Questions on water treatment... (new home, buyer, live)

[Snafu]

My home has a relatively new well, and there is definitely a lot of minerals and the nasty sulfur smell in the water. I'm starting to research my options on water treatments/filters/purifiers... whole house? faucet? at th source? and other options. Any advice or personal perspectives that can help me out? Thanx in advance.

[jthibodeau]

I would suggest a domestic water test if you haven't had one completed yet. It would help identify what minerals or other contaminates are affecting your water quality and then, you can decide on what system would be best suited for you.

[bryfry]

Originally Posted by jthibodeau

I would suggest a domestic water test if you haven't had one completed yet.

Excellent advice. There are numerous filtration units out there and many of them require professional installation. You may need to narrow down the choices by learning what you need to fix.

Start here:

Water testing (http://www.des.state.nh.us/well_testing.htm - broken link)

BTW, where do you live?

[OCCASparky]

Was this a new well or part of a purchase of a home? If part of a new home, why did the realtor not provide you a copy of the water report?

Typically, when a new well is drilled, it's sometimes necessary to "shock" the well with some bleach before using. They had to do that with mine. Couple that with the filtration/softener system I had installed, and I'm actually in pretty good shape. Water tastes fine, no smell, no sediment unless I've used the filter a lot.

[vter]

Your water is probably "hard". Have someone come out and test it (the folks who dug our well did it for us). We had to install a water softener.....

[Torrey]

A lot of people use Reverse Osmosis systems in Texas. I would definitely get the water checked out before you decide what you are going to do. Your health is the most important issue.

[jthibodeau]

Hi OCCASparky, I've been involved in the housing industry for many years here in NH but, I'm not quite sure what you mean when you speak of a "water report". Builders don't tend to spend the money on water quality testing reports. They will or should supply the information concerning the depth of the well, it's recovery rate and the type and size of pump used but, not a water quality report unless the buyer request/demands it. Of course, all builders are different.
And, your correct when you speak of "shocking" the well using household bleach. It's a normal procedure to add one or two gallons of bleach to a new well to kill off any biological contaminates. They will normally allow the well to sit a day or two with the bleach application, then pump the well out to remove any bleach residue prior to usage. However, as you probably already know, bleach will have no effect on any mineral problems which may exist such as manganese, iron or sulfur. At that point, the well can be tested to identify any additional contaminates and/or recurring biological hazards and that's where your filtration system comes into play.

[OCCASparky]

Exactly so--in fact, my bank INSISTED on a water quality report, specifically for septic bacteria. Some banks will kill funding if they find any.

I'm pretty lucky--iron is farily low (0.3, so I use "iron buster" pellets in my softener), hardness under 70, and everything else looks fine. Like I said, the worst I had to deal with was when I didn't realize the outside faucets went through the filter/softener and I killed the first filter (slight sediment).

I'm not watering the lawn much now anyway, so no big deal, and when I do I use the spigot in the basement which is before the filter.