Wishing I could say #PardonMyDust, but instead lets talk about Egg water.

I can easily say "pardon my dust" in my house. Between all the animals, construction, projects, and just day to day living - there is a lot of dust. And hair. What I can't say is pardon my dust on my website or blog. I don't know how to make cyber-dust. What I can say is I am trying to get some interesting content up and some updates on what I've accomplished so far.

Going through all the before, during, and few after pictures I've taken of my house so far, I am coming to realize how far I have already come. It's easy to forget when there is still SO MUCH left to do, and when not as many of the major projects I wanted to finish by now have even been started. Unfortunately with a house as old as mine, a lot of big money projects come up early on that take priority. Also unfortunately, these projects are not the pretty, fun, or even really satisfying projects.

One such project was the water. When I was going through the closing process, a water test was required as a mortgage funding request. Since the house had been sitting vacant for a few years, I was not so shocked to hear the first water test failed. Neither was our inspector. When water pipes, wells, and the "veins" in the ground feeding water to your well sit vacant for that long, bad things tend to move in. In our case it was coliform bacteria. Thankfully it wasn't E Coli, and it was an easy fix to get a passing test. After a shock bleach treatment to the well, I got a passing test and was good to go for closing. All I had to contend with down the road was high TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) in the water, VERY hard water, VERY high Iron content, and ongoing treatment to keep the coliform bacteria away. Someday soon, but not needed for closing.

Fast forward a frustrating three months of waiting for closing, and I was in. Two days later, the hot water tank stopped heating. That's kinda the point... so I purchased a new, much more efficient hot water tank and was good to go!

Since I spent the first 3-4 weeks after closing cleaning, tearing out carpets, painting, and moving in, I didn't realize at first there were other problems. However, the first night I moved in and went to take a shower...I realized there was more work to be done. The water was orange. ORANGE. Not like just enough tinted to stain fixtures and be a hassle. It looked like Tang, and it smelled like eggs. That Iron problem I wanted to fix someday soon was rearing its' ugly head now. Needless to say I continued showering elsewhere until I figured it out.

After consulting Dr.Google, I realized I needed a water softener with Iron-fighter salt pellets. This would not only get rid of the Tang water, but would also take care of the hardness. Perfect. $500 and more thanks to a plumber friend later, I had a functioning water softener and clear water.

For two days I sang praises to the water gods and thought I had the nasty water beat. I celebrated too soon. The egg smell was back, and in a big way. Upon further research I realized a water softener was necessary for the other water problems, but can cause an egg smell to worsen if the egg smell is caused by sulfur in TDS (Total Dissolved Solids). Since that was a known problem, I figured a filtration system that filtered out TDS would make my water experience less egg-y. $300 later and more accolades to the plumber friend, I had a filter-free whole-house filtration system installed. The filter-free unit was a great choice for me because with the carbon medium it works just as well, and I wouldn't spend a fortune blowing through filters with the high TDS in the water.

I was excited. Color free AND stink-free water in my showers? YES- sign me up. Thinking it would take a few days to really make a difference, I waited. And waited. And waited. A month later I was still noticing a pretty strong egg smell. I checked the drain for the filter refresh cycle, and the water that came out was borderline muddy- so it was clearly doing it's job, but it wasn't taking care of the smell. Back to Dr.Google. What I learned was that an egg smell can be created by an anaerobic bacteria reacting to the aluminum rod in my new water heater. So it seemed after all those efforts, the problem was caused by one of my other solutions. Ironic. I was faced with the choice of either opening up my brand new water heater and voiding the warranty to replace the rod with an anode rod, or find some sort of constant chlorination system that wouldn't break the bank.

I ended up finding an in-line chlorinator that uses chlorine pellets. This is a similar system to what is used in swimming pools to kill bacteria. I found it online for $160, and the pellets were around $20 for a supply that lasts three months. I didn't have to bother the plumber friend for this project and could install it pretty easily with PEX. I hesitantly turned the chlorination dial up...praying my water struggles were over.

Finally...FINALLY my prayers were answered. The egg smell was completely GONE, the Tang water was a thing of the past, and my faucets weren't getting clogged up with debris in the water. I could finally breathe a sigh of relief...only to choke on it. I was starting to notice the water pressure plummet in the house, and the cold water was never cold, but lukewarm. This is even more odd because it was the middle of winter and we we’re experiencing record-breaking low temperatures in my area. I would flush the toilet, then only a dribble of warm water would come out of the faucet. Thinking the small, dated pressure tank was the problem, I dialed up the plumber friend with promises of pizza reimbursement. He helped install a new pressure tank more suited for the house size, and even more props to him- he realized that wasn't the real problem.

Thinking the water temperature presented a deeper issue, he decided to check the well pump. Thank GOD he did because he discovered a quarter sized hole in the main water supply line above the pump. It had been pumping water up only to have it leak back out of that hole and go nowhere. This constant effort on the antique pump caused it to heat all the water in the well to lukewarm temperature, and eventually stop working altogether. $1,200 later I had a new well pump, the new pressure tank, a re-sealed main water supply line, and was BEYOND grateful to have the help of plumber friend to get water back into my house.

It may not be pretty, or something I excitedly show pictures of to my friends, but the water project was a HUGE improvement for my house. Now I have a shiny new water heater, pressure tank, whole house filter, water softener, in-line chlorinator, and well pump. I still need to finalize some drain lines, and re-fill the chlorinator every few months, but it is well worth it. Pun intended.

New water pump vs. antique water pump.