Hard Water

[Dirty-Lex]

So the house I have been living in and renting from the property managers' office has hard water, up until now, i have been able to tolerate living in it. However, now it is so bad that It makes the whole fucking house reek of sulfur, and I think it is getting worse.

it literally smells like rotten eggs and gunpowder when I turn the faucet on, and trying to take a shower gets pretty gross.

The house owner refuses to put in a water softening system under the claims "it's too expensive" and they claims that the heavy metals and sulfur in the water are within NY State tolerances which I think is a load of bullshit. I am fucking fed up arguing with them. I have even threatened to bottle the water and fucking mail it to them in a jar (because they also refuse to come to the house and see how bad it is.) the property manager who we go through doesn't give a fuck about anything really so it's difficult to get her to do things other than fix stuff that has happened in an emergency.


The bottom line is that I am about to go out and purchase a water softening system and install it on the house if this doesn't get resolved and then take it with me when I leave.


The lease is up at the end of Nov. My 1 roommate doesn't want to move and I sure as fuck don't want to stay here if this bullshit continues. I also don't want to leave my buddy hanging as we work together and are best friends.


what should I do?

 

[Keiserwolfe]

Try this sight it will have some god info Lex. You can send a sample to them if you think it really is subpar quality.
http://water.epa.gov/drink/local/ny.cfm
Here is some more info,Alternatively, you can use a nationwide testing service: Underwriters Laboratories will test your water for a variety of contaminants, from fecal bacteria to industrial pollutants, and get the results to you in about a week. The price depends on how many contaminants you want to test for: It can range from $30 for a simple mercury screen, to $500 for a 94-contaminant screen.

You can also test your water yourself, using a home test kit. These kits can't test for everything, but they detect lead, arsenic, pesticides, and bacteria. Two reputable ones are PurTest and Discover testing. The kits sell for $10 to $30.

 

[SgtDeadred]

A water softener doesn't get rid of the sulfur smell. It might help but not completely rid you of it.

 

[JWR046]

Here you go. https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/WQ/WQ-11.html. It is hydrogen sulfide. I get it a little in the summer after really heavy rain. I have a charcoal water filter between my well and house which works. You can add bleach to the system which will get rid of it.

 

[BlitZ003]

I have ran into issues where landlord wouldn't take care of things, so I did so myself then gave her receipts at rent time to take off the costs. granted these weren't always major expensive things but she always took it off. the one she refused was the window ac unit went out and after 2 weeks of 100 degree wheather I went out and bought one she wouldn't take that off and I said that's fine ill take it when I go

 

[cplmac]

Here you go. https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/WQ/WQ-11.html. It is hydrogen sulfide. I get it a little in the summer after really heavy rain. I have a charcoal water filter between my well and house which works. You can add bleach to the system which will get rid of it.

Sulfur and H2S(Hydrogen Sulfide) are two very different things. H2S will KILL you, from breathing it if the concentrations are high enough. I actually wear an electronic monitor at work to detect it when I'm working with crude oil. 10ppm is the low level threshold, 15ppm is the high limit threshold. In higher concentrations you actually can't smell it. In higher concentrations it will render you unconscious, if the concentrations are high enough it will knock you out instantly and then you die. In the oilfield usually H2S fatalities come in twos because someone will try and go help a guy who passed out and then that guy goes down and they're both lost. In lower concentrations you can smell the sulfur and it's relatively safe for short amounts of time.

Lex my old place had sulfur water, we had a huge mutli-thousand dollar softening system to take out the stink and iron, it was almost useless. It will take out some of the iron, but it won't do much of anything about the sulfur smell or the pockets of methane gas that will belch out of your faucet. Honestly when it gets like that you're better off drilling a new well or like JWR said you can poor some bleach into your well and in some wells that will mostly knock it out. Honestly I would just move out at the end of the lease, tell your buddy to get his shit together and help you look for a place. Sulfur smelling well water is pretty common, you might want a place with city water.

 

[balls2dawall]

 

[death-head-666]

I lived in a house with the same problems. I just moved. Not worth spending your own money on treating the water.

 

[Dirty-Lex]

thanks for the help guys, I got a hold of the land lord finally, and they are going to come by and replace all the filters, give us a couple boxes of them and update the water system.

 

[balls2dawall]

thanks for the help guys, I got a hold of the land lord finally, and they are going to come by and replace all the filters, give us a couple boxes of them and update the water system.

Make sure you have them replace the cathode in the water heater; upper & lower