smelly water

[Knotdust]

several years ago I posted a query about some smelly water at our church.  It wasn't all the time but mostly when our 2 tank Kinetico softener changed tanks, usually during some sort of larger event.  

I had a lot of good suggestions here for which I thank you.

1. We had the local drilling company come out and test the water.  We had iron oxide in the system.  They suggested shocking the well but with no 
    guarantees.  We had them do it but it only lasted 30 days and we were back to the same old thing

2. We started evaluating and thinking back when this had started.  As near as we could tell it started soon after about 45% of our congregation left due to      some personality difficulties.   It seemed we didn't have as much problem when we had the higher water flow.

3. So we determined that possibly what was happening was that the water was sitting for an extended period of time it was allowing time for the iron 
    oxide to grow in the 2nd tank.  Eventually it would need to recycle and then we would get smelly water at the faucets and drinking fountains.  

4.  Since we had the system a few years Kinetico suggested that the resin in the tanks was more than likely near the end of it's useful life.  It seemed like 
     they were only interested in selling us a new system since replacing the resin was quite costly as well 

5. we have continued being a smaller church we decided that we would replace the dual tank, flow generated recycling unit with a commercial single 
   tank system with both flow and time regeneration controls.  We were able to purchase it off the web and install it ourselves.

This has solved our issues with smelly and rusty water.  The rust is also no longer present in our lines or filter either.  We are not sure what has given us that result, but we are happy.  I just have to change the filter every 30 plus days to take care of some sediment issues which gives kind of an off taste to the water(not iron)

I wanted to post our solution for others who might be battling the same issues.

[R Clark]

Thanks for the update.

Since we live on an acreage and have a well, I follow these items with interest.

We also belong to a small country church with an even smaller, inadequate well water supply.  Unfortunately for us, our latest water issues are manifesting in low or no-flow water.  It's not softener/conditioning system related, so I guess it could be a faulty pump.  The well is also very old, shallow, and some distance from our building.  I'm concerned that the expense of a new deep well is in the near future for us.

[mike4244]

Thanks for the update.

Since we live on an acreage and have a well, I follow these items with interest.

We also belong to a small country church with an even smaller, inadequate well water supply.  Unfortunately for us, our latest water issues are manifesting in low or no-flow water.  It's not softener/conditioning system related, so I guess it could be a faulty pump.  The well is also very old, shallow, and some distance from our building.  I'm concerned that the expense of a new deep well is in the near future for us.

A well driller can blow out the bottom of the well with a large compressor. This may solve the problem for a reasonable cost. 
I had a similar problem and tried to blow out the well with a 3HP electric compressor. The water increased to 3 gallons a minute. When the well was dug and for many years we got 7 gallons per minute. 
I called a well driller. He blew out the bottom which probably had filled with sand. The well then produced 7 GPM. I think it cost me $125.00 
well worth it.

mike

[Snipe Hunter]

Did you install a chlorine injection system for the iron oxide? I'm using a potassium permanganate system which does work. Takes a good bit of maintenance though. Considering a chlorine injection system... much less maintenance and cleaner.

Confused about shocking the well. That shouldn't do much for iron, more a bacteria thing.

[CLETUS]

Confused about shocking the well. That shouldn't do much for iron, more a bacteria thing.

We had our well shocked, the guy said it was "iron bacteria".

This google result is similar to what the guy was saying.

Iron bacteria are small living organisms that naturally occur in soil, shallow groundwater, and surface waters. These bacteria combine iron (or manganese) and oxygen to form deposits of "rust," bacterial cells, and a slimy material that sticks the bacteria to well pipes, pumps, and plumbing fixtures.

[Snipe Hunter]

We had our well shocked, the guy said it was "iron bacteria".

This google result is similar to what the guy was saying.

Yea but..

The Iron keeps feeding into the well and in a day or two the bleach is gone if it was flushed right. The bacteria is still in the water distribution system in the house, particularly in the water heater. Controlling the coliform bacteria (to my understanding) is really what the bleach is for. The coliform bacteria is killed by the bleach. Even if the iron bacteria is killed, the iron is still there and the bacteria will just come back. The rotten egg smell is from iron bacteria and the wet-ship hull smell and red fixture staining is from the iron itself. Whether it be dissolved iron or iron oxide. Both will go away if the water is treated with either a potassium permaginate or a chlorine injection system because it gets rid of the iron before it's fed into the potable water piping. A new well cap or well cap gasket will control the coliform bacteria once the well is shocked. It's source is fecal contamination from animals, even worms and slugs which can't get into a well with a sealed cap. Decomposing iron bacteria (rotten egg smell) are in the soil and get active when exposed to oxygen like in a water heater. You usually don't smell it in cold water but the iron is still there if left untreated.

[Halfathumb]

several years ago I posted a query about some smelly water at our church.  It wasn't all the time but mostly when our 2 tank Kinetico softener changed tanks, usually during some sort of larger event.  

I had a lot of good suggestions here for which I thank you.

1. We had the local drilling company come out and test the water.  We had iron oxide in the system.  They suggested shocking the well but with no 
    guarantees.  We had them do it but it only lasted 30 days and we were back to the same old thing

2. We started evaluating and thinking back when this had started.  As near as we could tell it started soon after about 45% of our congregation left due to      some personality difficulties.   It seemed we didn't have as much problem when we had the higher water flow.

3. So we determined that possibly what was happening was that the water was sitting for an extended period of time it was allowing time for the iron 
    oxide to grow in the 2nd tank.  Eventually it would need to recycle and then we would get smelly water at the faucets and drinking fountains.  

4.  Since we had the system a few years Kinetico suggested that the resin in the tanks was more than likely near the end of it's useful life.  It seemed like 
     they were only interested in selling us a new system since replacing the resin was quite costly as well 


5. we have continued being a smaller church we decided that we would replace the dual tank, flow generated recycling unit with a commercial single 
   tank system with both flow and time regeneration controls.  We were able to purchase it off the web and install it ourselves.

This has solved our issues with smelly and rusty water.  The rust is also no longer present in our lines or filter either.  We are not sure what has given us that result, but we are happy.  I just have to change the filter every 30 plus days to take care of some sediment issues which gives kind of an off taste to the water(not iron)

I wanted to post our solution for others who might be battling the same issues.

I guess prayers actually do work! 

[Robert Adams]

Good to hear you found a fix. I remember the original thread. I have a 100' shallow well that I only use for irrigation and the soil beneath us is very sandy with a few thin clay layers and all of it from about 15' down is very high in iron content. Very very high.... That coupled with the 60 year old steel casing iron bacteria is just normal to deal with. 

        As long as you can keep the water flow out of the well consistent without letting it sit for a long time you will have nice clear water with no smell or red color. But if you let it sit you will end up with a massive amount of nasty dark red stinky water when you fire up the well again. I just make sure to run the pump and dump the water on the yard a couple times a month in the "winter" to keep it relatively clear.

          I really need a water softener for the house which uses city water that is extremely hard and high iron content from the 60 year old steel 1.5" water mains. I have a house filter as a prefilter for my RO system and that filter lasts about 2 months before totally plugging and the RO filters last a little longer before they totally plug up. I have a big commercial restaurant 3 filter canister system but the filters for it are a fortune so I haven't put that in for the main house filter...

               Here is what my RO filters look like after 3 months and this is after the whole house prefilter... 

[Knotdust]

Our well is a 75' and seems to be an artesian stream.  When we 1st drilled it back in 1986 the water ran out the top of the casing all summer long. Any time you needed a drink take your cup over and dip it in.  Nice cold water.

We had our water tested and never had coliform bacteria.  Only the iron oxide which is harmless.  Just makes a nasty color in all the water devices.  However that has cleared up and all we now have is a bit sediment which leaves a black color in our filter.  

I don't think we want to blow out the well bottom.  There are numerous other neighbors on that same vein.  One sunday we had a nasty taste and cloudy water when we had a large group of guests.  On the way home I passed a local Amish place that had a drilling rig set up.  I think they were drilling deeper or cleaning their well and it affected the whole vein.  By the next week it had cleared up.  

So we are glad we were able to solve it.  I did hear that most shallow wells in Ohio have an iron issue.  I think it goes with some of the deeper wells too.  A number of years ago on my brothers farm they needed to go to around 300' to get an adequate supply for the dairy cattle.  That is also quite rusty.

[R Clark]

A well driller can blow out the bottom of the well with a large compressor. This may solve the problem for a reasonable cost. 
I had a similar problem and tried to blow out the well with a 3HP electric compressor. The water increased to 3 gallons a minute. When the well was dug and for many years we got 7 gallons per minute. 
I called a well driller. He blew out the bottom which probably had filled with sand. The well then produced 7 GPM. I think it cost me $125.00 
well worth it.

mike

Thanks for the info; I really don't have a lot of experience with wells.  Our home is the first one that has a well; it's at 180 feet.  The water is good and plentiful.

The one at the church, however, is a shallow well, and was used to provide water to a small country schoolhouse that's no longer there.  It's across the road from the church.  Nobody wants to drink that water, and the church keeps bottled water around for drinking.