Water from a dug well with a bad smell?

Hello all, I live in an old house that has a cistern and a dug well. I've been using the cistern up until yesterday as the water from the well has quite an odour to it. Yesterday the cistern ran out as it's been quite dry here. I know the well really needs to be pumped out and cleaned but that isn't an option right now. I'm wondering if adding a small amount of bleach or something might improve the smell. I don't use this water for drinking but for just about everything else. The smell is almost a rotten egg sort of smell. Thanks, Sam

Sounds like you could have a sulfur problem in your well water

Have the water tested. A detailed test will identify any/all problems. Tom

I agree, Testing is the answer. Well companies can give you a recommendation for testing. JimN

First I'd check the well and make sure theres nothing in that shouldn't be, like a dead mouse, rat, snake or toad. I usally dump a gallon of bleach in my well and circulate it for an hour with the garden hose, Then pull the hose out in to the yard somewhere and let it run for a couple hours till the bleach oder is gone. Doing this will disinfect the well sides and lines and once you run it long enough you should have fresh clean water comeing in.

I doubt you can get rid of or reduce any sulphur that's already suspended or dissolved in the water without something like a charcoal filter or some other treatment system.

Going forward, it depends on the source of the sulfur. If it's coming from decaying algae or something of that sort, then the bleach can help you get a handle on it. If it's simply sulfur in the groundwater, it will depend further on how much is in it. If it's a lot, you may be stuck with it. I had a drilled well in Ohio that had some sulphur. As long as I was home and using a normal amount of water everyday, the smell was hardly noticeable and all I had was a filter at the kitchen tap for drinking/cooking/coffee water. If I were to leave for a week on business, the smell would be quite noticeable for a few days until I had drawn down the water column in the well and let it recharge a few times.

Call Culligan Man.Have the water checked for Nitrates,Nitrites and E Coli contamination.

I echo the sentiments of getting the water tested.

For 100 years the water was just fine on the old family farm and then suddenly it had an odor similar to kerosene with a tad bit of rotten egg smell as well.

The water tested positive for e-coli. Because no one lived there at the time and couldn't stay on top of treatment it took us several tries to get it under control with bleach.

Once treated be sure to run water to each end use until you can smell chlorine and then stop the flow so that it sets in the piping.

Most extension agencies will have instructions for well and system treatment.

Godd question. My parents' home has the same problem. The well is a 2-inch well that Dad drilled himself. As I understand it, the water is that way because of the oil-bearing shale that encloses the water pocket.

Nothing has been done to fix it, but we do distill almost all the water we drink. But it still stinks when we go to wash our hands at the sink.

Rotten egg smeel is sulfur. There is one cheap hope. Some times sulfer can be pulled out with air. Drop a hose from a compresser down lower than your foot valve and put some air to it for a few miutes. Run your pump a while, you will have to flush the lines to get rid of water that was in the system before you started. May not work but some sulfur forms can be pulled out this way.

Sulfer is not going to hurt anything and you could pick up some vitamins and minerals cheap. That said if you have not used the well in a long time time it would be a good idea to call your local heath department (unless you live in one of those places that thinks every one should have to pay for public water, then call some one else for testing). It really does need to be tested and most places the health departemt will do it for free or for say $10 (Cheap), and they ain't try'n to sell anything.

Good luck. Let us know how it works out.

Dave

Your problem would not be quite the same as ours. You might need to have the health department check for contamination.

We have the sulfur smell problem in our 220 foot deep well. About 16 years ago I called the well service to come out and check the well. They dumped a gallon of Clorox down the well then rinsed the Clorox down the well off the wires with a hose until a slight chlorine smell came out the hose. they then wet into the house and drew water from each faucet until they could smell the chlorine. Said not to use the water for 4 or 5 hours and the flush all the faucets real good so the smell of chlorine was just slight and then start using the water. They told me that I now know what to do and can do it myself. Just did that a coupla weeks ago and the smell is and will be gone for a spell. I do have to run a coupla manual cycles on the water softener as the rust breaks loose.

We could run a pitcher of water, put it in the fridge overnight. The smell would be gone in the morning.

South of me they used to pipe the water up on the roof of the house and run it down a wire grid to aerate it. They would let it run down by gravity and collect it at the bottom. I dont see any of these systems anylonger so not sure how they handle it now.

I have two places about 1/2 mile apart. My house thank goodness has great water. The shop and barn have sulfur. The horse dont complain.

Gene

Might be a good time to stick a ladder down in your cistern, get a scrub brush, a bucket of water with plenty of bleach, and clean up the cistern. Hose it down and maybe use a pressure washer if needed. Probably a layer of sludge in the bottom to scoop out with a shovel first. Probably have to clear out the spider webs and a snake around the top. On the other hand, if your sulfur smell is connected with H2S (hydrogen sulfide) gas, then care should be taken and clean it from the top with a pressure washer. H2S is an oderless gas that is heavier than air and settles into low areas around well heads and oil tanks and tanks like your cistern. When you climb into a tank with h2s, you immediately lose consciousness for a lack of oxygen. An incident usually kills multiple people because no one realizes it is h2s gas, they look into a tank and see someone unconscious, they go into the tank to help, and are immediately overcome themselves. I've cleaned a cistern before but the same safety rules apply as a grain bin, use safety ropes, have someone with the horsepower to pull you out, maybe have some type of breathing appratus available, and be ready to call for help which would probably get there too late. There is a way to test for h2s gas though. Probably wouldn't hurt to run your air compressor hose to the bottom and displace the air for an hour or two first.

Beware of using the health dept to save a few bucks on a test. They have the authority to shut you down, make you plug your well, and remove your cistern if they find some code violations(very expensive). They could determine your house is unlivable without the water. There are water testing labs around.

Besides the bleach in the well as others have suggested, put plenty of bleach in your cistern for a while. Whenever cities have a pipe problem, they will add chlorine to clear up any contamination.

You may want to add a whole house filter system also with a charcoal filter to get rid of the sulfur smell.

Gene, the cities use a similar principle. Cooling towers to aereate the water to get rid of those gasses along with special filters depending upon what else they need to get rid of.

My neighbor has this in his house well and he has to pump chlorine into it to make it go away

Thanks for all the suggestions so far. Part of the problem is I'm renting the house (the price is right so I can put up with quite a few issues) but I'm not about to spend a whole lot of money on the fix either. As I said I'm not drinking the water but it'd be nice if it didn't stink so badly. I'll have a read through when I get a little more time and I'll let everyone know how it turns out. Thanks a bunch, Sam

Although sulfers are quite likely the rotten egg smell, there is a different possibility, Manganesse (sp) will also smell slightly like rotten eggs, the bacterial type and also there is a bacteria that lives on iron will both do the same. That is when the clorox flushing is very effective on these bacterial type, but it does have to be repeated.
Goog luck
Lou

To save a little bread, get the chlorine powder over in the swimming pool section of wally world. It goes a long way. Don't get the bromine though.

If all else fails, call Dudley Do-Right for some help as long as he isn't too busy saving Nell from Snidely Whiplash.

When my father-in-law was still living, their water from the well on the farm started to stink. They had it tested and there were so many bacteria they couldn't count them.

They finally pulled the pump and found a bunch of dead garter snakes wrapped around the pump. They got in through the fitting where the electrical wire for the pump goes through the side of the casing. It wasn't sealed properly.

They let a garden hose run for two weeks and it was six month's before my FIL could drink any of the water.

Not saying this is your problem, but it's a thought.

I'd be discussing the problem with the landlord. He is renting you a house with no water available. Can you hook up to rural water ? Seems like that is a basic amenity that he ought to provide. If not a major reduction in rent is appropriate. I'd like to see him go out and advertise the place for rent, no water, if you left.

GW

Hi Sam, We were in to visit you for a few minutes last Saturday morning around 9:00 A.M. We were going to the auction on John Grant Back Road, the late Joe M. The problem with the well is something that may have been a concern to others over the years. Years ago at the Fire Dept. in Cole Harbour we use to deliver water when wells run dry, some would go dry in the winter when you thought there was an abundance of water. The water we delivered was at times out of a lake, so we used to put bleach/javex in the water before dumping the water in the well. If the well fills up with enough water to clean the inside and then pump out , prephaps I can borrow a pump from the Kiwanis Club and give you a hand to clean out the well. See you later, another farm auction in Middleton , Cumberland County this week-end. Waiting for a call from Lloyd, Cheers, Murray

Dead mouse.

H2S gas is Not odourless. It has a rotten egg odour. It definately can kill you. It is also flamable.

Been there, fished that one out of the cistern. Maybe he had friends? Sam

It'd be kinda hard for the landlord to reduce my rent any (if you get my drift). I just pay for the oil for heat. One of those things that can make you overlook an awful lot of shortcomings Sam

Okay, I've just read everthing you all posted. I'm going to clean/scrub out the cistern while it's dry, it's quite small (not as tall as I am) so I'm not overly concerned about gas buildup but will make sure someone else is around. As to the well I'm going to hit it with the bleach as I think it could be bacterial. When I finally find the cord for my camera I'll post some pictures and let you all know how it goes. Thanks, Sam

At the old house where I grew up we had the mouse and tree frog problem all the time. We'd dip out the critter and then treat with bleach and a shovel of lime. The well had a small but fast stream so the water was turned over in a couple hours.