Posted: 1/25/2007 3:13:18 PM EDT
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I have a well water filtering issue... We have iron, sulphate, manganese, low PH and silt. Nothing over the EPA limits, but enough that you think you've gone to the hot springs when you get in a hot shower There is some staining taking place in the porcelain appliances, we've only been in our place for two months. My well is down to 240 feet with a 100 foot sanitary concrete seal. Around 130 feet the pipe goes from 6 to 5". The pump was originally down around 185 feet and the well driller thought it needed to be brought up 40' to get away from the perforations as that was probably contributing to the silt problem. I've noticed a slight, at best, improvement in the silt issue. We tried the Whirlpool whole house filter system from Lowes, 25 micron sediment filter followed by the activated charcoal filter. The charcoal filter burst dumping it's contents into our plumbing system. That was a mini SHTF all it's own... Now Whirlpool tells me that the filters are only rated for 5 gallons per minute (my well pump does 13), that is NOT stated anywhere, but I'm SOL as far as they are concerned. Lowes, to their credit, was horrified to hear this and is making good on everything I spent on the system. I've been looking at Puritec for a PH treatment tank followed by a self back-flushing (no salt) filtration/hard water tank. The hard water is supposedly handled by the 'magnification' of the water molecules prior to the filtration media. This is similar to the Rain Dance system. I've read in more than one place that salt based hard water systems are bad for your septic system and not what you want dumping into your ground water either (some places have now outlawed them). My wife has high blood pressure and is not supposed to use the salt substitutes that are found in some of the water conditioner systems. I've read that RO is not the end all be all of filtered water in that too much is removed in the process. Bottled water companies may use RO, but they then add minerals back in prior to the bottling. I appreciate any experienced input on this topic as well. |
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Hi SnakeEye, Where do you live? My house sits about 2 inches to the left of the Asshole of the Comstock (Would that be the 'taint' of the Comstock?). I live at the base of 6-Mile Canyon Rd., and my well water could (and probably should) be classified as toxic mine waste. (If only I had known BEFORE we bought the house what I know NOW - we would be living someplace else!) After it goes through my treatment system, it could probably be classified as merely hazardous.  We do NOT drink our water, but only use it to wash/bathe. I have a multi-stage treatment system. From what I understand from my neighbor (who's water is just as bad), the original realtor who sold the property I live on didn't disclose how bad the water was to the original owner. That owner sued the realtor, won, and the realtor had to come back and install (at least part) of the treatment system I have in now (I think they were liable for ~$13,000 towards the water treatment). I am the third owner. If your water is like mine (and it sounds like you're close), you are not going to get away with one of those Off-The-Shelf Lowe's systems. They may be fine for treating municipal water, but you're likely going to need a custom system to treat bad well-water. Let me break down my water system for you: 1) First, we have a pH adjuster. The water out of the ground measures at about a pH of 3. Consider that stomach acid is in the neighborhood of 2, which is acidic enough to digest an aluminum can. Our pH tank is loaded with Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3), and Magnesium Oxide (MgO, also called 'Corosex'). This tank brings our water up to the glorious pH of about 5 (which I would like to point out is still 158 times more acidic than pH balanced water at 7.2). Backflushing 1.5 cuFT Calcite System 1 $449 Calcite Neutralizing media $35/bag Corosex pH-raising media $55/bag  2) Second we inject bleach (regular old, household 6% Hypochlorite bottles) into the water flow, which heads into a Chlorine retention tank (residence time is SUPPOSED to be 20 minutes, which if you exceed with a higher demand, your water turns turbid and brown). This is supposed to kill any nasties living in the water, and begin the process of oxidizing the Iron (Fe), Manganese (Mn), and any species containing Sulphur (such as Hydrogen Sulphide, H2S = rotten eggs). Stenner Chemical Pump $479 Chemical Tank (for bleach reservoir) ~$35 Chlorine Retention Tank $348   3) The next stop along our adventure of water treatment is in the Greensand System. This tank has a highly oxidizing media bed, which is supposed to take care of all of the Iron (Fe), Manganese (Mn), and much of the Sulphurous compounds (such as the stinky Hydrogen Sulphide). This system has the added excitement of using Potassium Permanganate (KMnO4) for its backflush cycle in order to regenerate the oxidizing media bed. This is a deep-purple/black powder, that is added via a system much like a brine tank in a water-softener chemical tank, except, of course, for the fun fact that the dust from the powder will eat your lungs out of your chest, and destroy any mucous membrane with which it comes into contact.  . And if you get the concentrated liquid on your skin, it will give you a chemical burn to rival fairly concentrated acid. The liquid is also deep purple (black when its concentrated enough), and whenever a little too much is left in the media, our household water turns a lovely shade of girly pink that my wife is particularly fond of  .Backflushing 1.5 cuFT Greensand system $649 Chemical Tank (for KMnO4 reservoir) ~$35 15 lbs KMnO4 powder $80  4) Our penultimate stop is the Activated Carbon filter. Not much to say about this component, as its purpose is pretty self-evident: scrub out the last of the remaining sulphurous stink, and remove / deactivate all of the other nasty chemicals used to treat the water at each of the other stages. It scrubs out the chlorine, the KMnO4, etc. Backflushing 1.5 cuFt Carbon Filter System $479 5) The final stage is a physical filtration using a standard wrapped sediment filter. The filter is called "Big Blue," and always makes me think of whaling ("Thar she blows! Big Blue!"  ). This is the filter that catches all of the red/brown iron sediment that had its teeth kicked in by the GreenSand system 2 stages ago. It amazes me how much iron sediment makes it to the stage, as I have to drop the filter housing and hose off this filter every 6 weeks or so. When I pull the filter out, it looks like nothing so much as a giant, over-used tampon (Not my words - this is my wife's description. And when she said it the first time she saw me working on the filter, I dropped the blood-red rusty filter on the ground and almost fell over laughing).Big Blue 20" Sediment Filter $129 Sediment Filter Cartridge $44  3 out of 5 of these stages have a backflush cycle in order to recharge the media. According to the manuals, backflushing should happen once or twice per week. We have each of our systems backflushing every other day, and sometimes we use enough water that this frequency isn't sufficient (and its not like we use an excessive amount of water either! Its just that treating our water is THAT taxing on each stage!) We've decided that we also need a water softener to go inline after all of this other crap, since we have some scary salt-buildup on our faucets (I clean it off the sink/bath faucets pretty regularly, but on the outside hosebibs, I typically break it off when it reaches about 1/2" thick around the neck. This is typically after about 4-5 months!  ).It sounds like we should get together and talk about water treatment. I've learned a lot from living in this house (more than I ever wanted to  ), and I wouldn't mind sharing what I've picked up.Much of the equipment and supplies from this system came from Abundant Flow Water Systems (Which for some reason is also sometimes called HB-Water Systems), and AquaScience I hope this helps! ~GryphonX |
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GryphonX, Thanks so much for your detailed reply, that's the kind of information I needed. Compared to your water , I am spring fed! I can't imagine the hassle you have to go through just for bathing water and you still wouldn't want to drink it  . I remember climbing Sugar Loaf in 1994 with my brother shortly after I arrived here. Looking around at the taling piles and discoloration in the stream through 6 Mile Canyon I thought "Shame the ground water has been thrashed as it's a nice area back here."I'm out at the north end of the Rancho Haven/Red Rock area. Our water has a PH of 6.4 (closer to that of Milk vs Stomach Acid) so there isn't too far it has to be corrected. It almost sounds like you need two PH correction systems in series. The sulphate stink is handled nicely by a PUR water filter pitcher on the counter, but that's a tad slow even though it comes out clean and clear. I think we can get by with a ~$2500 system that will include the PH correction (only need Calcite), Anthracite/Pyrolox/Garnet for Iron/Manganese/Sulphates and maybe a final 5 micron 'Big Blue' filter for silt that makes it past the second stage. The water softening is done with the use of magnets. I know, I've heard all the hoopla about magnets curing this that and the other... Here is a link explaining this science: Magnet technology for softening water The first two stages are self-back flushing, but do NOT require any additional chemicals. I'm hoping the Pyrolox should be able to take the place of the Greensand system since our levels aren't near as high as yours. We'll probably order our pieces parts on Monday. I'll let you know how the installation goes and the end results. Thanks again for the information, I'm hoping I haven't totally missed any of the points you made here. I'm still in the process of scoping out this area, but given the number of jack rabbits I've seen, I'll join in on the next 'Night Op' You certainly did well on the last one!
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