"Stinky" water

[Kyle]

WE have a trailer out in the country with a well. The well broke about 8 months ago and we had to get a new pump. Ever since (8 months ago) the water has been 'weird." THe water was crystal clear and great, but since the day after we got the new pump, it has been funny. It smells weird and tastes weird. We are afraid to drink it but still wash our clothes and stuff in it. Here's some things that it is like:

-it is NOT sulphur

-it almost has an "old house" smell

- we poured 5 gallons of clorox down the darn thing, flushed it, and a few hours later it was back.

ANY IDEAS please?

Thanks

[Yanita]

Hi Kyle,

I am going to move this from the Heating, Venting and AC forums and put it in the Repair forums. Please follow us there.

Yanita

[Greg]

Kyle, I think I would get the water tested to find out what is in there. It is difficult to give advice untill you find out what the real cause is. Greg

[shadow745]

5 gallons of bleach? How deep is the well? Goes to China??? Seriously when we bought our property we decided to sterilize our well and only used 1 gallon of bleach and the well is 403 ft. deep.

Changing out the pump could have stirred up all sorts of things. Just because the water is clear doesn't mean it's clean. I'd have it tested just to be safe. In the mean time the least I'd do is filter anything used for drinking/cooking. If you have an inline whole house filter use an activated carbon filter in the housing instead of a standard one. This will help with taste and odor. If there is no filter then use a faucet mounted unit. Later!

[Harry]

Hi Kyle

If you fix that stinky water let us know how you did it.

I have been chasing our stinky water for years. The latest per the Culligan man is to sanitize the hot water heater. I have already removed the anode from the water heater. I am sure a charcoal filter would also help so I'll look into mounting one next to my existing sediment filter.

Good Luck.

Harry

[Harry]

Hi

Here's the procedure I am going to use to sanitize my water heater. Found it on the internet .... in the public domain.

Procedure for Chlorination of Hot Water Heaters to Eliminate Odors

1. Turn off the manual switch if the water heater is electric. For gas heaters, turn the control to Pilot. Make sure the pilot is still lit so you can restart the water heater when the procedure is completed.

2. Close the cold-water inlet valve at the water heater.

3. Open a nearby hot water faucet and the T&P (temperature and pressure valve, located on the top of the water heater) valve to relieve tank pressure. Note of caution: T&P valves may need replacing if defective or old.

4. Drain the water of enough water to compensate for the bleach to be added. Use a hose connected to the drain valve if an open drain is not adjacent to the water heater. Tip: have on hand a hose bib cap, available at any hardware store. When the procedure is completed, in some cases the drain valve will leak, and a hose bib cap can be screwed on the end of the drain valve, preventing the need for a drain valve replacement. Or replace the valve if desired with a new drain valve.

5. Remove T&P valve, anode rod, or disconnect the hot water outlet pipe from the water heater.

6. For best results and to preserve the life of your water heater, inspect the anode rod. If corroded, replace with a new aluminum/zinc anode rod, which will create fewer odors. Figure 3 Typical gas water heater cut-away showing anode rod and cold water dip tube.

7. Pour one gallon of household bleach, or ½ gallon of pool chlorine for each 30 gallons of water heater tank capacity. Use the T&P valve, anode rod or hot water outlet pipe opening to pour the chlorine in. Re-pipe the water heater and close the T&P valve.

8. Open the cold-water inlet at the heater and fill the tank with water. Observe the water level through the closest hot water faucet. Close inlet valve when the tank is full.

9. Leave the bleach mixture in the heater for one hour.

10. After one hour, open the cold valve again, open all the hot water faucets and allow the bleach mixture to clean the hot water supply pipes. Drain the remaining chlorine solution from the tank through the heater drain valve.

11. Close the heater drain valve, and completely fill the tank with fresh water. Leave the water in the tank for 15 minutes.

12. After 15 minutes, purge the hot water supply lines and drain the water from the tank though the heater drain valve, flushing out any sediment if present. Close the drain valve.

13. Make sure you purge all air from hot water lines from the open hot water faucets. Close the hot water faucet after all the air is out of the system.

14. Check for water leaks at all fittings used; repair as necessary.

15. Turn on the manual electrical switch, or turn the gas control knob back to “On” and verify that the heater burners have lit and turned back on.

16. Check for normal water heater operation.

Harry

[Kyle]

Well, I mean, it has been weird for 8 months