Well bacteria, new old style pressure tank?

[Davs2601]

I had dirt issues with my first well at 40'
Company credited back all cost and I paid the difference to drill to next zone at 300'
I'm now having some sulfur smell issues and the company wants to install a new old style pressure tank without a bladder. They say, it will alow the water to breathe and we won't get the smell. From what I've researched, the smell is from bacteria and the smell is a key indicator that you need to treat with bleach to kill the bacteria.
My question: do I stay with my current bladder style pressure tank or let the swap? I treated with bleach 6 weeks ago and it has not returned yet.
Who still uses the old style tank?
Thanks for any info.
David

 

[FredNOk]

I had dirt issues with my first well at 40'
Company credited back all cost and I paid the difference to drill to next zone at 300'
I'm now having some sulfur smell issues and the company wants to install a new old style pressure tank without a bladder. They say, it will alow the water to breathe and we won't get the smell. From what I've researched, the smell is from bacteria and the smell is a key indicator that you need to treat with bleach to kill the bacteria.
My question: do I stay with my current bladder style pressure tank or let the swap? I treated with bleach 6 weeks ago and it has not returned yet.
Who still uses the old style tank?
Thanks for any info.
David

i'm no bill nye science guy, but if the well water had bacteria in it that had a sulphur odor and it was more noticeable with the bladder, would it be in your best interest to go with the non-bladder? The smell will give away the presence of that bacteria if it comes back once the chlorinated water has diminished. How would you know that the water source which replenished the well wasn't contaminating it all over again until the water with bacteria in it had been consumed, possibly causing adverse problems? Hopefully there is a really smart well water expert on here, but if not you might ought to talk to someone at an OU extension office to get the 411 on the properties of the bacteria problem and see if someone there could offer some advice.

Sent from my LG-D850 using Tapatalk

 

[FRISKY]

The well drilling company is giving you correct information. Is the odor all the time or just when you first start running water or only while using hot water?

 

[Davs2601]

Only on the cold side and only when it's first turned on. The water also develops a slimey feel shortly after.
When this happened I treated with bleach. If I mitigate the smell, I lose my first key indicator that bacteria is present. I also assumed, the old style take were replaced by a better design for a reason. Less maintenance, better pressure, etc
Thanks for the feedback

 

[FRISKY]

A sulfur smell is very common in Oklahoma well water. There are several ways to get rid of it such as using an old style, no bladder pressure tank, a charcoal or green sand filter, or adding bleach to the water. The non-bladder pressure tank is probably the cheapest, but it is more work because you need to make sure the tank doesn't get waterlogged. I drain and put about 28psi of air pressure in our 82-gallon, non-bladder tank every month or so. You don't have to add air pressure before you turn the pump on and fill the tank, but doing it that way will make the system a lot more efficient. I also bleach our well every couple months and have the water tested every couple years.

 

[GLGAR]

I had a well with the rotten egg, sulphur smell and a old style non bladder tank for years. Finally rusted out and replaced it with a bladder tank with no difference in the odor or taste, just no longer had to drain a water logged tank. A charcoal filter did work but was expensive and required frequent replacement.

 

[MacFromOK]

We had a well drilled back in the '90s (don't remember the depth exactly, but it wasn't shallow), and the guy installed a submersible pump and bladderless tank that would never get waterlogged.

First, he put a release/bleed-off valve on the well pipe about 3ft below the top. When the pump shut off, the valve opened and drained water out of the top 3ft of pipe. Every time the pump came on, the valve closed and that 3ft of air in the pipe was pumped into the tank.

Second, he put a float in the tank so that if/when the water level got too low (from the 3ft of air pumped in on each cycle), it would bleed air out of the tank to maintain water at the proper level.

The system worked like a charm.

He said to pour a cup of bleach into the well casing every few months to keep bacteria down. He also recommended bronze-body submersible pumps (rather than cast-iron) to reduce rust and potential impeller problems.

The man seemed to know his business.

 

[Davs2601]

Thanks for all the feedback and info

 

[John6185]

When one puts bleach in their well, that is called "shocking." One thing to consider as I remember is to run the well pump until all the bleach smell is gone and open each faucet starting with the one nearest to the well and ending with the faucet farthest from the well. One thing that used to concern me was that all the bleach running from the well (that is a lot of water) would somehow put a strain on the septic system by killing bacteria that is causing decomposing. I would always put a box of yeast in the septic tank to (hopefully) alleviate any harm to the septic system.

 

[FRISKY]

^^^ Correct, you don't want to dump a bunch of bleach into your septic tank. You should pump the bleached well water onto the ground outside the house unless you are also bleaching the water system in the house. You don't want to put it down any of the drains that go to the septic tank.

A good rule of thumb is to use one gallon of regular, non-scented, laundry bleach for every 100-feet of 6" OD well casing that is holding water.

I use 1/2-gallon Clorox bleach for our 50' well and drain the bleached well water using the drain on the bottom of the pressure tank or from a yard faucet. I just open the drain/faucet and let the water run until there is no longer any bleach odor. Then I let it sit an hour or so and repeat until there isn't any bleach smell after it sits.

I learned a lesson about the water table around shallow wells. If you dump the bleach water around the well head it can literally take days to get out of the system because the same bleach water circulates right back into the well.