H2S in well water
 

The well water at our summer camp periodically stinks with the odor of H2S. Dumping a gallon of Chlorox into the well kills the odor for a while, then it comes back. Does anyone have a better solution?

It can be easily filtered out.

Depending on the levels of hydrogen sulfide you have in the water, sometimes a simple carbon activated filter can remove the smell and last quite a while if the levels are low enough.

In any instance it would be wise to take water samples and have your levels measured professionally to determine what size and type of filtration would be required.

Pretty easy to take care of.

Good luck!

Dan

Carbon filters are a good step as Dan mentions. However if the concentration is high, you will obviously need a bigger filter to get long lasting effects. I would take a sample and have it analyzed.

I had a neighbor that was nice enough to share their will with us. The well sharing ended, when I discovered that to really treat the H2S I was going to need to spend several hundred dollars to treat the water with a more professional system, or continue to spend 100$ per year on the filters for the small whole house filter I had installed already. I decided it was easier to truck my drinking water in, and go back to lake water to run the house.

Feel your pain. I went thru this as well after I drilled a well. Filtration should work but like said above, test the water to be sure what the exact problem is. You could also have high levels of iron and/or manganese that also contribute to the production of the gas. A well chlorinator can also be used depending on the outcome of the tests. Its a small machine that sits on the well cap and periodically drops tablets into the well. Good luck.

Had the same problem, as SAB1 mentioned, I had high manganese and iron in the well water. It passed the water test. The lake has an iron/manganese eating bacteria in it that produces H2S. When I introduced the water to my house system, the bacteria mixed in the water heater and it was so bad, I had to take a shower with a box fan blowing fresh air in.

What I did was changed to an aluminum anode in the water heater, many chlorine flushes. its been fine for years now.

read this
 

This site is the go to site for your problem.

http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/e...rosulfide.html

I had this problem at my house, I wrote this for another thread:

I suggest that you use a name brand like Culligan. I'm a cheapskate but water systems need to work for a long time and you need parts for a long time.

We have an Iron Cleer system in our house to remove the H2S. There were two choices at the time, chlorine or this system. A chlorine system is much cheaper but you have to buy and fill chlorine. Plus one of the joys of well water is avoiding the city water chlorine taste.

The magic beads in my Iron Cleer system were just replaced after 13 years of trouble free operation. Other than the timer losing it's place during power outages, we never had any issues.