Well Water Filtering

[LarryC]

When we moved into our new house 1 1/2 yrs ago we connected to a well that was put in 25 yrs ago and never used (250ft). A lot of iron and sediment was present in the water, so I installed two whole house filters one paper, one charcoal. After changing the filters every 5 days I opted for a filtration system, it consists of an oxagenating tank then runs the water thru another tankwith a ring that takes out the iron then to the bottom where an agent (granules) softens the water.
Worked great for a year (only changed the whole filters once, then the installer came for the yearly service, he removed the top of the second tank chunked the iron from around the ring and let it fall into the tank, measured the softening agent then replenished it. Since then i have to change the filters monthly, I would like to disconnect the tank clean it out thoroughly and replenish the agent in the bottom, installer tells me it's not available to the public. Does anyone have any knowledge of this type of system and where would I start looking for the agent in the bottom, thanks.

 

[billboe]

My house use to have a "fancy" filtration system to remove iron (oxidizer, multiple tanks, etc.)... The system did work well at all (probably wasn't maintained properly). We had major iron staining on all our fixtures.

I finally had the water tested and determined that a water softener would handle the amount of iron and hardness (even though it was quite high). So, I ripped out all the old filtration equipment and installed a pre-filter, a softener, and a post filter (charcoal)... We're very happy with water now!

GOOD LUCK!

 

[rlw]

You can buy several types of softener resin online.
You just need to determine what you need. Here is one place <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.resindepot.com/>http://www.resindepot.com/</A>

 

[LarryC]

Thanks guys i appreciate the replys, I emailed the Resindepot to see if we could determine what type of resin I need. I think if the tank was cleaned out properly it would perform flawless as before, thanks again.

 

[wrinkled]

I'll throw in my 2 cents on the subject if its ok... We have been on a well here in the Greene County area of Ohio now for about 12 years. Two houses in total. The water here is hard and loaded with iron. Our first house we tried the two filter method and changing cartridge filters got old in a hurry. We finally went to a Culligan softner, it worked great but needed repairs on average about every 2.5 years. The water just fungooed up the rubber diaphrams and seals that quick. Here in our new house I finally settled on a system that seems to work ok... I pre-filter the water softner with a 20 micron cartridge filter. This seems to remove the bigger red chunks and any odd pebble that gets sent up from the pump. I have to replace the filter about every 3 to 4 weeks, but so far so good... Hopefully this will extend the softner life to something more reasonable.

Dave

 

[trfcrx7]

We bought a house with a well already in place. I called the driller when we were considering purchasing the place. He told me it will never go dry because it flows huge volumes, but it is a terrible well because it is literally Packed with iron. The previous owner told me that he had to replace the pump once, and it just sits in a red/orange muck. Well, we bought it anyway, and pay Culligan a monthly charge ($40) to maintain 2 tanks - 1 softens and polishes the water, and 1 removes iron. Every month they take the 2 tanks away, and bring in 2 fresh tanks. An utraviolet light system kills any bacteria - we own the light system, and the $50 bulb has been going strong for about 3 years.
We used to have water pressure problems toward the end of the month, so they switched the order in which the well water flows through the tanks. Now, it first flows into the polisher tank, and then into the iron removal tank. We have no water pressure problems, never had staining problems, and it tastes great.
I've thought about buying my own system, but continue to here about maintenance problems like these. If the Culligan service is available, maybe it's worth looking into. I'm also curious what people pay on a monthly basis to keep their systems going, and whether they feel it's worth it. Thanks.

Brad
Satoh S650G

 

[dlabrie]

Our house came with a dug well and lots of iron. It had a paper filter that had to be changed too often. We went with a Culligan system. It had 2 large storage tanks, a charcol filter and a chemical vat. The incoming water was treated with a lot of chlorine bleach and some other sort of chemical. The iron would fall to the bottom of the 2 storage tanks and the iron free water would be drawn through the charcol filter. Each week we would flush out the iron from the bottom of the system. This worked great for about a week. Then the water started to get a slimy feel. I had a test kit and the chlorine etc. was way out of wack. They came out and tweaked the system and again it was OK for a while. This went on for almost a year with them coming out about every 3-4 weeks to adjust the system. Finally I was so disgusted I tracked down the owner of the co. and had a sit down with him. He wasn't aware of what had been going on. After looking into it, he determined that our well water was constantly changing and he could do nothing to fix it. I have to give him credit though, He took the system out after a year and refunded all my money. Unfortunately, all of that chlorine that was flushed out of the system with the iron, destroyed my leach field. We took the refund $ and invested in a driven well (150') Now the major iron problem is gone, Just a bit of iron bacteria (right term?) that washes off fixtures easily.

 

[JoeR]

I had the same system... My problem was clear-water iron. I would get the iron bacteria growing in the toilet tank. The chlorinator took away the iron but left me with hard water. At my new home, the clear-water iron is present but not bad... I found that a salt softener is able to remove the iron and my hard water all in one shot. I no longer have iron bacteria or hard water stains...

Joe

 

[Darren]

Running the backflush water from a water softner into a leach field can create problems depending on the soil. The salt is what does the damage to the drainage capacity.

If you're using a UV system, you need to check, not how long the bulb lasts, but how long the bulb maintains enough intensity to still work. The bulbs put out less UV over time. Recommendations I've seen are to replace the bulb yearly to be safe.

 

[heehaw]

here's my 2cents worth..i have a plenty of water, with lots of iron, and sulfur..so i installed a sand filter..the well water goes directly to a tank thats 30inches wide, 5 ft long and 3ft tall. it has a small tower like thing on the top that the water sprays into, a 5 gal plastic bucket could do the same thing, then it drips/runs into the tank, the tank has about 6 ft of slotted pipe in the bottom, in a U shape, then gravel on top of that, and sand on the top..we pump out of the bottom of the tank to the house..this takes the sulfur smell out, and filters the water, about every 6 months i have to go take the top couple inches of sand off, and replace it, to get water, but it removes all of the iron...then i run the water thru an automatic backflush water softener..we get good water, very little maintenance, and the system has worked flawlessly for 15 years.
heehaw

 

[bnixon]

heehaw,

Do you have any info on the manufacturer/makes/models of your equipment. I will be building in a few years and will have supplied well water and will need a filtering system. I would like to look into this type, it seems to be the least chemical based and lowest maintenance that I have heard about. I would prefer not to use chemicals if I can.

Thanks,

 

[heehaw]

we have a local company that makes the fiberglass tanks, but they also use concrete tanks, i think they are actually the vaults that are placed over caskets?? just turned up the other way..i prefer the fiberglass because i could move it where i wanted it...i have seen some folks use old bathtubs...even 500gal concrete tanks, buried in the ground..all you need is a tank,preferably one with 2 sections; then you get the pipe that goes in the bottom, from a plumbing supply, i wish i could remember what you call it, but it has lots of long, narrow slits in the pipe...anyway, lay as much of that pipe as possible in the bottom of the tank, with a pipe coming from that slotted pipe to the top, to hook the pump to...then put in 12-24 inches of washed rock/gravel, then put sand on top of that..i use sandblast sand, because its readily available, if you can get it, the medium grit is good, the local company quit handling anything except the fine grit, so i have to clean the top more often now. another way to do this, without using the slotted pipe in the bottom, is with a tank, and then put one of those plastic barrels in the middle of the tank, cut some one inch holes in the sides, near the bottom of the barrel, then put bigger washed rock, ten smaller rock, then sand...run your water onto the sand, and then pump it from the tank..maybe turn a 5gal plastic bucket upside down above the barrel, and spray the well water into that bucket, to aireate the water, that allows the iron to be filtered out better...is all this clear as mud?? oh yes, you need a float valve in the tank, to cut the well water off when the tank is full...this really works great...if you have a place to get sterilized sand?? if there is any such thing..that would probably work better..
heehaw

 

[Egon]

heehaw:
How do you backwash the filter.
From the description it could work on gravity feed if the tanks are set at the right level.
Coal or charcoal can also be used in this type of filter. Activated charcoal if chlorine is used.
They can also be built to operate under pressure and backwash when differential pressure reaches a predetermined value set for the filter.
Egon

 

[heehaw]

no back wash on this type of filter, you just remove and replace the top couple inches of sand occasionally, how often depends on how much iron is in the water. then every 2-3 years, some folks clean the whole thing out and start over, but i've only done that once in the last 6 years, and i washed the gravel, soaked it in a barrel with a lot of chlorine, then used it again, but replaced all the sand. some folks here actually use 1000 gal concrete septic tanks to do the same thing, they have them buried, sticking up slightly to keep runoff water out, they also do it with the water going down thru the sand and gravel side of the tank, and then pump the filtered water from the other side..seems to work..
heehaw

 

[wasabi]

Agree with your thinking. Egon.

We're using gravity feed and have suitable fibreglass tank.

It would seem, if vertical feet from source is sufficient, that one could simply swith a valve on the the inflow feed to run from the bottom up to backflush....course if you did that you would be backflushing with unfiltered water.

 

[Egon]

heehaw/Wasabi
As usuall I had trouble expressing myself. I was thinking along the lines of a municipal water treatment plant where gravity sand filters backwashed by filtered water are a common design.
Egon

 

[heehaw]

backflushing a pressurized filter is very common, the water softner has an automatic backflush, but to backflush a tank with no place for the flushed out crud to go wouldn't solve anything, and just contaminate the sand underneath. the iron stops up the sand, so the water won't soak thru to the pump lines, so just cleaning the top inch or so gets rid of the iron and keeps the water running.
heehaw

 

[Egon]

Gravity sand filter:
There is an overflow line[trough at the top] to handle the backwash water and crud. The backwash pressure must be such that the sand is not carried over. They usually have a spyder pipe arrangement on the bottom to evenly distribute the the backflush water.

Egon

 

[Winejon]

When we bought our Central Ohio farm a year ago, it had a drilled well at least 60 years old with the pump, pressure tank and associated mechanics in a below-ground pit. From there, a 200-foot+ line went to the house, where it went through a 12-year-old Culligan water softener. Iron staining and flavor were the problem with the water output from the Culligan unit. To his credit, the local Culligan repairman said there was no reason to replace it. He tested the untreated water for iron, said it was within the capability of the softener, serviced it, advised the use of Iron Out, and that was it.
Except for the iron flavor and the iron content, which remained noticeable and unacceptable. I had previously tried "shocking" the well with chlorine, but after a couple of weeks of improvement, prior conditions returned.
The obvious solution was to install a sophisticated iron filter before the softener. But that required the pressure tank to be nearby, in the basement, and the well was too far away for that. Also, major changes would have required bringing the old well up to code by raising its mechanics to ground level.
It proved more cost-effective to have a new well drilled near the house, which we did. That water tested negative for bacteria but not surprisingly had a good slug of iron, like all the water in this area.
Once the new line was in the house, the driller hooked it first to a sediment filter which, to my surprise, hasn't had to do much work in spite of the sandy shale in which the new pump is sitting.
From there, it goes to the pressure tank, and then to a Provectr AF-10P, a two-tank system for removal of iron (and manganese and sulfur) from the water. First piece is a venturi/nozzle that oxygenates the water. That's said to convert dissolved into suspended solids that can be filtered out more easily. (It also requires good pressure, which is why this tyhpe of iron filtering system must be near the pressure tank.) Next, it goes to the aerator/precipitator tank, at the bottom of which are "plastic aeration orbs that become coated with contaminants that have been separated from the water through the oxidation process" and "which help solidify unoxidized contaminants," according to the brochure. From the bottom of that tank, the water, with a lot of what would otherwise be undissolved contaminants now in particulate form, goes to the filter tank, where a blend of media filters contaminants (most notably the physical particles produced by the oxidation process) and raises the pH of the filtered water.
The big question always: maintenance. This system backwashes automatically. The manual suggests checking the pH neutralizer portion of the media twice a year, and also gives instructions about putting chlorine through the system when it needs to be cleaned. The driller suggests simply inserting chlorine via the sediment filter housing.

The treated water from the iron filter goes to a two-tank, demand-regeneration water softener.
I had the driller put in a T fitting between the iron filter and the softener, so I will be able to tap off drinking water that will still have calcium and magnesium in it.
As far as I was able to tell from my research, this kind of system is as close to automatic and maintenance-free as they get. The downside: an iron filter of this sophistication costs virtually the same as a top-quality water softener; each is about $1000. But in addition to the convenience factor, it will greatly extend the life of the beads and mechanics in the softener, which no longer has to deal with high levels of iron and manganese and sulfur.
In our case, we saved a fair amount on labor by having it installed at the same time as the new well. Speaking of which, I would strongly recommend that a "hydrant" be installed there for less than $100. It's great for accessing untreated well water for gardening, watering, etc.