highlandpark-colorado.com Blog

Many of us have faced sediment, odor, iron, and hardness issues with our well water. A few neighbors have wonderful water straight from the well with no treatment required whatsoever. If you have one of these “wonderful” wells — consider yourself fortunate.

I wrestled with ways to treat my water at Lot 79 — 7357 Forestgate. My well is 580 feet deep, in the Denver aquifer. As delivered untreated from the well, it is very hard, contains sediment which tends to clog shower nozzles, etc., and has an extremely strong rotten-egg odor due to high hydrogen sulfide content. Initially I installed a Whirlpool whole-house filter to deal with the sediment, and an activated carbon taste/odor filter to remove the hydrogen sulfide smell. I also installed a water softener to take care of the hardness.

To keep the smell under control, I had to replace the activated carbon filter every six days — which wasn’t a good long-term solution. All the methods to correct hydrogen sulfide problems that I researched involved adding some oxidizer to the water (chlorine bleach or potassium
permanganate) and then filtering to remove the solid particles that form when the hydrogen sulfide oxidizes with these chemicals. These solutions are complicated because the right ratio of chemical feed must be established, and chemical supplies are required (potassium permanganate is a HAZMAT material — with associated high shipping costs). I was willing to do this if necessary, but came upon a much simpler, no-maintenance solution, a product sold as “The Terminator”
that removes hydrogen sulfide, iron, and sediment from water.

I first learned of the Terminator from a local water treatment company, and installation was estimated to run $1,500. I am pretty handy, and if I installed it myself the company said they would knock off about $200 of that price. A bit of web research at the place where I bought my water softener revealed they sell the Terminator system at a much lower price (http://www.qualitywatertreatment.com/iron_filters.htm#terminator). I’m not at all associated with this company — but recommend their site to get educated on water treatment options. I can attest to the fact that they are a good company and saved me a lot of money on my softener and Terminator system.

The Terminator system uses an air injection venturi (the oxidizer used is simply air) near your pressure tank. This injects a measured amount of air bubbles into the water stream every time your pump runs. The air/water mixture mixes in a “mixing tank” where the hydrogen sulfide and iron are oxidized into physical particles. The mixing tank has an air release valve that vents the excess air so you don’t end up with air bubbles in your water supply. The water then goes through a standard sand sediment filter that catches all the sediment from the well along with the now solid sulphur and iron particles. The sediment filter works like a water softener in that it flushes the sediment and particles it has collected out every ~3 days. I installed the Terminator upstream from my water softener, and have had NO issues with iron, sulphur, hydrogen sulfide smell, or sediment ever since. I don’t have to buy any chemicals or maintain the system whatsoever after initial setup. There is a air injector bypass valve that requires periodic adjustment (maybe once every six months), but this is very easy.

If you would like to see the installed system, just leave a message at 533-0763.

I see this forum as a way to share “lessons-learned” as we adapt to the conditions of our beautiful neighborhood, and look forward to learning from others — particularly in the areas of wind protection for decks, covered decks, tree planting, windbreaks, dealing with ground water issues, etc.

- Jeff Irwin