You turn on the shower and the bathroom smells like rotten eggs. It's one of the most common things we hear from well owners in North Florida, and it has a plain cause.
What the smell is
That smell is hydrogen sulfide, a gas that dissolves in groundwater. It can come from the ground itself, or from harmless bacteria that live in some wells and break down sulfur compounds. You can smell it at very low levels, which is why even a little bit is hard to ignore.
Why it's often worse on the hot side
If the smell is strong from the hot tap and mild or gone from the cold, the water heater is probably part of the story. Most tank water heaters have a metal rod inside called an anode rod. In some wells, that rod reacts with the water and makes the smell stronger once the water sits and heats up.
A quick way to sort it out:
- Both hot and cold smell: the sulfur is coming from the well.
- Mostly hot: the water heater is adding to it. It may still be coming from the well too.
- Comes and goes: it can change with rain, how much water you use and how long the water sits.
Fixes that fade
These are common, and they can help for a while:
- Shocking the well with chlorine. This can knock back bacteria for a bit. If the sulfur comes from the ground, the smell usually returns.
- Carbon filters by themselves. Carbon can grab small amounts of sulfur, but it fills up fast when there's a lot of it. Then the smell comes right back.
- Swapping the anode rod. This can help with the hot side. It doesn't touch the sulfur already in the well water.
Fixes that last
To keep the smell gone, the sulfur needs to be removed before the water spreads through the house. That usually means an oxidizing filter at the point where well water enters the home. It turns the dissolved gas into particles the filter can catch, and it cleans itself on a schedule.
Sulfur often shows up alongside iron, so a lot of homes end up with a two-tank setup: one tank for the iron and sulfur, one tank to soften. Our Well Water Dual Tank is built for exactly that.
The right fix depends on how much sulfur is in your water and what else is in there with it. That's why we test first.
What to do next
Write down when you notice the smell, hot or cold, and which taps. Then book a free water test. We'll check your water at the kitchen sink, show you the numbers and explain what we'd recommend, in writing.