NEED ADVICE! Air in water lines and stinky smell - related??

[Jen0306]

I'm not sure if I'm posting in the correct forum, but I would appreciate any and all input. I have two issues and I'm not sure if they could be related. We have a lake home in Wisconsin, have a shallow well and a septic. For the past 18 months or so, we have had air in our water lines (mainly cold water). It's especially bad with the kitchen sink and drives me insane. We had a plumber out to replace our water softener and asked him, but he seemed to not be interested in helping us and just told us to call a well guy. We've tried several times to clear the air but it doesn't help. We replaced our well pump about 3 months prior to this starting. We just recently started noticing a bad smell in our main floor bathroom only when we are using the washing machine (which is in the basement). Could these two things be related? Any suggestions on how to deal with either one?

 

[Reach4]

Softeners will not remove H2S from water. If the smell is mostly from the hot water, there are some fairly simple things to do to help. There are devices to remove H2S coming in with the water, but those are typicall going to look similar to another softener.

Tell us about the air in the pipes? Is it possible this only occurs when the softener regenerates? Keep track of that. If that is your symptom, easy solution.

A smell when using the washing machine could be a drain pipe problem.

How long since you had the septic tank pumped?

 

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[Jen0306]

Softeners will not remove H2S from water. If the smell is mostly from the hot water, there are some fairly simple things to do to help. There are devices to remove H2S coming in with the water, but those are typicall going to look similar to another softener.

Tell us about the air in the pipes? Is it possible this only occurs when the softener regenerates? Keep track of that. If that is your symptom, easy solution.

A smell when using the washing machine could be a drain pipe problem.

How long since you had the septic tank pumped?

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply!
The replacement of the water softener was actually a completely separate issue. The brine tank kept overflowing and it was old, so we had it replaced. The water in the lines issue had been going on for about 9 months and I was naively hoping that would solve the issue, but it did not. When we had the plumber out to replace it, we also wanted him to help us with the air in the lines issue, but he pretty much did not want to be bothered. He said that if replacing the water softener didn't help, we should just call a well guy. Maybe we need to, but I feel like I really want to know that we've ruled out any other issue first.
The air in the pipes is every time I use the kitchen faucet; not quite as bad with the bathroom faucet; not noticeable with the shower faucet (I think because we are using hot water) and sometimes very noticeable with the toilet tank filling back up after flushing.
The smell is a sewer like smell and we smell it in the main floor bathroom and only when the washing machine is running (which is in the basement, essentially right below the bathroom).
Our septic tank is a holding tank, so it has to get pumped regularly (probably every 4-6 weeks).
I'm sure this is a really stupid question, but if we have a drain pipe issue causing the smell, could a drain pipe problem also cause air in the lines?

 

[Reach4]

He said that if replacing the water softener didn't help, we should just call a well guy. Maybe we need to, but I feel like I really want to know that we've ruled out any other issue first.

Air in water can be caused by well problems. How about a photo that includes the pressure switch, pressure gauge, the pipe from the well, an the input to the pressure tank.

but if we have a drain pipe issue causing the smell, could a drain pipe problem also cause air in the lines?

No.

The drain lines may have a belly blocking normal passage of gas through some place in the system. That kind of thing is hard to diagnose, unless the lines are visible from below and can be checked with a level to make sure none have a reverse slope. In a slab, I think a camera through the drain lines would be needed to detect that.

Besides a belly causing the problme, check for a sink or floor drain with a trap that may have gone dry.

 

[Jen0306]

Air in water can be caused by well problems. How about a photo that includes the pressure switch, pressure gauge, the pipe from the well, an the input to the pressure tank.


No.

The drain lines may have a belly blocking normal passage of gas through some place in the system. That kind of thing is hard to diagnose, unless the lines are visible from below and can be checked with a level to make sure none have a reverse slope. In a slab, I think a camera through the drain lines would be needed to detect that.

Besides a belly causing the problme, check for a sink or floor drain with a trap that may have gone dry.

 

[Jen0306]

View attachment 79301

I'm having trouble uploading photos, as it keeps telling me the file is too large. I'm not sure how that one above worked. I'll keep trying.

 

[Reach4]

I'm having trouble uploading photos, as it keeps telling me the file is too large. I'm not sure how that one above worked.

Maximum dimension 800 pixels. Maximum byte size is 200,000 bytes.
The photo you succeeded at is 150 x 200 pixels, and is 7,728 bytes. So I don't know why there was a problem with the others.

 

[Jen0306]

Here are the photos

 

[Reach4]

The line from the well is shown in the lower right of

Slather the connection between that pipe and any connection/joint that you can access coming from the well, with shaving cream foam. Run the pump, and see if the shaving cream gets sucked in anywhere. That would indicate a suction leak, which would bring air into your system.

 

[Jen0306]

The line from the well is shown in the lower right of

Slather the connection between that pipe and any connection/joint that you can access coming from the well, with shaving cream foam. Run the pump, and see if the shaving cream gets sucked in anywhere. That would indicate a suction leak, which would bring air into your system.

We will try that. Thank you!