New, Improved Water Softeners? Your Advice?

[garyk]

Just wondering if anyone has recent experience with any new household water treatment systems that actually work well?

Our problem, primarily, is very high Iron content.

The whole household water supply needs to be run through the system, so osmotic filtration systems aren't practical for that volume of water.

We've been messing around for over 2 years with the Water Doc. company who sold us a "new and improved" Kinetico system @ $2500 which is basically two more resin pellet tanks, a larger salt pellet tank, and a charcoal final filter. It's not doing the job and given the cost, very disapointing.

So, has anyone seen any iron-removal systems that I should look into? Thanks

[Small Fry]

PM sent

[Geemo]

We have well water with a high iron level too. We had the Water Doctor replace a 25 year old Lindsay water softerner with a Kinetico system about 5 years ago. I like it. There is far less to mess with compared to the Lindsay.

There are setting wheels or discs of some kind on the top of those two tanks. If the system doesn't keep up with our water demand at time, then we go and activate the system to run. Maybe the setting isn't accurate for your useage.

Filters are another thing.....
In addition to the high iron, at different time of the year we have high sediment in our water. During the summer when I run the sprinkler system to water the half acre we have, then sand comes rolling through too.

We have 5 filter casings at various stages of our water system. We have learned some work and some don't. Right now out of the 5, I am only using 2. The other 3 have had the filters removed so the water goes right through.

We use a 5 micron yarn type filter for for water coming into the house. This one is changes every month or two, just depends. The filter case is clear, so I can see when they need to be changed. Under the kitchen sink we have an Everpure H-104, that supplies water to the ice maker and for drinking water. The Everpure is an expensive filter but it lasts us about few years. So I feel it's worth the bucks.

It's been a learning experience for us. Private well water systems can be a challenge. But at least I know the quality of my water. I also like not having to worry about a water bill.

Besides the Water Doctor, have you gone to any farm plumbing stores? The ones that sell to farmers and landscapers? Check with well driller's to see what they think. Just some ideas for you to try.

Geemo

[SouthCoastStu]

I'm looking at installing additional equipment at two sites for work. One of the big problems with high concentrations of iron and filters is that iron bacteria can invade the filter media and clog it up. I would go with a Water-Right self sanitizing unit if I was going to a canister/media type filter. You can set it to regenerate/back flush every so many days.

I installed a Triple Ozone system with a 1500 gallon tank this last fall. The water has an iron concentration of around 10 mg/L. The filter hangs down in the tank and is pulled out and hosed off every so often. Once every two months for this site, which sees very light usage. I would think a residential application would require cleaning much more often, but would depend on the concentrations of solids in the water. The quality of the water coming out of the systems is excellent, bottled water quality. All (most?) the iron settles to the bottom of the tank. I'm going to put cartridge filters in line to pretreat the water before it gets to the tank, to cut down on the amount of sediment accumulation in the tank/ozone filter. If that doesn't work (have to change cartridges to often) I'll install the Water-Right before the ozone system

The Triple Ozone system works (basically) by hyper oxygenating the water, causing the suspended particles to fall out. This also disinfects the water so you don't need chlorination (if the system is sized correctly).

RO (Reverse osmosis) is only really practical for small quanities of water. Usually only used if you have Arsenic in the raw water. Am I rambling?

[garyk]

Glad you mentioned the arsenic, as that is the secondary problem....level is 4x's EPA max standard.

[SouthCoastStu]

I'm looking at a site right now that has .04 mg/L Arsenic. Last year the EPA had the MCL set at .05, it went to .01 Jan. 1st. From my research, it looks like a POU (point of use) RO system is the best route to deal with the Arsenic. It's mainly a problem if it's ingested (not readily absorbed through the skin). There are some units on Water-Rights site. I don't have any direct experience with their performance. Good luck........

[garyk]

That's similar to our situation which is arsenic = .049

Total Iron is .44

We use bottled water so I'm not overly concerned about the arsenic, and as you suggested will address it with a POU filter at the kitchen tap.

Thanks for that equipment source!