So, I have a low-flow well.  Original thread here .

We've been in the house 2 weeks, and the water is smelly.  The water doesn't "feel" hard.  Hardness is not a concern to me.

I had Culligan come out, and they said, "Its a 7 hardness, and it smells like Manganese. You need a softener."  (I watched them do the water test, and it seemed on the up and up.)

Wife had Rain Soft come out.  "OMG! You have a hardness of 10!!! You need a softener!" (Complete snake oil / timeshare-like hard-sell. Good description HERE of what their pitch was like.)

Help me, Hive;

1, I HATE soft water.  If I liked it, I'd fill my pipes with Jergens and take a shower in that.
2, Hot AND cold water has a smell to it. Wife and I hate it.  We grew up with parents who got roped into buying water softeners,.... and we had soft, smelly water.
3. What is the solution?  Carbon whole home filter?

I have stinky well problem also, but only in the summer when the ground water reaches a certain temp.

I do know I have desolved iron in my water as the toilet tank are a nice rust color but no rust staining in the sinks or tubs.

I attribute our well smell to sulfur as I can chill the water and no stink. There are biologicals that can cause the smell as well.

My recommendation is to buy a water test kit online and send it off to an independent lab. That will give you the real results.

With desolved iron I will need a water softer to eliminate it. Filtering will not remove the iron. The sulfur will need a carbon filter..

In Florida the problem is usually sulfur, which is relieved by adding an aerator.  Just remember to check and clean it once in a while.

We had a smelly well in NY; mostly iron and sulfur. A manganese-green sand filter took care of the smell and a lot of the iron; fixtures still took on a red-orange tint but there's not much to do about that.

We still used a faucet-mounted Pur filter for drinking water, but cooking/washing/etc was fine without further treatment.

Make sure your 4 gpm flow is sufficient for each option you consider.

https://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_139/1710474_Options_for_smelly_water__UPDATE_in_OP__Not_smelly__but_600_ft_deep_w_only_4_GPM_of_flow_.html&page=1#i51910194

ar-jedi

The well at (S)Mother's house had a lot of iron issues with smelly, slimy water. After years of futzing with a softener, she had a chlorinator installed and it seems to have cleared up a lot of the issues. It took a little bit to get it dialed in where it didn't smell strongly of chlorine but had the desired effect.

Where in Va are you?I used Va water Conditioning. Manassas & Stafford.I got a softener,in line filters & chlorinator.Good water now.Had very high iron.

Our water smelled and had a lot of iron. A cheap water softener from Home Depot that I installed myself fixed both problems.

I would determine the water chemistry first and foremost before buying shit.  A pellet chlorinator from B&B will solve many issues by oxidizing the soluble metals and they will fall out as a solid in the well.  I have installed numerous B&B chlorinators on wells so I know they work, just don't fill the hopper more than 1/3 full of pellets at any given time.



The most honest and reputable water filtration company I have worked with is Raindance.  They will test your water and design a specific resin type and ratio of load to match your well water chemistry.



You can also find any EPA certified lab and have a full mineral analysis done on you water for usually less than $200.

So, I solved the problem:

From the various water tests, I knew my hardness was somewhere between 7 and 10. I knew pH was 7.  I knew iron, Manganese, nor Sulfur were the problem.

I bought one of these:

Whole home filter

Soaked it for about 2 days.

Installed it.  Ran the water.  No smell. No flavor. Threw the Brita pitcher in the back of the closet, freeing up fridge space.  Everyone except Culligan ($2500 for their filter, $4500 for filter/chlorinator combo) and rainsoft (Pure fking timeshare-esque sales presentation.) is happy.

If I burn out the filter in a year because I needed a chlorinator, they'll replace the filter if I buy a chlorinator.  I will still be ahead.

I don't have a solution to your problem but I figured I would chime in as far as softener experience. I have the Rain Soft EC4 system. Yes their sales gimmick seems a lot like that but the system flat out works and works great. I had similar odor and it got worse after a hard rain. On top of that I had iron, a lot of iron. I'm talking brand new house and well and within a week I knew we were in gonna have some headaches.

Just putting their sales pitch aside I believe if you went with a Rain Soft softener you would be happy.