Well Water Smells Like Rotten Eggs

Question for you.  My well water smells like rotten eggs. I don’t know what happened, it did not start to smell until recently.  This summer its been very not and we started noticing rotten egg odor in our cold well water. Even sprinkling on the lawn leaves a bad smell around the house.  

We have iron (2.4 mg/L) and hardness 9 grains/gallon.  I don’t know what our pH is, but it is around 7 to 7.5 I think.  We use a water softener, and it works OK on the iron, but the bad odor is driving us crazy.

We have a little sediment, not bad, but I have to change the whole house filter at least once a month.

What is the best way to deal with this type of smelly well water?

John L.

Texas

How To Treat Iron and Acid Well Water With One Filter

Hi Gerry,

I have a question.  I have iron in my well water, but my water is also on the acid side (somewhere between 6 and 6.5 I think).  This is out at our lake house, and we only used it on some weekends and sometimes more in the summer.   

I was recommended by our local Culligan company to use a calcite neutralizer followed by their iron filter.  Is there one tank or one system that can do both?  The home has 2 bathrooms, but it's usually just me and my wife there.

Frank
Springfield Illinois

Neutralizer Question

Gerry,

I have a neutralizer but it is not raising the pH to the 7 to 8 range which I had hoped for.  I don’t know who made or installed the neutralizer, it came with our house when we bought it.  

It does use up the calcite over time and I added more, but still, sometimes the pH is less than 7.   Our well water is pretty acid, I think it is about 5.6 or 5.8. 

What can I do, install a soda ash feeder?   We like the idea of adding calcium and I understand soda ash has sodium in it, so we wished the calcite neutralizer worked better.   Any help you can give would be appreciated.

Susan B.

Maryland

What Type of Water Neutralizer Should I Use for My Well Water?

Dear Sir,

I have a problem with copper corrosion at our home.  We noticed the blue stains on the bathtub and toilet when we first bought this house.  Since then we have had some small leaks in our pipes.   We had the water tested:  hardness = 10 mg/L, pH = 6.4, total dissolved solids = 130 mg/L.   We don’t have any iron, or sediment, no odors. 

We have 2 bathrooms, my husband and I, plus two kids.

We like the water, just want to get rid of the acidity.  What do you suggest?  Our neighbors have a water neutralizer from you, but we wanted to get your opinion directly.   Thank you!

Dorothy,

Pennsylvania