Home Water Treatment Options

[wagner]

So I'm doing research on how to solve for a sulfur/rotten eggs smell in our well water. It's worse when the hot water is run, can't really smell it with cold water.

 

I've had a few CR people pass me information via social media and phone about replacing the anode rod on the hot water tank. I don't know if it's ever been done since it looks sealed still and the previous homeowner was allergic to basic home maintenance.

 

Another option is that I'm going to shock the well soon to see if that will help.

 

The final option and where I need some ideas at is for possibly replacing the water softener and adding some extra filtration.

 

What should I look for here and what do some of you use? I've heard all kinds of terms like iron out systems and what not, but I want to see what real life people use and what works for them.

[Geeesammy]

Hot water heaters are super sensitive to well water, odds are there are some deposits due to hard water so you may just want to replace the whole thing.

 

Thats just my $.02, I'm no expert just my experience from my home ownership with well water

[KentStateTsi]

We’re at the point of replacing our resin and shocking our well. Wish i had better input but this is my last straw before we get a county water tap. Even then I’m hesitant to spend 8,500 on that because we’re 800’ feet off the road and the pressure drop might put us lower than our well pump.

[BIGGU]

If you have a rotten egg smell when running the hot water then yes you probably need to replace the anode. for what its worth I just had a Hague water softener installed at my house and the technician told me I should remove the anode and put a plug in it instead. From what I read online people seem split on to remove or just replace every 2-3 years.

 

Like I said on FB, Id highly recommend having a company come out and do a free water quality test that way you know what you are up against. I just moved to blacklick and the water was absolutely terrible when it came to hardness and chlorine according to the 3 water tests I had done. In all honesty Hague did the absolute best water quality test and they are the only one that gave me the report after all said and done. They even showed me what they were looking for and what each thing meant while the other company just showed up, grabbed a water sample, put a few drops in and said yep its hard water.

[wagner]

I've got someone coming out to do a water test on Wednesday but I might talk to the Hauge people as well.

 

I was also doing some research and am going to look more into one of these systems to add in to the mix as well.

 

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Perfect-Water-Technologies-Home-Master-Whole-House-Three-Stage-Fine-Sediment-Iron-and-Carbon-Water-Filtration-System-HMF3SdgFeC/203515354

[TonyG]

If you have any ability at all you can put one of these in yourself without too much hassle. Let Hauge tell you what you need, and just order an air injector (get rid of sulfur) or whatever else you need like a softener. There are a lot of places online that sell the set ups. Its really easy to do, especially now with pex and shark bite fittings. Save a ton of money too.

[Sully]

I've got someone coming out to do a water test on Wednesday but I might talk to the Hauge people as well.

 

I was also doing some research and am going to look more into one of these systems to add in to the mix as well.

 

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Perfect-Water-Technologies-Home-Master-Whole-House-Three-Stage-Fine-Sediment-Iron-and-Carbon-Water-Filtration-System-HMF3SdgFeC/203515354

 

This might help the water to taste better, but it will not get rid of the smell from the hot water. When the softened water hits the anode rod in the tank, that smell is created.

 

This is what I put in place of my anode rod:

 

https://www.waterheaterhub.com/powered-anode-rod/

 

https://www.amazon.com/Corro-Protec-CP-R-Titanium-Powered-Heater/dp/B01H459TAK/ref=sm_n_au_dka_US_pr_con_0_1?adId=B01H459TAK&creativeASIN=B01H459TAK&linkId=1199716720822dc4691018bb6ed4ec6b&tag=whh-ads-20&linkCode=w41&ref-refURL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.waterheaterhub.com%2Fpowered-anode-rod%2F&slotNum=0&imprToken=g4cfmDiWmX5BlJ.uOkXoaw&adType=smart&adMode=auto&adFormat=grid&impressionTimestamp=1539693444565

[Zx2guy19]

Hague did my parents system back in 2007, we had a well in Hilliard. The water was always great and I remember my dad (who's quite frugal) couldn't find a better price from them.

[BIGGU]

Hague did my parents system back in 2007, we had a well in Hilliard. The water was always great and I remember my dad (who's quite frugal) couldn't find a better price from them.

 

 

for what its worth, I had looked into Kinetico and Hague systems and the Haugue was the best priced and had the absolute best warranty.

 

Kinetico's recommendation was $3938 installed while Hague was $2197 installed plus 10 bags of salt. I ended up getting the HC3 25Cx unit for my house which has a charcoal filter built in to remove the chlorine.

[cruizin01]

We installed a hybrid water heater to replace a rented unit in our new to us house. The water smelled bad with the new unit. (Im assuming the rod was gone in the old one) To temporarily solve the issue I installed a filter on the line running to the hot water heater. I just used it to pour peroxide in the system every few weeks. It worked in under an hour with just a pint poured in.

 

I then switched out the anode rod to a universal zinc/alum rod. It seemed to help a bunch. I could go longer before the water would stink.

 

Recently we switched out our water softener to a fleck iron man unit from 601abc water for $650 that I installed myself. I upgraded the resin to one they claimed worked with stinky water.

 

Its solved our problem about 90%. The only time the water smells is when we go on vacation and don't use it. When we come back it stinks so I had some peroxide and its fixed.

 

Im happy with the setup we have. And it wasn't very much money.

[wagner]

We installed a hybrid water heater to replace a rented unit in our new to us house. The water smelled bad with the new unit. (Im assuming the rod was gone in the old one) To temporarily solve the issue I installed a filter on the line running to the hot water heater. I just used it to pour peroxide in the system every few weeks. It worked in under an hour with just a pint poured in.

 

I then switched out the anode rod to a universal zinc/alum rod. It seemed to help a bunch. I could go longer before the water would stink.

 

Recently we switched out our water softener to a fleck iron man unit from 601abc water for $650 that I installed myself. I upgraded the resin to one they claimed worked with stinky water.

 

Its solved our problem about 90%. The only time the water smells is when we go on vacation and don't use it. When we come back it stinks so I had some peroxide and its fixed.

 

Im happy with the setup we have. And it wasn't very much money.

 

I already had the zinc/aluminum rod on the way and swapped that out last night and today there were no issues with the smell of the water. I've read that for some this solves the issue for good, others it doesn't.

 

Now I know we don't have a really bad hard water issue because dishes look spotless and there's no film on anything in the shower.

 

What system did you get exactly for the water softener?

 

I might try one of the filter systems since those seem to help and are a little cheaper. If that doesn't fix it then I'll look at the water softener too.

 

 

Thanks everyone for the input, this has been helpful and keep it coming in case someone else has an issue or questions.

[cruizin01]

I already had the zinc/aluminum rod on the way and swapped that out last night and today there were no issues with the smell of the water. I've read that for some this solves the issue for good, others it doesn't.

 

Now I know we don't have a really bad hard water issue because dishes look spotless and there's no film on anything in the shower.

 

What system did you get exactly for the water softener?

 

I might try one of the filter systems since those seem to help and are a little cheaper. If that doesn't fix it then I'll look at the water softener too.

 

 

Thanks everyone for the input, this has been helpful and keep it coming in case someone else has an issue or questions.

 

I believe this is the system we ordered. I went through my email and its the 5600sxt but mine referred to an "iron man series" which the website doesn't seem to specify anymore. They do show a "well" upgrade which I think has the upgraded resin but that appears to show its mostly for iron removal.

 

 

https://602abcwater.com/collections/water-softeners-1/products/abcwaters-fleck-5600sxt-water-softener

 

They do have another unit that says it helps with sulfur. I would call and get their recommendation. They should be able to build/offer what fits your needs.

 

Mines been working well for a year or so. Uses way less salt than the 20 year old Culligan unit did. But Ill be honest and admit I don't know how it compares to these $2k and up units but I didn't want to spend that kind of money. I read the Fleck heads are pretty decent but don't know how it will hold up super long term. I did install a 1" single filter system from Menards at the line coming in from the well to keep down on deposits getting to the softener.

[wagner]

I believe this is the system we ordered. I went through my email and its the 5600sxt but mine referred to an "iron man series" which the website doesn't seem to specify anymore. They do show a "well" upgrade which I think has the upgraded resin but that appears to show its mostly for iron removal.

 

 

https://602abcwater.com/collections/water-softeners-1/products/abcwaters-fleck-5600sxt-water-softener

 

They do have another unit that says it helps with sulfur. I would call and get their recommendation. They should be able to build/offer what fits your needs.

 

Mines been working well for a year or so. Uses way less salt than the 20 year old Culligan unit did. But Ill be honest and admit I don't know how it compares to these $2k and up units but I didn't want to spend that kind of money. I read the Fleck heads are pretty decent but don't know how it will hold up super long term. I did install a 1" single filter system from Menards at the line coming in from the well to keep down on deposits getting to the softener.

 

Thanks for the info. Right now it appears we just have one of those single stage whole house filters before the softner and that thing gets dirt bag dirty quick.

[cruizin01]

Thanks for the info. Right now it appears we just have one of those single stage whole house filters before the softner and that thing gets dirt bag dirty quick.

Mine turns brown pretty quickly. I try to swap it out every couple months. The elements from Menards are pretty cheap. Im not sure there is a remedy for it. We had our well pump replaced during all these remedies and it was bad at first. Its gotten better but still pretty rusty. My long term goal is probably switching to city water and sewer as my septic system is OLD.

 

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[Tractor]

We’re at the point of replacing our resin and shocking our well. Wish i had better input but this is my last straw before we get a county water tap. Even then I’m hesitant to spend 8,500 on that because we’re 800’ feet off the road and the pressure drop might put us lower than our well pump.

 

I had to install 1800 feet of line to one of my houses and there are pipe diameter/distance charts out on the net to show you what size pipe you'll need. 2" is what I used and what the county recommended. The big cost was the tap fee. $5000 on Delco water at the time. Here in North Myrtle Beach it's worse, $11000 for water and sewer fee.