush the tank from the bottom for about ten minutes, let it sit for half hour and repeat (DO NOT shut off the water to the heater during this process).
The smell will persist until you correct the incoming water problem ie, (H2s, manganese).

Water treatment. A water softener will not remove the H2s. The hardness is nominal so I would recommend an airation/oxidizing iron filter to treat the incoming water. This will have a small compressor that adds oxygen to the water to convert the clearwater iron to a particle so it can be filtered, filter the manganese and the H2s. DO NOT use a manganese greensand filter! Too many problems, very messy (potassium permanganate). Any type of water treatment system requires regular maintenance to perform at optimal efficiency. This system will require maintenance every 6 mo. to 1 yr. because of the heavy oxidation. Many plumbing supply houses will carry these. I would suggest one near you for support and warranty. You should get some type of manufacturer warranty with the purchase.

There is nothing worse than living with bad water and nothing better than living with good water. I hope this helps you.