Sulfur odor in well water

[bsa0021]

A family member purchased a house with well water and septic. The water has a strong sulfur odor from both the hot and cold water.
Details of the situation:
The well is about 250ft from my well which would lead me to believe that both wells are from the same ground water source and my well does not have the odor.
The house in question was vacant for 1.5 years but the water lines were not drained. The water softener was unplugged as well.
The well water is plumbed from the bladder tank to the softener, to a house filter and then throughout the house ( The filter should be before the softener).
I have not checked the softness of the water to determine if the softener is working.
The following is what I have done thus far:
I pulled the whole house filter and added bleach into the housing, ran the water into all fixtures in the house and let everything sit for 24 hours flushed and now the odor is gone from the cold water. I did install a charcoal filter into whole house filter.
The filter location will be corrected this weekend.
I want to flush the water heater since I still have the sulfur odor in the hot water. I was planning on draining the water heater(80 gallon elec.), opening the union and adding about a 1/4 gallon of bleach, refill the heater, let sit for 24 hours, and drain.
My problem is I don't like dumping 160 gallons of water into the septic system with 80 gallons containing bleach.

Am I going about this correctly?
Would the floor drains in the basement drain into the septic?
Is there another way to drain the WH outside w/o going into the septic?
Thanks!

 

[homebrewz]

There was a previous thread posted here a month or two ago about how iron reducing bacteria can sometimes produce sulfur compounds in water.

Anyway, maybe you could drain it into a small tub and then use a submersible pump to pump the drain water up and out to the yard.

 

[velvetfoot]

I think I killed a big hemlock when I dumped water containing salt from rinsing out the brine tank.
Just saying, I guess, be careful where you dump stuff, since that will be more concentrated than if it was dumped in the 1000 gallon or so septic tank.
I would think the septic tank is pretty big and should dilute stuff pretty well.

Funny that I too have the whole house filter downstream of the softener, which was put in by Culligan for the previous owner about 6 years ago.
I touched base with the Culligan dealer, and as I recall, they do it both ways, and I didn't get the impression it was that critical. I imagine if there ever is a malfunction with the softener and the beads get turned loose somehow, the filter would catch them.

For my own interest, does the charcoal filter slow down the flow rate a lot?

I've had good luck with a friendly forum similar to this one: www.plbg.com . Maybe do a search there.

 

[Shari]

Does the house have a sump pump crock? If yes, drain the water heater to the sump. Direct the sump pump outside line away from any trees/bushes and after draining the water heater tank hook up an outside house and flush the area the sump dumped to.

Edit: Also meant to say you should also be chlorinating the well. Google it for directions.

Shari

 

[billb3]

you don't want to dump highly chlorined water into your septic - there's good bacteria in there .(good for the septic anyway)

you really shouldn't use a lot of bleach with the laundry for the same reason.
Unless you've got really sensitive grass the lawn should be fine.
If you could mix/dilute it that would be even better.

 

[Highbeam]

I've drained the water heater through the drain outlet by attaching a garden hose to the outlet and running it outside. It's also how I used to fill up my carwashing bucket. Nice hot water is great for carwashing.

 

[twang]

Usually this is a bacteria issue and easily corrected. Do you know the depth of the well? We first add bleach directly to the well. For 4" wells use 2.5 cups of unscented bleach per 100' depth; 6" well use 5 cups; 8" well use 7.5 cups; 12" well use 20 cups....this is per 100' of depth. We then run a hose and let the water run until we smell the bleach. then turn on all fixtures in the house until the bleach get there(sounds like you have already done this) let sit for 12+hrs. Then turn on an outdoor spigot and run until no smell. The you can just run the water/flush toilets etc to clean out the house lines. To drain your water heater just attach a garden hose to the bottom and run it outside. Hope this helps. Retreat the well this way anytime you open the lines/filters/etc. This is when bacteria can enter the system.

 

[bsa0021]

[quote author="velvetfoot" date="1287124729"]

Funny that I too have the whole house filter downstream of the softener, which was put in by Culligan for the previous owner about 6 years ago.
I touched base with the Culligan dealer, and as I recall, they do it both ways, and I didn't get the impression it was that critical. I imagine if there ever is a malfunction with the softener and the beads get turned loose somehow, the filter would catch them.

For my own interest, does the charcoal filter slow down the flow rate a lot?


The charcoal doesn't slow the rate as much as the type of filter material used. My charcoal filter is pleated replacing a wound filter which will slow the flow rate.

As far as Culligan not concerned with where the whole house filter is installed, they sell softeners so of course they don't care where you put the filter. I would rather remove the heavy debris from the well pump and make it easier on the softener.

 

[bsa0021]

Since the water heater is in the basement, I won't be able to run the hose outside to drain the tank. No sump pump either. I may try to borrow a sub pump as homebrewz suggested. Either that or bucket it out

 

[hkobus]

I would use Hydrogen peroxide 35% or 50% if you can get it. We use it to clean lines in the barns at a rate of 1 to 3% of the volume of water using the 50%. Leave this sit for 24 to 48 hrs with the main or pump off and the highest tap in the building open a bit to vent the gas (mainly oxygen). You will be surprised to see the junk from the lines when you rinse in a few days.
Handle this product with care in concentrated form, when diluted or spent it is safe for septic and plants.

 

[begreen]

Is the water directly pumped from the well also sulfury or is it ok? Has the well water been tested, direct from the well, for bacterial and mineral content?

 

[bsa0021]

Since I have put bleach though the house lines the odor is gone from the cold. I just competed drain of the tank after setting 24 hrs w/bleach. I will be getting water tested soon. See other post for problem now!

 

[begreen]

Good to hear there's progress. It might be good to shock the well with some bleach tablets as well. Is there any spot near the house that's lower than the basement? If yes, maybe you will be able to get the tank to siphon.