New to well life... and it stinks!

[cupatea]

We (Hubby and doggies) are moving to an old farm house. Renting as things are tight. Getting out of the city life is going to be good for all of us. This house is well (no pun..)over 100 years old and has a well, supposable 25ft deep and from a spring?. Has a LOUD but effiecient pump and a 30gal? pressure tank (just replaced). Hot water is electric. Hot water didn't stink. It was the cold water. GROSS. As we are fixing the place... also gross. Lots of painting we noticed the smell going away. I assume bacteria? He (landlord) said there is a UV light filter down there (basement). The bulb is burned out. Plan on replacing it. Will this fix the smell? Do we trust drinking it? Never delt with a well before and always drank from the tap. Kinda freaked out but also dont like the idea of ORDERING water that comes in plastic bottles.

Not the end of my problems. Be hearing from me often.
Cupatea

[joed]

Take a sample in for testing. In Ontario we can get it done for free by the health department.

[Gary Slusser]

Make the landlord replace the lamp in the UV, then sanitize the light and the plumbing and fixtures by running chlorine to all of them.

Any local dealer can usually do that for him. He has a legal responsibility to make the water 'potable'. Don't ingest the water until this is done and females should take showers until the water is bacteria free.

After all that is done you should have the water past the UV light tested for Coliform bacteria.

Replacing the lamp and sanitizing the plumbing may get rid of the odor.

[Wgoodrich]

The building code requires water to a dwelling. Per Code rules it is not required to be potable. May have a local law involved but International Residential and International Building Code does not require potable water to be considered living space.

I also suggest you take a sample of your water in a clean bottle to your Board of Health to be tested. It is done all the time and should be done more often by more people.

Hope this helps

Wg

[joed]

The board of health supplies the bottles here.

[cupatea]

Our landlord made it clear that it is our responsibility to replace the bulb and do what we have to do. Thank you for the info about were to get the water tested. I will feel alot better when that is taken care of.... As long as it comes back ok..... :s:

[Gary Slusser]

I was born in PA and lived there for decades while doing water treatment sales and service there for the last 20 years. My experience is that if the tenant buys it the cost of the lamp etc. would normally be subtracted from your rent check next month, like the paint you're using now; .

The UV light is part of the house and from my experience usually considered his responsibility but it depends on your landlord's character and you're agreement with him. Call the local health dept. folks and ask them about this or decide to not go to war over it and buy the lamp yourself because this is a health problem and he probably doesn't care enough to get someone to do it right anyway. You can buy online or from a local dealer, just get the number off the present lamp and measure the "glass" between the end caps and note the pin pattern on the ends and measure it without the pins. If there is a brand name on the UV light, that can help. You should be able to get a replacement for $75-$100 with shipping included.

Lamps are fragile and quartz sleeves much easier to break. You may want to buy a spare sleeve. If you break one you usually can not turn the water on until you get a new one or redo the plumbing; there should never be a bypass around a UV light.

Lamps usually do not burn out but the output of invisible UV narrow band light weakens so the lamp has to be replaced annually.

The quartz sleeve has to be cleaned and there can not be any finger prints, lint, hardness scale, rust staining etc. etc. left in it or on it. You should get a pair of new o-rings and maybe a spare pair or two also for the quartz sleeve.

When all done, the light and the plumbing past the light and all fixtures have to be sanitized with bleach. You can put it in the prefilter housing that should be plumbed in front of the light or on its inlet. If there isn't one, you should add one. If there is no softener etc. you should use a 5 micron sediment cartridge in that housing after sanitizing the plumbing.

[Bumblerazz]

I making an assumption here, but since the smell doesn't exist in the hot water, the smell is most likely a bacteria, mould or algae problem. These things are never easy to track down.

Smell from heavy metals (iron, copper, ...) or sulfur would concentrate in the hotwater and smell stronger there than in the cold. It would also taste "strange" or "metallic".

Bacteria is an issue and should be tested and remedial action taken as the others have suggested. If its an algae problem then its less serious (it takes a lot of algae to be harmful to humans, probably more than you could stand to see/smell). Mould would be strange in a closed system, unless the house sat unused for an extended period of time before you moved in. Mould is not good for human health, though its most harmful when air born.

Does the smell return in the morning, or has it lessened every day since you've been there? If its getting less and less its likely in the pipes and a flush with chlorine/javex as the others have suggested should do the trick. The fact that there is a UV system in place suggests to me that a problem has occured in the past (also suggests that the owner has been aware of the problem and was asked to remediate the situation in the past. Some legal ground to stand on if required. :) ) If the smell returns every morning then its likely the problem originates from the well.

Try and avoid surface runoff into the well, slope the ground away from the well and fill any holes or soft spots with earth. Dig up and cut any tree roots that may be entering the well, as they will assist surface water entering the well.

What feeds the spring? Is it some swampy area or is it artesian (upswelling of water from an underground source)? The later is better and the first may contain the source of your problem.

As far as testing is concerned, you can get an official bottle from the Health Dpt, or you can use a bottled water bottle, just make sure you rinse the bottle several times with your water.

IMPORTANT: when taking a sample be sure not to touch the mouth of the bottle to ANY surface, as bacteria from there can transfer to the water and give you a false positive. The opposite is true as well, do not expose the interior of the bottle or the water to any cleaning products or javex as it may kill everything in the bottle and give you a false negative.

IMPORTANT #2: only take the sample/fill the bottle when you are ready to transport it to the lab for testing (less than 8hrs in storage). Leave a little head space i.e.: fill the bottle only 3/4 full as some bacteria need air to survive. Keep it cool and dark (wrap it in a damp towell, though its winter so the cool part is probably taken care of. umm... so don't let it freeze either). The reason is to keep the bacteria alive so it can be counted, so you don't want it to reproduce or die so that you know exactly whats there and/or if its at a dangerous level.

I'm just a lab rat but Gary knows water systems inside and out, so hes the guy to listen about the UV lamp. All I know is that if there is suspended solids (grains of sand) in the water it can significantly reduce the effectiveness of the UV light.

Post back once you have a result or solution. Good luck.

[Andy CWS]

We (Hubby and doggies) are moving to an old farm house. Renting as things are tight. Getting out of the city life is going to be good for all of us. This house is well (no pun..)over 100 years old and has a well, supposable 25ft deep and from a spring?. Has a LOUD but effiecient pump and a 30gal? pressure tank (just replaced). Hot water is electric. Hot water didn't stink. It was the cold water. GROSS. As we are fixing the place... also gross. Lots of painting we noticed the smell going away. I assume bacteria? He (landlord) said there is a UV light filter down there (basement). The bulb is burned out. Plan on replacing it. Will this fix the smell? Do we trust drinking it? Never delt with a well before and always drank from the tap. Kinda freaked out but also dont like the idea of ORDERING water that comes in plastic bottles.

Not the end of my problems. Be hearing from me often.
Cupatea

If the landlord made it clear what your responsibilities are before you moved in, and you accepted that, then it looks like it is up to you. You could argue against it and site legal precedence or ordinances, but where that would get you leads to be seen.

The well is very shallow (about two car lengths) and quite old. The UV might have been put in as an attempt to deal with problems often found in wells so shallow. It may not have been set up properly and maintained well.

What type of UV is it (make/model) if you can tell? Was it originally put in to take care of dangerous (pathogenic) organisms? Was there a report of positive tests? UVs will not rid odors as a method of treatment.

Get more test done including general water quality as well as safety issues. If you have hard water and some other problem issues, your UV will not work effectively. A water softener may be recommended.

Test for iron, sulfides, chlorides, hardness, iron, TDS at least. Renting equipment can be an option for you as you are renting the house. Ask local dealers about renting options and they will be required to maintain it to some respect.

Having good (and safe) water will be very nice for your daily lives.

Andy Christensen, CWS-II

[Gary Slusser]

The UV light is already in place, a replacement lamp is much less expensive than renting a new UV light and its installation. I'm sure the light is there because there was a time when the well tested positive for Coliform or other bacteria. It was the right thing to do and Cupatea has no way to get a new well, and a new well could still be contaminated with bacteria and still require the light.

As to the odor, it may be due to Coliform bacteria.

[xkvator]

cupatea...
what area are you in...?

i'm about 40 miles south...