Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
joshuaace

Sulphur smell help

joshuaace
10 years ago

We just moved into a new home with well water and it has a sulphur smell to it. The water was tested during hoke inspections and found to be safe so I think our problem is smell only.

The smell seems to only come with hot water and we have an older rental tank from awhr. I have read that the smell might be coming from bacteria in the water heater and replacing an anode can help. Instead do doing that I have the option of requesting a new tank and was wondering if it is possible that having a new tank installed would fix my problem?

If that doesn't work (or isn't recommended) am I correct in assuming that my next step would be to out chlorine in the well to shock it? Will that get rid or the smell? Is it a permanent or temporary solution?

Comments (2)

  • User
    10 years ago

    Water tests for occupancy only consider heath concerns and not "water niceness". Living on a well the water must be safe and you might want it to be nice also. Consider getting a comprehensive water test from a certified lab to see what is in your water and then consider treatment or not.

    As to the smell...

    Hold off on the bleach. If the smell is only in the hot water then it's usually not the well. Shocking (bleaching) the well too often can result in costly pump repairs.

    More than likely IRB or SRB. Note the current temp setting on your WH and turn the temp up to 140 degrees F for two hours.

    Be careful using hot water during that time as it will be HOT.

    After two hours lower the temp to what it was set at before and drain the WH if you can. If you can't drain it then fill up your tub a couple times with just HOT water to get rid of the water that was in the tank.

    That could resolve your smell problem.

  • christine40
    10 years ago

    we had the smell also---we deduced it was coming from "iron eating bacteria" present somewhere in the softening system (which was 28years old)......we had someone from Kinetico come out to service..they determined it was not the hot water--once that was ruled out, we installed a better "pre filter" Called an Eradacator, There are other names for this iron eliminating filter.....haven't had the smell since.