Well: Hello There, Smelly Sink

A Capital Well customer testimonial

by Lyndsay Lund


“Moooooom! The bathroom stinks!”

Never a good opener for the morning. Plus, with that kind of lead- in, who knows what the kids have done…

“Flush it!”

“Nooooo MOM. UGH! Don’t be gross! The water from the sink smells!”

“Oh.”
“Ew.”
(Clarification is always helpful, my little cherub.)

While my  slightly over-dramatic daughter with the offended sniffer continued bemoaning the wretched rotten-egg-like stank of our sink, I got a little concerned.

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It’s our water, after all. Kind of the most important life-source going.
Must. Think. Through.

What IS the appropriate judgement call given those circumstances at the moment?

“Does the water smell from the kitchen faucet?”

“No….”

Am genius. Tell Mensa.

“Ok... then brush your teeth and stuff down there.”

Seriously, send me an award for brilliance.

Cause the problem is SOLVED!

Kinda. For many of us. But not really..

Because my logic? It’s admittedly flawed. If it doesn’t smell in the kitchen at that given moment…  then it’s fine. Right? Why? I have no idea.

Ok .ok. ok.
Even my limited knowledge of plumbing knows the faucet pipes in the house are connected and it’s all coming from the same source…


Damn. (?)

Mountain Stream? No, a Reservoir. No! It's that sticky-outie pipe in my front yard!

A WELL…..


I mean.. THE WELL.
well in yard

The Well.
The capstone of civilization for every dwelling in a relatively un-civilized rural homesite.
I don’t mean  to say we’re all uncouth, smelly cavemen.

Rather, human innovation has made it possible to pretty much build a house off the general population infrastructures- like sewer and water system grids.

Hooray freedom! Hooray earth-boring drills! Hooray mysterious capped pipe in my front yard that seemingly leads down to the center of the earth and magically pumps up the most virtuous substance known to man (besides prosecco, and maybe Sunny D)

WATER!

Except mine smells. Like rotten eggs. All the time. Hot and cold. I have arose many a night to grab a quick fortifying sip, and drawn myself a nice ol’ smelling cup of stank water.

To quote my 10- year old, “Ewwwwwwwwwwww!”
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This can't be a good thing. If nothing else, just the obnoxious smell was an affirmative call to action.

I’d had enough of this fun Sink Stink Roulette.
 I reached out to an expert.

His name- Dan Grace.
And he’s my daughter’s soccer coach.

I am nothing if not resourceful.


Fortunately, Dan also happens to be part owner of a well and water treatment company, Capital Well, located in Dunbarton, Lancaster, and Meredith NH.
dan.jpg

So my semi-overly dramatic text of “Hey Dan! My water smells like %&$T ”  (followed by 3 lines of the context appropriate  💩💩💩💩💩) was well within his capacity to help and inform beyond just ball-dribbling and handing out orange slices.

Dan came over. I am sure he was not particularly alarmed, nor was this the first time he’s heard of such complaints. He deals with this 💩all the time. Especially here in NH. With over 2,400 public water systems alone, I was not the first person to experience smelly well water.

When the White Knight arrived, he took one whiff, and quickly proclaimed-

2tmlbi

Really, it was that easy for him.

Me on the other hand? I reacted in the way best suited for this household full of girls..

“WHAAAT?!? That sounds TERRIBLE!”
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“Yes, in high concentrations, the gas can be toxic. It can also erode plumbing metals and other metal parts in appliances that use water.. plus leave a reddish brown tinge to water and plumbing fixtures.”

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"I'm super impressed by your knowledge, DAN.  Truly. Now please fix it.”

So he did.

First he tested the water in the house to see what else might be floating around. ***
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***(For helpful tips on water testing, click here!)
https://capitalwell.com/well-water-filtration-mistakes-to-avoid-with-testing-the-water/

The he explained stuff to me.. and it was a lot of words and kind of boring.

But important. They do it better on their site.
So here's a link.

https://capitalwell.com/the-importance-of-water-filtration-systems-for-well-water/

https://capitalwell.com/water-smells-like-rotten-eggs/

Long (and PERHAPS needlessly over-dramatized) story short...

I now have an active carbon filter on the large important water thing (pump) in the basement.. Cause I can adult like the best of them if it means my water won't smell, it's reasonably affordable,  AND I don't have to hear about it from my 10 year old.

filter

It looks very official and important and most of all.... The Stink has LEFT THE BUILDING.

***Plus,  I can go back to ignoring The Well like I have been for my entire adult life!  Because if I've learned anything about home ownership... it's that everything takes care of itself.***

***That is a lie.

Wait for it. ↓ Wait Longer. ↓There it is.
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Stay Tuned for more Well? Well! Water Tales.





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