Whole House Water Filter - Who's got one?

[ponytug]

I'm interested in your Hellenbrand setup. Did someone test your water and spec the system out, or did you test it and research, etc?

I've got "pretty decent" well water. Nothing biologic in it, but we have a decent amount of hardness but not enough to precipitate everywhere, and some iron - not enough to stain but without filtering you can taste a bit (at least, when it was tested ages ago).

I use a 2501 sediment filter in a "big blue" cartridge which needs replacement every 1-3 months (~$15 per filter). When I replace it, it's caked with super fine red silt, which is the "iron" (texture is a lot like pottery slip and it's basically the same stuff).

Currently my filters and pressure are in a really inconvenient spot under the house with about 55" headroom; I'm planning to relocate them to an enlarged "pump house" where the well is (20' altitude change will necessitate a pressure adjustment) so that it's easier to do stuff... and possibly change my whole filtering setup. Wouldn't mind a self-regenerating/backflushing deal to avoid or at least reduce the replacement of filters.

I really like the "set it and forget it" aspect of it. Our RO unit filter changes are very doable, but a hassle.

We have our water tested, and I sent the results over to Jerry and Don Yager's Pump and Well Jerry & Don's Yager Pump & Well
(Ask for Ben)
They were extremely knowledgeable and helpful. I did the installation as they were too far away. More precisely, they said that their drive time costs to do my unit would add a significant cost to the filter, and asked if I could have a local plumber do it. As I had previously done the installation of my Hellenbrand water softener installation, it was very similar. (The prior softener repairman/installer walked off with a critical part on our old softener, and for that reason I was not willing to use that installer again, so I did it myself.)

Jerry And Don's suggested the system , mostly on the pump gpm, and we talked over the choices of filter media.

We use the back flush water as drinking water for animals in a large trough. The initial couple of backlfushes during the installation pushed out some extremely fine dust, but nothing after that. I'm told that the media does wear out over time, but as our primary concern are 1/16" chunks of slate or jasper, I'm not too worried.

Total installation time was probably two or three hours including the removal of the roof on the pump house to be able to easily pour the gravel and then filter media into the filter from the top.

All the best,

Peter

 

[ponytug]

Like someone else asked, why do you want to add a whole house filter? Hard water? Sediment? Something else in your water? You really need have your water tested to see what's in it and if it is something that should be removed.

After 27 years I have recently replace my water softener and at the same time I had the guy install a water filter that regenerates for sediment to replace the. I have very hard water and a lot of sediment. The guy used what he called Filter-Ag. I don't have anything in my water but hardness and mud and this combo takes care of it.

The jury is still out on my new filter, it was installed almost exactly a week ago. It's removing the sediment from my water very well. Hoever, right now my water is a little cloudy for a few hours after the filter regenerates. This is the first time my installer has used this filter media and both of us think that the milky cloudiness is due to fines rinsing off of the media. Since the filter is set to regenerate every 7 days I figure it's going to be a few weeks before I know for sure.

What the guy told me was that the housings and heads for softeners and filters is all standard stuff, mostly manufactured by a single company and then branded by whoever is doing the selling. What matters is what is used for filter media in the filter.

This link is not because of specific brand, it is just info on the filter media Filter-Ag Filters for More Efficient Sediment Removal | Applied Membranes Inc.

Before this I was changing filters constantly and I've been doing that for 27 years. To be honest, even dealing with cloudy water for a few hours a week I will be happy with it. I have more water pressure than I had with the standard filters and I don'tneed to buy and change 12 to 20 filters a year at $20 a pop.

This is basically my setup, but you have a different brand. The Hellenbrand instructions say to backflush the system 3-4 times until the back wash water is clear. It may take some time for your water cloudiness to disappear, but when it does, I would think about draining the hot water heater, and trying to have a high flow wash to move any sediment out of the pipes. I suspect that you don't really need to be consuming fine silica from the Filter-Ag media.

The only downside to the backflush cycle is that there needs to be enough clean water downstream of the filter (in a tank) to do the backflush cycle.

All the best,

Peter

 

[dadohead]

Our house was built in '16; the plumber installed a Hellenbrand softener. Because of the known hard water in our area, he left room for additional mechanical. 1 year later we had him install a Hellenbrand "iron curtain" system. First stage removes the iron; the second stage aerates to remove the sulfur smell that would occasionally emit during showers etc. The RO water is cloudy when dispensed for 1 minute from the aeration. The system recharges every few days. At about year 3, the system needed service as it plugged from high iron! The service man cleaned the unit and replaced the parts caked red with iron. I kept them and cleaned thinking maybe I'll do the next service myself if necessary. It's been 6 years since installation... wouldn't want to be without it!

 

[HawkinsHollow]

We are on city water. So no sediment here.
We have had an off the shelf GE brand water filter that just filters the cold water for drinking at the tap for a few years. I really dislike chlorine taste in my water and our municipal system pulls from a rather large and not so clean body of water so sometimes I feel like it has a very faint but noticeable fishiness to the water certain times of the year. Our at the tap water filter has alleviated both of those problems.

The reason for a potential whole house system is that my wife (a bit of a health freak) has read that there are certain things in municipal water systems that are not good to have in your water for showering in etc. I have not done any further research on this so I have no idea if this is true or not.

I have noticed there are some off the shelf whole house systems that are reasonably priced at Home Depot. If I can get a system that is good and doesn't break the bank, my wife doesn't have to take a shower in "unhealthy water" and I don't have to taste chlorine or fishiness in my water I thought why not go whole house.

I am just here to gain a bit more insight on whole house systems. Thoughts?

 

[ponytug]

When not so great incoming water, that is water with lots of organics, algae, humic acids, etc., gets chlorinated, the byproducts are musty or fishy odors. Some people like you, @HawkinsHollow (and me!), are more sensitive to detecting the smell.

If yours is a municipal water system it should be safe to shower in, unless your wife has some condition that makes her especially sensitive to something, but then question is what is she sensitive to, as that would drive what kind of filter might help her. Does she know what the issue is, or is this a "well, somebody said that..." kind of item? I see a bunch of very scientifically unsupported filter gizmos being sold online chasing dubious claims of risk. That said, I do know of some home wells that are high in, say PFAS, or arsene, or hydrogen sulfide gases, that can be problematic for some or all people, but that shouldn't be the case for municipal water supplies.

I have friends that were required to put in a whole home RO system (industrial scale) because the well was deemed too shallow, and too close both to fields and a river with known bacterial loads. Super soft water, but not a cheap solution, but in the end much cheaper than a 1000' deep well that I think was a possible alternative...

All the best,

Peter

 

[ericm979]

Our place in CA has hard water but it's not been enough to need treatment. The place in Oregon has a nice new artesian well with iron, boron and fluoride. We're looking at a whole house RO system to remove the boron and fluoride after the water is treated for iron. Boron is often found in well water there and there's a local company that had a RO system designed to remove it.

 

[bdhsfz6]

When I drilled the 580' well for the new house 40 years ago, the well driller said the water was good. It looked clear and tasted fine, so I didn't install a treatment system or whole house filter. When I had the submersible pump replaced 10 years ago, it was coated with a black slime. The well guys said it was just harmless black sediment. At that point, we had been drinking the water for 30 years with no health problems, so I guess they were right.

As a precaution, I installed an A.O. Smith whole house filter:

Amazon.com

It uses a variety of filter cartridges for different contaminates but I used one for simple sediment:

Amazon.com

Out of the box, a new filter looks like this:

After a week, it looks like this:

The water looked and tasted the same before and after installing the filter but what it catches is amazing!

 

[DarkBlack]

Our place in CA has hard water but it's not been enough to need treatment. The place in Oregon has a nice new artesian well with iron, boron and fluoride. We're looking at a whole house RO system to remove the boron and fluoride after the water is treated for iron. Boron is often found in well water there and there's a local company that had a RO system designed to remove it.

I’ve never known anyone around here in the New England area to be looking to remove boron from drinking water. Do you have excessive amounts of it in Oregon wells?

 

[hube2]

We are on city water. So no sediment here.
We have had an off the shelf GE brand water filter that just filters the cold water for drinking at the tap for a few years. I really dislike chlorine taste in my water and our municipal system pulls from a rather large and not so clean body of water so sometimes I feel like it has a very faint but noticeable fishiness to the water certain times of the year. Our at the tap water filter has alleviated both of those problems.

The reason for a potential whole house system is that my wife (a bit of a health freak) has read that there are certain things in municipal water systems that are not good to have in your water for showering in etc. I have not done any further research on this so I have no idea if this is true or not.

I have noticed there are some off the shelf whole house systems that are reasonably priced at Home Depot. If I can get a system that is good and doesn't break the bank, my wife doesn't have to take a shower in "unhealthy water" and I don't have to taste chlorine or fishiness in my water I thought why not go whole house.

I am just here to gain a bit more insight on whole house systems. Thoughts?

You basically have 2 choices.

1) A filter that takes cartridges like others have posted. This will have a lower up front cost, will require you to change filters on a regular basis and in the long run may end up costing you more than the second choice depending on how often you need to change the filter.

2) A filter that automatically cleans itself (backflush). This will have a higher up front cost, but will last for many years without maintenance. Again, depending on how often you might need to change filters in the other type it could cost you less in the long run. You put it in and for the most part forget it's there.

Your best bet, and what I would do, because you don't know, is to put in the first type. The up front cost of this will be minimal. Then keep track of how often you need to change filters and how much they cost you. At the same time get an estimate for the second type. While using the cartridge type filter you can also determine if changing filters is something that you want to keep doing for as long as you live in the house.

For me, after doing a cost analysis I realized that I should have put in the second type years ago. The filters I used over a 5 year period cost me more than double the cost of having the second type installed. I was also getting quite tired of doing the filter changes. We are also getting older and I needed to think about what my wife would do if for some reason I was not here to do the filter changes because she is not capable of doing it.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

When I drilled the 580' well for the new house 40 years ago, the well driller said the water was good. It looked clear and tasted fine, so I didn't install a treatment system or whole house filter. When I had the submersible pump replaced 10 years ago, it was coated with a black slime. The well guys said it was just harmless black sediment. At that point, we had been drinking the water for 30 years with no health problems, so I guess they were right.

As a precaution, I installed an A.O. Smith whole house filter:

View attachment 877767

Amazon.com

It uses a variety of filter cartridges for different contaminates but I used one for simple sediment:

Amazon.com

Out of the box, a new filter looks like this:

View attachment 877766

After a week, it looks like this:

View attachment 877768

The water looked and tasted the same before and after installing the filter but what it catches is amazing!

That's what I did too. I only need a sediment filter for late summer when well water gets cloudy. I use the 1 micron cartridge to filter water going into a 2500 gallon cistern. If there is any color left after filtering, I can clear it up with a little chlorine bleach.