Water Filter Smell

[Michael Kadillak]

I have a Calumet Ametek water filter system in my darkroom and have been using the cellulose S1 water filters and after 20 +/- days of use I get a sulfur smell when I turn the water on. When I take the filters out of the housing they look black and nasty.

Is changing filters every three weeks necessary or is there a better solution. I went to the Calumet site and they have a carbon filter but it is still cellulose and probably susceptible to deterioration. No other options listed that use a water insoluable material.

Any suggestions would be welcomed.

Cheers!

[Oren Grad]

I use the same filter system in my darkroom, including the S1 cartridges. I've never had that problem, and I leave the filters in for far longer than 3 weeks. So the first step in deciding what to do may be figuring out what's different about your water supply.

Edit: might be worth contacting a water filtration equipment specialist supplier, describing the symptoms and seeing whether that suggests what the problem is. I tried looking at the Ametek website, but it's really an OEM-oriented site and I can't find anything useful. But there are vendors on the web who supply the S1 along with many other filtration products - one of those might be a place to start.

[Mark Stahlke]

Sulfates and Hydrogen Sulfide (http://www.water-research.net/sulfur.htm)

Sulfur-reducing bacteria, which use sulfur as an energy source, are the primary producers of large quantities of hydrogen sulfide. These bacteria chemically change natural sulfates in water to hydrogen sulfide. Sulfur-reducing bacteria live in oxygen-deficient environments such as deep wells, plumbing systems, water softeners and water heaters. [And your filter?] These bacteria usually flourish on the hot water side of a water distribution system.

[Keith Pitman]

I'm not sure it's worth ordering filters from Calumet. I've been using a five micron "Omnifilter" from Lowes or Home Depot. The package text recommends changing after 90 days. Thanks for reminding me it's time to change filters.

[Mike Castles]

Has it always been that way? If not a good cleaning of the housing and other parts with bleach might help. As has been pointed out there are 'bugs' that cause the sulfer smell so that cause has been identified. Question now is why so many bugs? There are devices that you can add on to the inbound supply line to kill the bacteria (ie - UV light) that might help keep the numbers down and the filter would last longer.

[Jorge Gasteazoro]

I have a Calumet Ametek water filter system in my darkroom and have been using the cellulose S1 water filters and after 20 +/- days of use I get a sulfur smell when I turn the water on. When I take the filters out of the housing they look black and nasty.

Is changing filters every three weeks necessary or is there a better solution. I went to the Calumet site and they have a carbon filter but it is still cellulose and probably susceptible to deterioration. No other options listed that use a water insoluable material.

Any suggestions would be welcomed.

Cheers!

This is a common occurrence with well water, beleive it or not where I live the sulfur odor sometimes comes out of the tap. If you are certain the filters are cellulose acetate then you can wash them with bleach and re use them. BUt you need to dilute your bleach so that you don't damage the filter. all you need is about .1% bleach solution so, dilute 1 part of house bleach to 29 parts of water to make a working solution.

Now of your filter is made of polyamide resin, do not use bleach or you will essentially dissolve it. You will need a fungicide like formaldehyde to clean it.

WHile UV lamps on line are very effective they are expensive, if this is very imprtant to you I would suggest you put a dosimeter pump online with your plumbing and just have a jug of blach feed the stream when you are working in the darkroom. You would have to calculate the amount of bleach you feed with the pump, but if it gets to this send me a PM and I will tell you how to do it.

[Michael Kadillak]

This is a common occurrence with well water, beleive it or not where I live the sulfur odor sometimes comes out of the tap. If you are certain the filters are cellulose acetate then you can wash them with bleach and re use them. BUt you need to dilute your bleach so that you don't damage the filter. all you need is about .1% bleach solution so, dilute 1 part of house bleach to 29 parts of water to make a working solution.

Now of your filter is made of polyamide resin, do not use bleach or you will essentially dissolve it. You will need a fungicide like formaldehyde to clean it.

WHile UV lamps on line are very effective they are expensive, if this is very imprtant to you I would suggest you put a dosimeter pump online with your plumbing and just have a jug of blach feed the stream when you are working in the darkroom. You would have to calculate the amount of bleach you feed with the pump, but if it gets to this send me a PM and I will tell you how to do it.

Thanks guys. I cleaned out everything as I disassembled it this afternoon and soaked it in bleach. I will check the filters in about a week t see if it is clean and let you know.

Cheers!

[Kirk Keyes]

Jorge's suggestions are good ones. I've seen 7 year old copper pipes eaten through by sulfur reducing bacteria which caused major leaks in a house. Best to try and eliminate the bacteria somehow.