Water Filter system for well.

[sdboers]

Hey Folks,
Let me see if I can tidy up downstairs enough to snap a few pictures, although I'm happy to describe it here first...

The holding tanks are cylindrical tanks - rounded on each end - and stand upright. Like this picture - but standing on end.


As mentioned - the clean water is drawn off the top, and the treated, but not yet settled water comes in the bottom. The sediment settles to the bottom rounded portion of the tank. There are actually two pipes that come out the bottom of that tank. One is the intake for new water, and one is the blowoff for the waste. Having not seen inside the tank - I "presume" that the intake goes higher up in the tank than the blowoff does - the blowoff would be the lowest point in the tank at the rounded bottom. When the blowoff valve is opened, the pressure from incoming water would push any accumulated sediment out the bottom and into the discharge.

Am I making any sense?

*EDIT* Adding content:
I missed an explanation of the "automatic" part... The valves that open to flush the tanks are manual, and can be used as such. Instead of manually flushing them however, I leave them open all of the time and put an automatic valve further downstream on the discharge line. This valve is closed when there is no power and open when there is power. Power is supplied via a standard 110 volt lamp timer. Scheduled 3 times weekly from midnight for 1 minute.

Sean.

 

[RalphVa]

Our well system had a cartridge "whole house" filter on it initially (Lowes has them). When we had the calcium carbonate bed (to raise pH of water) installed, the installer said we didn't need the filter, as the bed would filter out the same stuff the cartridge filter was taking out. He was right.

Ralph

 

[Pete Judd]

We have used Green Sand Filters at the pump house for year with air injection into the water stream before the filter. More on green sand filters. Greensand Process Removes Iron, Manganese, Arsenic from Groundwater | The Solutions Source of the Water & Wastewater Industry

 

[fishheadbob]

My last two homes had wells and the water tasted pretty good. I just wanted the sediment out, which there wasn't much anyway.
I just ran the 1" pipe that came into the house and hooked up two $40 whole house filters in series.

I put 5 micron filters in both and changed them once a year. For all the toilets and sinks and dishwasher I branched off after the filter with a water softener, but any hard water was run through the filters.

I decided to change both filters once a year even though the second filter didn't much for sediments in it.
I liked the taste of the minerals in the water and didn't like the bland taste of fully purified water just as much as I don't care for bottled water.
The filter elements cost only $20 a year to replace.

If I have a good well and like the taste, that is what I would do again.

I have about the same situation. My water tastes great; it has a little calcium in it which will whiten a teapot or coffee maker in several months, but nothing that a vinegar dose doesn't fix. I'll change the filter element every 6 months or so. I'm leery of any company offering free water testing. Their thinking has to be that the customer is dissatisfied with his water, so what can we sell him. I'd bet that there has never been a free testing from the Culligan man that didn't result in them saying you need this, this, that, and this or you're going to die. Go with an independent lab selling nothing. Even after you see the results start small. If you can have good water for $50 why spend $5000? You can always add on if the small fixes don't cut it, but once you add the expensive stuff there' no refund.

 

[Sysop]

I'm personally leery of untreated water (lots of mining and drilling operations being in this area are one of the concerns). There are lots of harmful things that can be in the water that have no taste or smell yet will kill you (some very slowly and painfully and aren't easy to identify). I agree about free water tests. First, it costs a good deal of money for professional testing supplies to test for all the things that need tested for. Second, as said above, things can be swayed or interpreted to indicate you need things you really don't. I think an independent test should be done first so the homeowner has some basis of comparison. Compare the independent results to the results from the filtration specialists and then choose your specialist accordingly. When having them assemble a custom filtration media setup, let them work from their own test results (but always ask anything you have a concern about).

 

[fishheadbob]

Full agreement. I did not originally notice that you're in the heart of hydrofracking country. While the jury remains out on the dangers of it, there's no question that you must have some extensive and specific testing performed with what's going on around you. You really don't want to develop some rare disease years later. Test heavily.