Well Water Sulfur Gas
If your water has the smell of rotten eggs to it, then your water is afflicted by sulfur gas. While you may think there isn’t any bacteria in your water, sulfur gas is created by bacteria. Fortunately, the kind of bacteria that creates sulfur is harmless and only creates an unpleasant smell.
Sulfur gets into your water by way of pressure, and how much pressure it’s under will determine how much of it dissolves into the water. It may seem like a bad thing to have sulfur in your water, but it means that you have a high water level in your well, which is a good thing.
Causes of Higher Gas in Your Water
There are certain minerals that exist in the ground that sulfur-producing bacteria feed on, so if your well has more of those minerals in it than other wells, you’re going to have more sulfur because the colony of bacteria thrives and grows bigger.
As we stated before, the more pressure that your water is under, the more sulfur is going to dissolve into your water, and the more standing water that your well has, the higher the concentration of dissolved sulfur can be in it.
Getting Rid of Sulfur Gas
There are two common ways that you can get rid of the sulfur gas in your water system. There are many ways that claim to work in getting rid of sulfur gas, but the tried-and-true methods are written below.
The first is chlorine injection. Installing a chlorinator in your water system allows it to inject a small amount of liquid bleach into your water line. The chlorine in the bleach both kills the bacteria and eats away the gas that they leave behind, and your problem can be totally solved if you get the concentration just right. The downside is that many people complain about the high concentration of chlorine present in their water, requiring the installation of a de-chlorinator to get it back out again.
The second method of getting rid of gas in your water is the usage of a storage tank system. If you think about how cans of soda have gas in them and release that gas when they’re opened, going “flat” after being left out for a while, you can look at the concentration of sulfur gas in your water the same way. Putting your well water into a large storage tank allows the sulfur to dissolve from the water and escape through the vent, solving your problem. In addition, the installation of a storage tank provides other considerable benefits like lengthening the life of your pump, getting rid of iron and sediment, and gives you a water back-up.
If you notice that your water smells more like rotton eggs when you use hot water rather than cold, the culprit could be your type of water heater. Standard tank-style water heaters are breeding grounds for bacteria thanks to the heat and the magnesium anode rod in it. Sulfur-producing bacteria love to feed on magnesium. For this particular issue, there are several options for treatment, including: replacing your water heater, turning the temperature above 120 degrees Fahrenheit (dangerous if you have small children), injecting chlorine, and replacing the anode rod with a “no-stink” rod. But, if you want some other great information on things like this, we have more at our site.
