My problem is very strange, I have odor in some parts of the house but not in the other. For example my upstairs bathrooms have really stinky smelly water when we first turn on the water. This is worse if we have been away for a day or two I noticed.
This is driving my daughters crazy, what can I do? Our downstairs bathroom and kitchen sink are fine.. no odor! We do have water heater odor problems, if we leave the house for several days, we notice some rotten-egg odor from the water heater at first.
We bought this house last year and it had sat for some months before we moved in. We had our well water tested and it came up positive for coliform so we shocked the well with bleach and now it tested OK, no bacteria.
Thanks for any help you can provide,
Phyllis R.
Dear Phyllis,
Actually we run into this a lot, this a common problem for many wells with sulfur and/or iron bacteria. Some wells have high levels of these bacteria which metabolize sulfates in the water and produce hydrogen sulfide gas, which give the water the terrible ‘rotten-egg’ odor.
By shock chlorinating the well, you have reduced and/or
eliminated in the short term the activity of these bacteria perhaps.
However, these bacteria live in pipes inside a bio-film, which is a microscopic
gelatinous coating, in which they live in and multiply. Some pipes in the
home that are not used as much as others, will allow these bio-films to occur
and then the odors come back.
The first step is to perform a toilet tank inspection and
see what it looks like. If you see slime, or stringy material growing out
from the sides, or if you see bubbles or froth on the top of the water in the
tank, this is a sign of iron or sulfur bacteria.
 |
| Toilet with Iron Bacteria |
 |
| Toilet with Manganese (Notice Black Discoloration) |
For this we recommend a series of chlorine shocks of the
piping, once a month for several months. Eventually this will eliminate
the problem. If you find it won’t go away,
you can also install a disinfection system using chlorination or UV light to
destroy the bacteria as they enter the home from the well. Note: if you
did use UV system, the water would need to be filtered of all iron and any high
levels of hardness or turbidity, as UV only works on water that can allow the
transmission of the UV rays to penetrate the water to be effective.
 |
| Click Here to view our selection of UV Sterilizers |
We hope this information helps you solve your
problems, if you have any further questions, or would like to update us
on your progress - we love pictures and
testimonials! - you can reach us at support@cleanwaterstore.com or on Facebook. Thanks for the letter and happy flushing!
