Simple Smelly Water Fix

I visited a customer today with a rotten egg smell in their water.  There was a cartridge pre-filter and a water softener.  After a little investigation I found that the water coming out of the well tank, which precedes any water treatment, had no odor.  I then opened the pre-filter and found that the cartridge was covered with an almost clear slimy substance.  That was the source of the odor.

The filter is collecting some sort of organic material from the well and it is decomposing and giving off a rotten egg odor.  In this instance, the customer needs to change the cartridge more frequently or have an automatic backwashing filter installed to prevent the organic material from sitting long enough to decompose.

www.cleanwaterman.com

Water Softener And Filter Warranties: Online Sales.

Clean Water Man:

I bought a water softener online at a huge discount, but I found out the discount was not so much after I had to pay a plumber to install it and now it appears there is a problem and while the internet company said in its advertising that there was a three year warranty, they have no idea what the problem is and have been unable to help me repair it over the phone and email contacts.

My plumber did a wonderful job installing the system, but he doesn't know how to diagnose or even repair problems with a water softener and I have already paid him for a service call where all he could do is tell me he doesn't know what the problem was.  What do I do?  Now that it is full of water and installed, how am I supposed to pack it up and send it back to Ohio?

Sincerely,

Internet Shopper

Internet Shopper:

Luckily I can repair every brand of water equipment and I came out and fixed your water softener.  It needed a small part that must have been broken during assembly or shipping.  It was unable to draw brine with that broken fitting and the softener will work fine until the next problem.  I charged you for the part since it cost less than a second service call that I would have had to make if you called the Ohio company and asked them to send another part.  Hopefully they will refund you for the expense on the part.  They will not refund you the cost for the plumber's service call.  They will not refund you the cost of my service call, so you are getting pretty close, as far as cost is concerned, to what you would have paid me or another local water treatment dealer to buy it locally.  And this was the first problem.

As far as a warranty is concerned, I wonder how any company that is not local can say they are offering a warranty.  How are they going to repair it from hundreds of miles away?  How are they going to test repairs?  The warranty is wishful thinking.  But if you are lucky and there are no problems, you can save a few dollars.  It is a machine.  What could go wrong?

www.cleanwaterman.com

Potassium Permanganate, Greensand Filter

I did an install this week for a customer who bought a greensand filter online.  This greensand filter will use potassium permanganate to recharge itself.

I do not sell greensand filters that regenerate with potassium permanganate because it is a dangerous chemical capable of strong reactions that can cause fire, especially when mixed with organic compounds such as antifreeze, oil, brake fluid, paint, and many other organic compounds.  This is a link to the material safety data on this product: http://www.hvchemical.com/msds/pope.htm

To have an idea how dangerous potassium permanganate is, please see this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcSEsazb56Q

What concerns me is that the Ohio based internet company did not even mention to their customer how dangerous this substance is before selling a system and shipping it out to Connecticut.  This is unethical and puts people who are not professional water treatment technicians in the position of handling extremely dangerous chemicals.

The same results could be achieved by natural methods, but after speaking to the homeowner, I found that these methods were not even offered.  Systems that use potassium permanganate should be maintained by a competent professional, not Joe Homeowner.

If you are in Connecticut and are considering a greensand system, please call me at 203-417-9601, or visit my website @ www.cleanwaterman.com

Slimy Soft Water!

Clean Water Man:

We just had a water softener installed last week and I can't stand the slimy feeling.  Why is it so slimy? Our water treatment company can't give us an answer.

June, Darien, CT

June:

This is where I wish companies that sold water treatment were more aware of everything that changes when a water system is installed and were also able to show you all the benefits, including slimy water.  Yes, I said slimy water is a benefit.

First of all, it will take you at least two weeks to get used to bathing in soft water.  The water itself is not slimy.  The sensation comes from three factors:

1. When you bathed in hard water, the calcium and magnesium combined with soap to clog the pores in your skin.  The clogged pores prevented natural oils from coming to the surface of your skin, natural oils that are there to keep your skin from drying out.  A water softener removes those clogging minerals and allows the oil to come out.
2. Soap lathers much better when there are no hard minerals grabbing onto the soap molecules.  The sensation of slipperiness is intensified with natural oil or tallow based soaps.
3. The slightly elevated sodium in the soft water combines with the now free oil on your skin and creates  the slippery feeling.  Believe it or not, soap actually rinses off more quickly and easily with soft water, but this combination of sodium and natural skin oils mimics the soapy feel (soap is usually some combination of some sodium, like sodium hydroxide, and fat, either vegetable oil or tallow).

 I ask all of my customer to give it two weeks and get used to the feeling and consider how much easier soft water is on their skin.  Also consider the fact that the water that people and animals have been exposed to for most of our existence is either surface water or shallow well and cistern water.  Bathing in and drinking deep well water is not truly our natural water habitat since most deep well water, compared to surface water, is very high in hard mineral content.  If for most of the past millions of years our ancestors were using surface water, which even in lakes and rivers has a naturally elevated sodium content due to natural erosion, isn't that the natural water our breed is used to?  The exception to this rule are hot springs throughout the world where bathing health spas have sprung up, but they are high in both calcium and sodium.  I suggest that our skin has been designed to deal more easily with water that has a low hardness level.

www.cleanwaterman.com

Smelly Water. New treatment system doesn't help!

Dear Clean Water Man:

For several months we have had a horrible odor in our water which is very noticeable in the morning in our bathrooms.  "---" Water Treatment (name hidden) Company came and put in a five thousand dollar water treatment system and the smell is still there.

Becca, Stamford.

Becca:


I didn't want to be the bearer of bad tidings, but since I visited and I told you what the problem was, I will share it here.  The odor is not in your water.  One thing that should make it plain for others dealing with suspected water odors is whether the smell is consistent throughout the entire home.  It may be in ALL the cold water or ALL the hot water or ALL the water.  What I found in your home was the foul odor was coming from three bathroom sinks upstairs, one in the master bath and the two others in your children's bathroom.  There was no odor anywhere else.

This is where the story gets a little gross, but this problem is only happening where you and others in your family are brushing teeth.  Under every legally installed sink is a U shaped bit of plumbing called a trap.  The trap holds water that acts as a barrier to keep sewer or septic gasses out of your home.  This is great because sewer and septic odors smell horrible and can be potentially lethal, either through fumes or by actually catching on fire.  I inspected the traps and they are in good working order.  So, I determined that the problem was actually in the traps themselves.  When you brush your teeth, spit and food particles gather in the trap.  After a while, this stuff begins to decompose and give off a horrible smell.  Overnight, while no one is using the sink, the length of pipe that goes from the sink to the trap fills with the odor.  When the water is turned on and you lean over to brush your teeth in the morning, the accumulated odor is disturbed by the water you turned on and it wafts up, out of the drain hole and into your nose.  This is the source of odor in YOUR house.

To fix it you need to occasionally pour some laundry bleach into the sink drains.  A quarter cup is more than enough.  Be careful to not allow bleach to sit on the chrome or nickel or other finish drain piece as it will ruin the finish.  Let it set in the trap for ten minutes and then rinse away.  The smell should go away for several weeks.

DO NOT POUR BLEACH IN AFTER YOU HAVE POURED OTHER CHEMICALS DOWN THE DRAIN since it could cause a hazardous reaction.  Do not use on unsound plumbing.

For others attempting to determine the source of an odor, try this.  If the smell comes right back by the next day, the problem is in your water and a professional water treatment company can help you with this issue.

www.cleanwaterman.com