Softened water smell

[Skippy722]

I’m new to well water, never had a softener before. We have a Kinetico water softener at our house. But I accidentally let it run out of salt, no big deal just add more, but I’ve noticed that the water no longer has a sulfury/rotten egg smell. It would smell god awful if it started a regen. Like “I didn’t wash my hair yet but I don’t care I’m done!” bad. Water straight from the well has no smell and actually tastes very good.

I ran a few doses of iron out through it which stopped the hot water from always mildly smelling of it unless it was in a regen, I noticed it sometimes in the cold water as well. Our water doesn’t seem crazy hard, I washed my truck with it and it didn’t make it all chalky, just a few water spots. I know there is iron in it though, the sediment filter comes out red.

Am I fine not using the softener again and turning the bypass valves or leave it alone so it doesn’t get stagnant if we decide to use it again?

 

[Cujet]

Note: Many of the kinetico units are designed so you never have non softened water. That's their "sales pitch" for many of their products. They regen only after a specific amount of water was treated. (I'm sure you know all this) . "If" you have one of their 24/7 units, and both tanks produce smelly water, it may be a clue to the nature of the problem (internal bacteria) . If you don't have that type, and it smells only during regen, then maybe it has a valve problem. As it should bypass the softener system 100% during regen.

In any case, you should not have any smell associated with the water from the softener or other filters, or from your hot water. Smell could indicate bacteria (very likely iron bacteria, which is generally harmless but annoying) . Or it could indicate an operational problem.

A couple of thoughts. Maybe you could place a 1" chlorine tablet in the well. This can kill the bacteria and prevent growth in the system. The other way is to pour in some 35% hydrogen peroxide. You can introduce either into the sediment filter, if you don't feel like opening the well.

If you can, turn up your water heater to 150 degrees. Bacteria will grow until 140 degrees and if you have a conventional type water heater, the bottom of the heater is never as hot as the top. Hence the need for a 150 degree setting. You can try pouring some 35% peroxide directly in the water heater too.

I can't tell you if bypassing the softener is a good idea. But I can say that very few wells produce water that is free of contaminates. So it's quite likely you need it.

 

[slo town]

We are on treated well water from our local community services district. Sometimes our water smells like rotten eggs. It's really gross. We put a whole house Hague water conditioning system in. It did significantly reduce the smell. IIRC it has some kind of copper anti-bacterial filter. But I wonder how long it will remain effective.

Scott

 

[Skippy722]

Thanks guys! Our softener has the twin tanks+brine tank. I’ll try running some through the softener first and see if that helps.

 

[Cujet]

Just to be clear, the smell can likely be eliminated by oxidation. If you have a carbon tank or filter, the carbon traps chlorine and sometimes will continue to oxidize the odors well after the chlorine use has stopped.

Don't forget to disinfect the water heater if it's a tank and the temp is not high.

 

[DriveHard]

I know our water softner has instructions to pour bleach into the brine tank (I think a cup or two) if there is concern about smell or contamination.

 

[Stephen111]

I have a well in my yard. Unluckily, water in my well is pretty hard so we decided to buy a water softener for it. We were very satisfied with water quality in the first of filtration. The water is good and doesn't have any smell. This helps improved our life.

 

[john_pifer]

My wife is from Warsaw, Indiana, and when I’ve gone there to visit and stayed at a few Air BNB’s in town that were on well water, many of them had a strong sulfur smell to the water (rotten eggs).

Her parents’ house is on city water, however, and doesn’t have that problem. Her grandfather’s house, however, is on well water, and has the severe sulfur odor to the water. All the sinks and toilets at his house also have rust-colored stains. So, I wonder if his water softening system has the iron bacteria Cujet was talking about.

Some of the places I’ve stayed up there, it was really, really bad. I don’t know how the homeowners can stand it. Maybe they’re just used to it.

I couldn’t stand living somewhere and having to shower in rotten egg juice.

 

[Rob_Roy]

You likely have iron bacteria in the system. Shocking the well should help temporarily but real fix is likely an iron treatment system. Getting your raw well water tested would help you figure out what is needed.

 

[doublebase]

I was a on a well for 12 years and talked to a water engineer once about it, he said it was a bacteria that causes an order when it interacted with the anode in my hot water tank. He said I could temporarily kill the problem by shocking my well with a treatment that will kill the bacteria, but I’d have to do that every six months or so because it will just grow right back (and he was right).

I never did replace the anode in my hot water tank...I tried, but I couldn’t get the old one out. It was so darn tight! But at the plumbing store they sold anodes for well water...had a whole stack of them labeled “for rotten egg smell/well water”. Think it was made of aluminum. They also sell electric anodes to eliminate the egg smell. So replace your hot water tank anode. It’s cheap and easy (if you can get yours out). Like I said, mine was ten years old and corroded in there so tight I couldn’t even remove it with a breaker bar.

 

[1978elcamino]

Add a chlorine injection & charcoal system that backwashes every couple nights. This would be before your softener, you will have perfect water.