Need a iron filter

[Drtyw]

Hi all. New here and had a question.
Had a heavy discoloration in my well water that showed up one night. Was medium dark in color and started staining the fixtures the water sat in, ex. toilets. Stayed that way for the next day, then started getting lighter. Looked clear comming out of the faucets, but cloudy and red, pinkish hue in a glass or toilet.

I have lived in this house 25 yrs and my family over that before me. Never had this problem before. I installed an inline filter, but the filter and the water retained the same color. 25 then 15 mc filters.

Found and had water tested by a state approved testing facility.
odor none
turbidity 60
color >50
ph 7.12
iron 1.73
hardness 76

Discoloration has gotten mutch better in the 5 days since it started, but a small amount is still present. Well is 176' deep, and I live in a high water table area. Been doing my reasearch, but any advice would be appreaciated.

Thanks in advance
Jer

[Gary Slusser]

This could be caused by rust build up breaking off the inside of the well casing or the pipe from the pump to the pressure tank or... a new water entering the well. It would be very expensive to find the cause. The problem may go away with more water use, or not or it could get worse.

A disposable cartridge type filter is not a good choice. If the problem continues, the better choice would be an automatically backwashed filter that would clarify the water and oxidize the iron in it.


The hardness of 76, what is the 76, gpg or mg/l or ppm?

[Drtyw]

Sorry so slow to post back.
76mg/L
The water has gotten almost back to normal. The high level of Iron has still has me conserned. I do not want this to happen again.

I have looked at a butt load of different filters for whole house with prices from $800 to $5400. I dought I need the later but I would still like info.

Thnks
Jer

[Andy CWS]

What type of plumbing do you have? Galvanized, plastic, copper, mixed?

Iron comes in different forms. Determine if your iron is ferrous (very common) or ferric. Ferric will appear visibly red/pinkish when coming from the tap. A softener will handle ferrous iron but not ferric.

Small whole-house filters are not usually good as stand alone water treatment solutions. You do have moderately hard water. Perhaps a quality softener will take care of those issues at a reasonable price.

Because your water suddendly turned on you, it may be that your well went through some unusual change or the water table has been disturbed or saturated. Nonetheless, I would still recommend some whole-house water treatment system to improve your water. An RO will improve your drinking water a great deal, as well.

Andy Christensen, CWS-II

[Drtyw]

I am not sure of the properties of the well itself, but I have a black plastic type hose comming in through the wall to the pump, then everything else is copper.
My concern,as you said, is the type of iron. And also the remeady to treat it.Colladial, ferrius, bacterial? The House filter did nothing for my problem, but it can't hurt. What would recomend for a micron rating for this first filter?
I wish to stop this problem in it's tracks, but I am stumped on how to do so. I have read just about everything you can on the web, but not being an expert in this field, there are way too many options to choose from. There seems to be about 10-12 manufacturers of different products to help. The problem is what to choose? Greensand, softner, potassium? My mind is gone. Three sites tell you one thing, five another, and 3 something completely different.
I live on a low lying property in New Englang. I heard that the faster than snow melt filled the well and used area that hasent been used for years. Construction, well drilling, dropped shelf, or degraded liner.
My water is back to normal now, but I am going to get it tested again to get a compairson.

Confused?
Jer

[Andy CWS]

Get a thorough water test. before that, you are just guessing. Check for total iron, ferrous and ferric iron, hardness, pH and TDS at the very least.

The majority of iron found in wells is ferrous. In most cases, a softener can take care of it.

Andy Christensen, CWS-II

[Gary Slusser]

Drty, since you already had a water test and found all but 2 ppm of (ferrous) iron, you don't need another water test to know you have an iron problem. That amount is more than enough to cause serious staining of fixtures and cause laundry problems when using bleach and whiteners etc..

This dirty water problem may not happen again for years so I wouldn't suggest buying anything until it happens again. I say that after spending 20 years working on wells, pumps and doing a lot of water treatment on well water.

Your 76 mg/l of hardness is only 76*17.1 = 4.4 gpg of hardness. Usually that is not enough hardness to be able to use a regular softener to remove your volume of iron but... I use a specially designed softener that will soften the water and remove the iron. If you don't use a softener, then you need a automatically backwashed iron filter. There are a number of different media you could use in it. Manganese greensand is not a good choice.

Are you a DIYer or wannabe or do you want to depend on a local dealer? I think you want to be a DIYer since you are posting on an online filter dealer's forum. So I suggest a correctly sized filter or softener for your family size and the SFR (service flow rating in gpm) house house and type of fixtures require.

The filter of softener should use a Clack WS-1 control valve. It is the best choice for a DIYer because it was designed to be the easiest to program and repair with the lowest priced parts. It has a number of features most controls do not have. If you buy it online, you can save up to $2000+ compared to a local dealer's price.

[Drtyw]

A definate DIY. I'm a Tech at a new car dealer for over 16yrs. Most things translate right over to housing problems. My water is totally back to normal now, but, after talking with my wife, she told me that either eirly this year or late last winter, we had a few fifty degree days with alot of snow that created alot of meltoff. From what she said, the same thing happened but only lasted for a day. I am wondering if that might be the cause. Same conditions, but the warmer weather lasted longer this time.

Water test I had done
odor none
turbidiy 60
color >50
ph 7.12
Nitrite N <0.001 1.0mg/L
Nitrate N <1.00 10.0mg/L
chloride 23 250mg/l
hardness 76
iron 1.73
manganese .03
sodium 8.6
sulfate 50

I don't think getting the water tested again right now would work because the problem I was having is not present at this time. Oh yeah coliform bacteria was 0. They said turbidity, color, and iron content were high and treatment was nessisary if the problem continued, but the water waspotable and met the drinking standards of the state. Not that I did or wanted to.

I guess I'm after what system would be best for my specific problem. I can do the work myself, and if it involved backflushing, I guess I could put the runoff in my sump? I read the piston controlls werent good for iron problems. What media, if any shoul I use? What type of setup would be approperate? Just full of questions today.

Thanks for all the replys
Drtyw

[Gary Slusser]

Then you should buy a softener and install it yourself.

Where have your read that a piston type control valve like Clack or Fleck is not good for water with iron?

I've sold Fleck for 21 years and Clack for 4, I've used them on very dirty water and iron of 5 ppm without problems.

[Drtyw]

Sorry for the long delay. My power supply went down in my new computer, and it took a few to get my old one up and running.
So a water softner will take care of the problem when it reacures? I'm not worried about the water now, but when it happens again.
I have researched for days. The ones that say the the piston valves are bad sell another brand, and the one that says this kind stinks says mine is better, and so on and so forth.
I am just looking the correct fix for my problem. If all it takes is a conditioner, so be it. I want to do this once and be done.

Thanks in advance
J

[Gary Slusser]

A softener, not a "conditioner", made for your present water quality is a good thing and with 2 ppm of iron, you really need something to remove it but... a softener is not going to remove the dirt you just had. IMO the dirty water was from rust build up in the plumbing breaking loose. That will go right through a softener and you don't want it in a softener but, if it happens once a year or three, it is not a serious problem depending on the construction or type of softener. Just any old softener is not going to work long on dirty water.