What's that Smell?

Just was out testing water for a family in Strathcona County yesterday. They've owned their acreage for 20 years and have had problems in the past with water. They had a competitor's system installed for almost 10 years, but had to have the entire system replaced every 18 months by the manufacturer because it couldn't keep up with their problems.

Their main complaints with water were, "its hard, there's lots of iron, and it has a sulfur smell." Eventually they just gave up, removed the system and have been scrubbing iron stains from their fixtures every week for years. I won't say the name of the system they removed, but suffice it to say, this family does know who he is and they most certainly did NOT love their water......

After testing their water, there really were no huge issues. The water was hard, there was some iron in it, and the iron was causing the sulfur smell, not actual sulfur... Its unfortunate that some companies have their "main system" and just try to apply that for every well they see. Its like the saying goes, if all you own is a hammer, everyone you meet looks like a nail. I'm sure that system has its place, but when you tell people "a little staining is normal" that just doesn't cut it.

A properly-designed system should remove ALL of the iron AND the hardness from the water. The system they had did nothing for the hardness and only removed about 75-80% of the iron, leaving them above the 0.3 parts per million (ppm) iron threshold where staining occurs. They were "close" to being below the threshold, but were not at or below it - and as a result, they had iron staining. It doesn't matter if the system can "handle" iron up to 25 ppm of iron, if it leaves 20% of the iron in the water that goes to the house.  Even if it's installed on water that's only 1.6 ppm of iron (like this family's was) it still leaves 0.3 to 0.5 ppm iron remaining - guess what - there's staining of appliances and fixtures, and laundry doesn't work very well.

Another family that recently had me out had the exact same iron levels and exact same staining problems.  They purchased their "iron filter system" (from the same company) just a year ago and were told that because "they had so much iron" that staining and regular cleaning was completely normal."  That kind of deception makes me cringe....

For the price this family paid, it should be able to do everything. Perfectly.  Luckily, we're able to design a system to completely handle all of this and do it at 30% less than what the "big guys" sold their patented iron filter for....  I wish I had their marketing dollars to be all over the radio, but guess who (in the end) really pays for that?  In this case, a disappointed client with an overpriced, poorly-configured system.

For a free 12-point checkup on your well water, please call Douglas Environmental Solutions at 780-410-0837 and have a technician test your water for no charge.  If you have an existing system, we can help configure it properly and make any recommendations necessary to keep your water running clean and clear.

"If we can't fix your water, we'll remove our equipment and refund your money."
–Greg Douglas, Owner