New well questions and concerns

Hey guys, great site.

I'll start with a little history. New bored 30" well drilled Aug 27, 2008. Fiberglass crib, 60' deep, hit water at 38', static water level 22'. Well was clorinated immediately after dug and sat for 1 month. Well was pumped out for 6 hours at 20 gpm. Water level dropped to 40' and stayed there. Well treanched to house with new 1 1/4 poly, new 44 gal bladder tank and mostly new copper in house.

Had water tested Hardness 60 gpg
Iron 1.58 ppm
Manganese 0.1 mgl
pH 8
TDS 1797 ppm

So, company set me up with a 45000 grain Iron guard softner. Also installed a 75 gpd Reverse O water drinking system.

Now to my problem. I am getting odor from the water, both hot and cold. I have RO system hooked up before softner and if lots of water is used, no smell but if it sits in storage tank (4 gal) for 4 or more hours, water smells. If I hold tap open and let tank drain, smell is gone and water tastes great. Smells and tastes kinda like sulfer.

Now, where should I start? I live in rural South Saskatchewan Canada. When well was drilled, lots of coal shards came up with the sand and gravel. Would this have anything to do with odor? Any help would be great to get me going in the right direction. Other than the smell, water is great.

Thanks

Wil

The RO should be on the OUTlet of the softener. It won't last long on 60 gpg hardness and especially the iron content. And for that TDS, you might need a booster pump on the feed side.

Odor is caused by chemicals or bacteria. Coal, shale etc. harbor sulfate reducing bacteria or naturally occurring H2S gas; both cause sulfur rotten egg odor. Maybe methane.

I suspect some type of bacteria is the cause of the odor because it takes storage to be able to smell the odor. It will be H2S if the cold untreated water before the RO (and softener) smells. You need to replace all the RO's filters and sanitize the RO, before putting the new cartridges in, and you can not sanitize the membrane without ruining it. The guy that sold the RO can tell you how to do that.

How's the softener working? A 1.5 cuft is a bit small for any decent salt and water efficiencies.

Softner seems to be working great. The RO system does have a booster pump. OK now, how can i determine it is H2S for sure and how or what can one do to deal with it? Also, is it harmful to drink? I've taken H2S Alive coarse for oilfield work and know how dangerous it can be.

I guess to defend why I hooked RO up before softner was I figured filtering and dumping soft water was a waste of salt. After using for a month, I figure I only use about a gallon of RO water a day so that wouldn't add up too much.

Thanks for fast response and all the help

Wil

Take the lid off the toilet tanks and see if there is an oily film o the water like a drop of oil in a mud puddle. Then look for a line of slime at the water line. It can be any color so feel with a finger tip. Look down at the bottom of the water and see if there is anything waving in the water like sea weed in the ocean. Then flush the toilet and wipe the palm of a hand from the water line down feeling for snotty slimy stuff.

If you find any of those things, you have a bacterial problem and the only way to treat it is to use something to kill it.Shocking the well will only work for short time like a few days or weeks but, you'll constantly be recontaminating the RO and softener.

Mix a 1/4 cup of regular nonscented bleach in a gallon of water and pour it down into the water in the salt tank, not through the salt. Then do a manual regeneration. That will sanitize the softener. Chlorine damages resin, so don't do this frequently and only use a 1/4 cup. DO NOT mix it with Iron Out or other products like it.

I did notice what you described in the toilet tank. Ok, how do I know what kinda bacteria i'm dealing with? Is there any kinda of long term fix? Is it recommended to chlorinate the well? If so, how much should be used and in what kinda process. I'm guessing that it is most likely an iron bacteria im dealing with. The old well, which was decommishined, and in a different aquifier had iron issues also. Also others in this area deal with rust issues as well. I thought new fiberglass well and iron guard softner would fix problem.

I just changed RO prefilter and it was suprisingly clear but did have a slight odor. Wouldn't the iron have made filter quite red, it wasn't. Any thoughts?

Thanks

What kind of bacteria really doesn't matter, you must kill them all.

Iron and bacteria are in the water that comes into the well as you take water out of the well.

I like an inline pellet chlorinator system I have that includes a special mixing tank with bottom drain that is equivalent to a 120 gallon retention tank, followed by a backwashed filter with special carbon in it. It will kill all types of bacteria and oxidize the iron and H2S and any manganese etc.. It doesn't have any of the disadvantages of a solution feeder system.

Wil, from what you have said and now have found, possibly you will agree with me, I see no reason for you to spend money to have a lab test your water. The equipment you have is working fine except for the bacteria, which is either IRB or SRB or more likely both. Your present equipment does not treat for bacteria which must be killed and UV can not be used for those types of bacteria. So you must use chlorine, hydrogen peroxide or ozone.