hydrogen peroxide water treatment

Hey folks,

I've got a well, pressure tank, water softener and a single whole house filter. the water from time to time has a sulfur smell to it, especially noticeable after we have been gone for the weekend ( maybe it gets worse when the water sits, or maybe we are no longer acclimatized to it?)

I've taken to putting about 1 litre of H2O2 in my whole house filter canister every few weeks, or as needed. it kills the smell for a while really well, but. every time I do it I notice tiny black particles in the water for a day or so. What are the black particles? Am I harming anything by putting in the h202 - (the 3% stuff you get at the drug store) any better suggestions?

Thanks for all your help

Dave

Reply to
Zephyr
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I assume the H2O2 is oxidizing minerals in the water, or in the filter. H2O2 kills bacteria, I'd be looking for the cause of sulfur in your system. How old is the water heater? It may need the scale cleaned out, if possible.

I would say a better filter would be needed, what is the size of filtering used? 10 micron, or less?

Find the problem by getting a water quality test at your municipality or even some water stores. Test before treatment and after treatment.

samurai.

Reply to
samurai

He obviously has hydrogen sulfide in his well water --- which is not uncommon in many parts of the country. If he's located in one of the regions experiencing severe drought, like the southeast, he may well be experiencing a higher level of the stinky stuff due to the reduce water level. It's not cheap to get rid of based on my daughters experience in upper-Michigan.

Reply to
DonC

messagenews: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

Probably he has H2S in the well water and if so I don't know how to fix that. But there is another possibility and he should check that too, because it's such an easy fix.

Sometimes iron fixing bacteria get established in the drain. When you run the water the smell from the sink is really coming from the trap and not the water. If you pour a half cup of bleach down you kill all the bugs and the smell goes away. I've seen people actually change out a hot water heater only to find this was the real problem. It's worth trying, anyway.

Reply to
TimR

Having had a well from 1973 through 2006 and having worked in facilities management for 38 years, I've had MUCH experience with "iron bacteria" : ( In my experience iron bacteria does not create the smell he describes.

Anyhow, the easiest way to determine whether one's water system is infected is to look in the toilet tank. If it's infected it will be obvious. As you say a dose of bleach will kill it. But that's not a cure; it spreads throughout the system and will come back quickly.

The proper way to purge the system for iron bacteria is to thoroughly chlorinate the water system using liquid bleach or bleach tablets commonly used in swimming pools.

The normal way is to remove the well cap and pour in 2 or three gallons of bleach -- it's cheap. Next run a hose from an outside bib to the open well column and recirculate the chlorinated water back down the well to make sure the bacteria is killed at the water source. I run it for about 30 minutes although it probably kills the bacteria much faster.

Next, go to the furthest faucet in the house and run it until you smell the bleach --- then turn it off. Do this at every faucet to make sure the entire system is chlorinated --- including the hot water side. Make sure you include your bibs, washing machine, water softener, dishwasher and any other water outlet or path. Next flush every toilet until you can smell the bleach. Slosh it around in the tank and bowl to ensure complete coverage.

When you're sure you've got the chlorinated water everywhere in the system, let it sit long enough to do the job. I wait an hour just to be safe.

Finally, you need to run the water until the bleach is rinsed completely out of the system including the well.

I did this in 1973 and 1984 when we moved to a new houses (new to us) and never had the problem again.

Again, I doubt this is his problem. My daughter had what I think is his problem and decided it was too expensive to cure. She ended up buying bottled tap water.

Reply to
DonC

Not disagreeing with Don, but just for clarity I want to point out we are talking about two different things.

He is talking about bacteria in the drinking water system.

I am talking about bacteria living in the sewer system.

Surprisingly, I've seen a number of cases in my 16 years of facility management where the two got confused, and an expensive fix was tried instead of an easy one.

If you have bacteria in the water pipes you'd have to try something like Don suggests. But that's overkill if you have bacteria in the drain. When you run water it stirs up the air and crud in the drain and you can smell it, and think it's the water. (I have this happening right now in a large gymnasium shower room, and it is hard to convince them the problem is in the drain because they don't smell it until they run the water.) And yes, the smell is the same.

Like I said, low probability, but worth trying.

Reply to
TimR

I agree that we're talking about two different conditions. I assumed that since the OP was adding the hydrogen peroxide to his whole-house filter, his problem was on the supply side.

In my daughter's case you could fill a glass from the tap and smell the odor. Her's was definetly not a sewer problem.

If the OP's problem is a sewer problem my procedure would solve it during the final system flushing -- but I don't recommend going to all that bother. It's MUCH easier to simply pour bleach down the drain : )

Reply to
DonC

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