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smelly water solution

(16 posts) (8 voices)

Started 6 years ago by Mal Heys
Latest reply from David

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Mal Heys
Member

Hello,
I need a solution to smelly water from our rain water tank. Can anyone provide advice?

The water comes straight from the roof, no first flush, and is used for the washing machine & flushing the toilets, not drinking. We sometimes wash the cars and water the garden with it too.

We've had the tank for 8 years and this has only happened once before. On that occasion we were advised to add Hydrogen Peroxide, so we bought 100ml of 20 volume 6% w/v. Before we could use it a clear hose we used as a level gauge fell off and drained the tank. problem solved, but we still have the Hydrogen peroxide.

This time I've done some research and it seems Hydrogen peroxide is only for hot water systems. I couldn't find any advice regarding the concentration, but I suspect my 100ml may not be enough.

We also have 1.5kg of Chlorine which came with the house when we bought it. It was for the spa which we rarely use. I could throw that into the tank, but once again I don't know what concentration. I suspect I should add as much as I can until I can't tolerate the chlorine smell.

Posted Tuesday 6 Oct 2015 @ 3:31:09 am from IP #
cava
Member

We had an issue similar a few years back and added a cup of White King bleach to our 23,000 litre tank.

Stank so much we could not use it for ourselves - however, it killed anything in the tank that was causing the smell originally.

Posted Tuesday 6 Oct 2015 @ 7:34:17 am from IP #
Diver
Member

What you describe are bandaid fixes for anaerobic harvested rainwater. Your rainwater harvesting installation is obviously conducive to the production and delivery of anaerobic water to the end fixtures but you have given no details about the system itself, only the installation's end result.

You basically have 2 choices...

1) Continue to use bandaid solutions in which case you should look at using a specialised product that re-oxygenates the water like Acquasafe. $$$
http://www.davey.com.au/at-home/garden-water/aquasafe-rainwater-disinfection.html

2) Address and rectify the cause of the anaerobic water.

To do 2), and if you want advice, you need to post as a minimum...

1. Whether the infeed is a wet or dry system.

2. How far above the bottom of the tank the pump's draw valve is at its lowest point.

3. How many downpipes are harvested.

4. The size and type of tank (poly, metal etc) and whether the tank has ever been desludged?

Posted Tuesday 6 Oct 2015 @ 7:39:10 am from IP #
David
Member

Mal Heys said:
Hello,
I need a solution to smelly water from our rain water tank. Can anyone provide advice?

The water comes straight from the roof, no first flush, and is used for the washing machine & flushing the toilets, not drinking. We sometimes wash the cars and water the garden with it too.

I've resolved water tank issues with a the following

1. a submersible fountain or pond water pump (reasonably high volume low head)
2. Fish aquarium or pond 9-11watt UV light
3. basic sponge bucket type filter used for ponds.

With these I only ran it during the day on solar power the return back to the tank simply splashed into the tank just above the surface which added some additional oxygen after a several days the water cleared after about 2 weeks it it became exceedingly clear, the taste of it improved to standard that was as good as any spring water.

UV sterilises bacteria so they cannot breed. The filter captures the worst dirt so it needs to be cleaned out periodically and helps to ensure that bacteria gets exposed to the UV. This system uses about 200watts when running.

Posted Tuesday 6 Oct 2015 @ 12:49:13 pm from IP #
wlb
Member

David said:
1. a submersible fountain or pond water pump (reasonably high volume low head)
2. Fish aquarium or pond 9-11watt UV light
3. basic sponge bucket type filter used for ponds.

I don't have a problem with water quality, although dust does accumulate as a sediment, but I've been contemplating doing something similar. The supply into the header tank is aerated when I transfer by filling from the centre of the dome on the plastic tank and fitting a PVC sewer vent slotted cap to the end of the pipe. It works like a coarse shower head.

Could you provide a bit more detail please David? It would save me reinventing the wheel.

Posted Wednesday 7 Oct 2015 @ 2:30:26 am from IP #
Mal Heys
Member

Diver said:
You basically have 2 choices...

1) Continue to use bandaid solutions in which case you should look at using a specialised product that re-oxygenates the water like Acquasafe. $$$
http://www.davey.com.au/at-home/garden-water/aquasafe-rainwater-disinfection.html

Diver,
The Davey Aquasafe active ingredient is Hydrogen Peroxide. Do you much about the concentration? I'm happy with a bandaid fix if it's only adding some hydrogen peroxide every 4 years.

Diver said:

2) Address and rectify the cause of the anaerobic water.

To do 2), and if you want advice, you need to post as a minimum...

1. Whether the infeed is a wet or dry system.
2. How far above the bottom of the tank the pump's draw valve is at its lowest point.
3. How many downpipes are harvested.
4. The size and type of tank (poly, metal etc) and whether the tank has ever been desludged?

1. I think I know what you are asking. The water falls from a downpipe into the tank through a mesh to keep the leaves out.
2. The pump draw is at the lowest part of the tank,. There are some slight undulations of the tank bottom where sediment collects.
3. 5 downpipes, but they are plumbed into 2 by the time it gets to the tank.
4. 10000L & poly.

Posted Wednesday 7 Oct 2015 @ 9:58:17 am from IP #
Mal Heys
Member

David said:
I've resolved water tank issues with a the following

1. a submersible fountain or pond water pump (reasonably high volume low head)
2. Fish aquarium or pond 9-11watt UV light

I like the idea of a solar powered pond pump to aerate the water as a longer term fix.

Posted Wednesday 7 Oct 2015 @ 10:04:11 am from IP #
Diver
Member

Mal Heys said:
The Davey Aquasafe active ingredient is Hydrogen Peroxide. Do you much about the concentration? I'm happy with a bandaid fix if it's only adding some hydrogen peroxide every 4 years.

It was once explained to me by Davey that Acquasafe lasts longer than straight Hydrogen Peroxide but I have no proof of that.

You have a dry system, much better than the usual wet system.

Water becomes anaerobic most frequently when bacteria breaks down organic matter. If the pump draw valve is fitted very low to the bottom of the tank, it will draw the worst water from the anaerobic zone but when you have a reasonable sized tank with a low valve, it is not always practical to fit a higher valve.

From the description given, it sounds like there isn't much sediment in the tank but it would still be worthwhile giving the bottom a syphon desludge.

Water also needs to breathe but fine organic matter floating on the surface or a cover over the tank's top meshed inlet will restrict this. It is however a good idea to place some shadecloth cut and sized to suit on the inlets mesh as this will capture a lot of organic material that would otherwise wash through into the tank. It is easy to remove it every few weeks and give it a shake. The shadecloth still allows the air to circulate and its use does make a difference to the water quality.

Your other consideration would be to fit some first flush diverters but yield losses can be high.

Posted Wednesday 7 Oct 2015 @ 12:04:37 pm from IP #
Greg
Member

Clean water coming in is very important, hence leaf screens and finer mesh filters or even sand filters. Getting rid of the less oxygenated water can also help so have a look at overflow systems that purge from the bottom of the tank. Also have a look at something like water nymph ( http://www.watersweet.com.au/g/48722/waternymph.html ). As to chemical solutions to correct the current situation I can't offer any experience but I'd be cleaning the tank somehow.

Good luck

Posted Thursday 8 Oct 2015 @ 12:12:58 am from IP #
David
Member

wlb said:
Could you provide a bit more detail please David? It would save me reinventing the wheel.

For a temp arrangement

The pump sits in the bottom of the tank, the filter sits on a madeup stand next to the tank using LO-POL poly tube plus some 90 degree angle fittings and or suitable flexible hose 25mm/1" is cheap and works the pump and UV light unit are plugged into a controller that only turns on when there is enough sun to power it (my own setup) however it could be timer otherwise, I have an Selectronic SP-Pro battery inverter (one of the reasons I like them so much) to control when it gets turned on and when it gets shutdown.

A permanent version of this is connected through the tank wall near the top of the tank using a few additional fittings, the fact the water splashes back above the surface but inside the tank/s and do this day after day cause the water to become exceptionally clear and because the water is constantly being cycled over and over it becomes exceptional in its quality as well, no stagnation anymore, clean sponge pond "bucket sized" filter out every so often.

You can start with quite murky water it will clean up after a little while without the use of any chemicals and improve the quality and taste as well stop the breeding of potentially harmful bacteria as well. I'm assuming that the water is rainfall and is not contaminated with chemical poisons, these present a different issue.

Example of a filter similar to what I use they now have the UV light in the same unit so that's a bonus. (keep the filter canister out of the direct sun otherwise they tend to get brittle overtime)

Examples
Filter & UV >>> http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/391245762741
Pump >>>>>>>>>> http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/231495380598

If the return is above the surface of the water the splashing as it goes back in helps to add oxygen to the water, I recommend this it helps.

Posted Thursday 8 Oct 2015 @ 10:52:42 am from IP #
wlb
Member

Thanks David. Very helpful.

Posted Friday 9 Oct 2015 @ 1:37:32 am from IP #
Bushwalker
Member

Looks like a good solution!

How much PV do you need to run this setup David?

By the look of the pump, you're running it on 240v, so are you running from a standard inverter PV system or ?

Posted Friday 9 Oct 2015 @ 3:26:47 am from IP #
Greg
Member

David. Great idea.

A general question. Do people check the pH of their tank water? Does it affect things like bacteria growing etc ? I read somewhere (maybe ata forum even) that some people have added limestone chips to manage acidity. I've just ordered a pH meter from ebay so I'll see what the readings are like.

Posted Friday 9 Oct 2015 @ 5:11:34 am from IP #
David
Member

Bushwalker said:
How much PV do you need to run this setup David?

By the look of the pump, you're running it on 240v, so are you running from a standard inverter PV system or ?

I have a full off-grid system here, here is plenty of excess power during the day so it's a non event to run it just use a digital switch that's in the SP-Pro inverter to control it based on a SOC, simple, works.

If I was doing it as a mini "standalone" solution I'd use a 12Vdc 1kW pure sine wave inverter and proper MPPT charge controller, about 500watts of PV as well as a small battery say 150AH to cover fluctuations in Solar use the output on the MPPT controller to turn in the inverter on and off as required while keeping the SOC of above 95% to give good life with the battery.

Posted Friday 9 Oct 2015 @ 5:17:40 am from IP #
Whitrock
Member

Just did a search and found this thread....we too have just started having a problem with our tank water smelling a bit.
We have lived with tanks in different houses for many years mostly 22000 litres and never had an issue.
We now have a 200000 litre tank which is a wet system with a basic flushing...all pipes fall to a low point where I simply have a 150mm cap which I unscrew a drain all the lines. This system has worked fine for us previously.
The tank has only been in service for 18 months or so and is sealed well and has mesh on the inlets and overflow, so is clean.
Water as with our earlier setups is taken from the bottom, which after reading a bit I realise is not ideal but not easy to change as the tank is full.
Am guessing the problem is the lack of oxygen in the water at the bottom.
Just wondering what the best fix would be....oxygen pump of some sort, or can I simply set up a pump to circulate the water?
If so does it matter which way I circulate, bottom to top, top to bottom or from the bottom back into another bottom outlet.
Cheers

Posted Sunday 13 Nov 2016 @ 5:53:27 am from IP #
David
Member

Whitrock said:
or can I simply set up a pump to circulate the water?
If so does it matter which way I circulate, bottom to top, top to bottom or from the bottom back into another bottom outlet.
Cheers

Another even simpler way, that also works, which is very easy and simple is to add a submersible pump with a flexible hose on the outlet connected to a float with a "fountain spray" at the surface, this moves the water, adds oxygen at the sametime, the water will come good over a few days, if you want to go further then make it a solar powered fountain spray, after all it does not have run all the time. "the head" on the pump is not important as the water is really only being lifted from the surface to whatever is gets sprayed out, so a low power submersible pond pump for instance will work. All this sits completely inside the tank and should be set up so it cannot spray any water out of inspection hatches.

Posted Sunday 13 Nov 2016 @ 10:30:13 am from IP #

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