Sulfur smell

[Jaylivi]

Recently purchased a home on a well. No one had lived there for about two years, though the pressure tank and pump had been replaced in 2014. There was no filtration, and I have not shock chlorinated. Test results:
iron 2.61 mg/l
sulfate 52.6 mg/l
nitrate o.15 mg/l
pH 7.8
hardness 400 mgl

After an extensive renovation, new water lines, water heater and a three stage big blue filtration system particle/carbon/iron ( my wife wanted me to do something with the water).

iron .023 mg/l
sulfate 213 mg/l
nitrate 0 mg/l
pH 7,30
hardness 318 mg/l

We moved in three weeks ago and have had a rotten egg smell coming from the hot water tank. I raised the tank temp to 160 12 hours ago and don't notice any improvement. I"m going to drain it and use hydrogen peroxide to clean it, and will probably shock chlorinate the well, but I'm also looking for a longer term solution.

Obvious to the experienced eye, I'm a well newbie but would like to learn. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Reach4]

I am surprised that you got that much iron reduction.

Consider a powered anode to help with the hot water. I would also do a complete sanitizing. The first line of https://terrylove.com/forums/index.p...izing-extra-attention-to-4-inch-casing.65845/ has a link to a nice sanitizing article, but then I go into my possibly-overkill extension. Overkill is good in this case I think.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Bannerman]

If the sulfur odor is only in the hot water, there maybe a reaction with the anode in the water heater tank. Often replacing the standard magnesium anode with an aluminum one will resolve the issue. Alternatively, there are powered anodes that maybe used, but are more expensive.

The anode is normally a rod that is screwed into the top of the tank.

 

[Jaylivi]

I was also surprised by the iron reduction since I didn't do anything too fancy with filtering. The well had sat unused for more than a year, perhaps pumping a lot of water out of it between tests made most of the difference?

I appreciate the link, and I'll probably choose overkill since it's my water system.

The smell definitely came on only after the water tank was set up for two weeks. I have heard that changing the anode is a PITA, and I'm going to have to lay her down because my ceiling will be too low (I assume).

 

[Reach4]

I have heard that changing the anode is a PITA, and I'm going to have to lay her down because my ceiling will be too low (I assume).

Figure a 1-1/16 impact socket on an impact wrench to get an old anode out. A breaker bar will probably just twist the WH. The makers tighten those much more than needed. Getting the first half turn on the anode is the only hard part. Removing the old anode is easy, since you can bend it as you lift.

You can buy a segmented aluminum+zinc anode, but the powered anode is even better at not contributing to H2S. Yes, it is expensive, but I figure to move mine to my next WH.

I removed my anode temporarily later to better flush out my WH. Now that we have your BB filters, we will not add rocks to our WHs. I did get a lot of small rocks and sand out of my WH during my flushing.

 

[Jaylivi]

Thanks again!

I may need to reevaluate my statement that it's only the hot water. Although I smell nothing from the cold water from the cold water faucets, I did get a sulfur smell from water I took from a valve located before my filter system - and of course the smell is stronger from the hot water tank.

If this is a problem throughout my system, should I begin with something other than an anode replacement?

 

[Reach4]

If this is a problem throughout my system, should I begin with something other than an anode replacement?

If you think the iron will not be a problem, I would go with the powered anode and good sanitizing. If I had to pick just one, I would go with the sanitizing. But when you are going to do more than one thing, I would sanitize after doing the other thing, since that other thing could introduce bacteria.

From an expense point of view, go with the sanitizing first. Actually I would order the high range chlorine and pH test papers first, and then do a really good sanitizing. The sanitizing takes a long time the way I do it.

I have an iron+H2S filter plus the powered anode. Since I ordered the powered anode before deciding to get the iron+sulfur filter, I cannot be sure that it was needed. The filtering is not going to remove sulfates. I think that SRB + sulfates + metal anode generates H2S even if all of the H2S has been removed before the WH. Now can you sanitize and keep the WH free of SRB for a long period? I don't know. I know many strongly doubt that, figuring that there are SRB already in the strata.