Hello,

We just installed a commercial reverse osmosis sytem for our employee
breakroom to remove the sulfer odor that comes from our well. They
installed 1 - 5 micron carbon filter prior to a 300 gallon per day
unit. The odor was gone for a day, but then came back. After
returning to inspect the installer said that the RO unit was not
capable of removing all of the hydrogen sulfide, and they need to add a
bigger carbon pre filter or a sulfer guard unit to remove the odor. I
thought the RO unit was capable of removing almost everything including
all of the sulfer odor. Is the installer right?

Tom

ROs can only remove dissolved salts. Hydrogen sulfide is a gas that's
dissolved in the water, so the RO cannot remove it. I'm not sure if carbon
is effective in removing hydrogen sulfide.
Ron

"Tom" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello,

We just installed a commercial reverse osmosis sytem for our employee
breakroom to remove the sulfer odor that comes from our well. They
installed 1 - 5 micron carbon filter prior to a 300 gallon per day
unit. The odor was gone for a day, but then came back. After
returning to inspect the installer said that the RO unit was not
capable of removing all of the hydrogen sulfide, and they need to add a
bigger carbon pre filter or a sulfer guard unit to remove the odor. I
thought the RO unit was capable of removing almost everything including
all of the sulfer odor. Is the installer right?

Tom

On Sat, 06 Aug 2005 06:37:27 GMT, "Ron" wrote:

ROs can only remove dissolved salts. Hydrogen sulfide is a gas that's
dissolved in the water, so the RO cannot remove it. I'm not sure if carbon
is effective in removing hydrogen sulfide.
Ron

If the water was stored in a vented storage tank, would the gas
evaporate/percolate out? I read somewhere that spraying the water
would help remove the gas.

I'm thinking pump the water into a 1000 or so gallon storage tank and
have a pressure pump system draw from there.

Getting rid of the sulfer smell is somewhat tricky. Carbon will work a
little, but it doesn't last long, and you have to change the filter a
very very often. And it doesn't get rid of all the smell either.

Outgassing is probably the most complete solution. There are ways to do
it -- along the lines of the 1000gal tank idea with a sprayer and a
pump. But it is a bit more involved than just a naive hookup. You need
float switches, pressure switches, pumps, an agitator to stir up the
water and splash it around, an a mechanism to release the sulfer gas
that builds up constantly, vented somewhere safe (and where the stink
won't cause new problems). I'm sure they can be built custom, but you
will need to read up on it.

Me -- I just found a different source for my drinking water.
-Kevin

We ended up adding a SulferGuard system by Kinetico. It has only been
it for one day, but it seems to remove any trace of the odor. The
sulferguard unit is feeding the cold line to the sink in addition to
the RO system. It uses hydrogen peroxide as a reagent to remove the
sulfer odor.