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Water Odors

If you’re dealing with rotten egg / sulfur odor (H2S) in your home’s water, then you know what a nuisance and embarrassment it can be.

Causes for Bad Water Odors

There are many causes for bad odor in your home’s water. While many of these water problems come from well water, city water can also develop unpleasant smells. The most prominent odors are typically found where heat and steam are present, such as the tub/shower, dishwasher or when cooking, but they can also be very apparent in drinking water and while brushing teeth. That said, it may come as no surprise that the biggest complaints we hear about are related to drinking water. Below we’ve outlined the most common water odors, along with how you can treat them for good.

Rotten Egg / Sulfur Odor 

  • Cause: Water with a rotten egg / sulfur smell is by far the most common water odor problem we hear about. This odor is commonly caused by hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in the water. H2S is a colorless gas that is naturally occurring in water and most common in private wells.
  • Prevention: To treat H2S, we recommend our IronShield Whole House Water Filtration System. This will filter out that rotten egg / sulfur smell from your home’s water. In addition, IronShield also removes iron (orange staining), manganese (black staining) and many dangerous toxins that may be in your water, such as pesticides, herbicides and pharmaceuticals. If you’re looking to only treat your drinking water, RevitaLife RO is our innovative reverse osmosis system that removes everything from your water, but then adds healthy trace minerals back in for a better taste and pH balance.

Bleach Odor

  • Cause: If you’re on city water or drink tap water when you’re out for dinner, you’ve probably experienced water with a bleach-like odor. This can vary throughout the year, especially during rainy seasons, as the city sometimes puts higher concentrations of chlorine and chloramines into the water to treat bacteria and other impurities. Cities will typically send out a notice warning residents of this increase.
  • Prevention: This bleach-like odor can easily be treated with our IronShield Whole House Water Filtration System. In addition to removing unpleasant smells, Toxin Shield will filter out many of the 84,000 potential contaminants, such as chlorine, disinfection byproducts (DBPs), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and trihalomethanes (THMs). If you’re looking to only treat your drinking water, RevitaLife RO is our innovative reverse osmosis system, which removes everything from your water, but then adds healthy trace minerals back into the water for a better taste and pH balance.

Sewage Odor

  • Cause: If you’re experiencing a sewage-like smell coming from your water, this could be an indicator that you have high concentration of dangerous bacteria present in your water. This can be caused by a damaged well, old city water pipes or recent flooding. Bacteria in your water needs to be taken very seriously. If you are concerned about bacteria in your water, contact your local health department or hospital to help with lab testing.
  • Prevention: To treat bacteria in your home’s water, use BacteriaShield UV Whole House Water Filtration System. This natural, innovative UV system will treat 99.9% of the bacteria trying to get through to your home’s water.

Earthy Odor

  • Cause: When the water coming from your tap has an earthy smell to it, this may be due to high concentrations of organic matter known as tannins. A major indicator of tannins is a yellowish color in the water, in addition to the earthy odor. Tannins are most common in well water.
  • Prevention: For well water, we recommend our IronShield Whole House Water Filtration System to remove tannins. In addition to eliminating tannins, Iron Shield also removes H2S (rotten egg / sulfur odor), iron (orange staining), manganese (black staining) and many dangerous toxins that may be in your water, such as pesticides, herbicides and pharmaceuticals. For city water, we recommend ToxinShield Whole House Water Filtration System. In addition to removing tannins, Toxin Shield filters out many of the 84,000 potential contaminants, such as chlorine, disinfection byproducts (DBPs), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and trihalomethanes (THMs). If you’re looking to only treat your drinking water, RevitaLife RO is our innovative reverse osmosis system, which removes everything from your water, but then adds healthy trace minerals back into the water for better taste and pH balance.

Metallic Odor

  • Cause: Cause: A metallic odor is typically a sign of either a high concentration of iron or a low pH. For iron, you will most-likely get iron/rust staining around drains. For acidic water, you may see some blue-green staining around fixtures. A simple water test can help you identify this. If you have a reverse osmosis system (RO) already installed for drinking water and this is the only source you’re experience a metallic odor or taste from, this could be a sign that your RO water is not balanced properly (low pH).
  • Prevention: For iron, we recommend our IronShield Whole House Water Filtration System. For low pH/acidic water, we recommend our AcidShield Whole House Water Filtration System. If your RO appears to be the only source of a metallic odor, we recommend RevitaLife RO. This innovative reverse osmosis system removes everything from your water, but unlike most RO systems, also improves the taste and pH balance by adding healthy trace minerals back into the water.

Get your free water filtration quote today by filling out the form below or calling 1-888-766-7258 to speak to one of our water experts.

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