Goal: Non-Staining, Drinkable Water

Hello Bob,

Thank you for contacting us through our website.  You wrote:

“our well is 330' deep has high tds, methane gas is also present. We have 2 quotes from local companies with wide difference in cost and system design. There is also 50 mg of silica in samples. Goal is drinkable water that doesn't stain fixtures.“

Our recommendation in this case is to install an advanced Duke Aerator system (for methane removal) and then on to an EPRO 4500 reverse osmosis system.  This would feed into an included storage tank and redistributed with a booster pump and pressure tank.

The Soda Ash Solution to Extremely Low pH

Hello Kevin,

Thank you for contacting us through our website.  You wrote:

“What are my options/costs for raising pH?  Shallow well Jet pump JP-100-c Little Giant Pump with 1" connections to Well-x-trol wx-203.  Using nitrate and 7stage carbon filters for drinking water. 1344 Sq foot house, 2 full baths and four people living here. Septic system present.”

Since your pH is so low at 4.75, we would suggest that you use a soda ash system to fix the problem.  Soda ash is made of sodium carbonate, which reacts with the dissolved acidity in your water to bring up the pH and neutralize its corrosive qualities.  This is a good alternative to calcite (crushed limestone) neutralizer which raises hardness considerably, and soda ash works very well for even extremely low pH levels.  

Eliminate Acid Water With an Automatic Soda Ash Feeder

These complete soda ash pump and tank systems are the best way to achieve accurate pH levels and eliminate acid well and spring waters with the least amount of maintenance. 

J-Pro-22 Versatile soda ash Works for a Wide Range of Conditions and Wells:

• Just mix soda ash powder with warm soft or pure water and add to solution tank, easy to do and lasts for several months.
• Dual Voltage 110/220v 50/60hz
• Works over a wide range of water flow rates for most home water wells
• Good for well water flow rates from 1 to 30 Gallons Per Minute (1 - 30 GPM)(Contact us for systems for higher flow rates over 30 GPM)
• Pumps 0.1 to 22 gallons of solution per day
• Works for line pressures up to 110 PSI
• Dual Voltage: works on both 110v and 220v power
• Low power consumption: uses only 22 watts or 0.2 amps of power
• Dimensions: 5 Gallon:11" L x 10-1/4" W x 14-1/8" H; 15 gallon model: 14.5" wide x 24", height including pump is 35". 35 gallon model: 18" wide x 33", height including pump is 44".
• Stroke frequency is adjustable from 0 to 100 strokes per minute
• Digital speed adjustment makes adjusting the pump fast and easy for incredibly accurate injection
• Unlike Stenner-style peristaltic pumps: no pump tube failures, no rollers to go bad needs less service, and is good for continuous duty
• Uses readily available soda ash powder (sodium carbonate), safe and certified for drinking water use.
• These heavy-duty metering pump systems are designed to last for many years with minimal maintenance.
• Pump easily mounts on the top of the tank or a wall
• Primes super fast, and won't lose its prime.
• The complete system includes a soda ash pump, solution tank, injection check valve, tubing, fittings
• Plug into a Flow Switch (sold separately) or Wire to your standard pressure switch pump system.  
• NOTE: If you have a Variable Speed Well Pump click here for the Proportional Flow Soda Ash Systems.

How to Neutralize Corrosive Water

Hello Shaina,

Thank you for contacting us through our website.  You wrote:“We calculated our water flow rate at 4 GPM and our water's pH is 6.14. We'd like to know which calcite filters are appropriate for our house. We have no other problems to take care of.”

To raise your low pH, a 5900 series calcite Neutralizer Filter would neutralize the pH and eliminate the corrosive effects of the water.  Many customers with this type of water used to have blue-green stains from copper pipe corrosion and after installing the neutralizer see their blue stains disappear within a few weeks.  The Neutralizer filter comes with everything you need including necessary calcite media and simple instructions. Any plumber or person familiar with basic plumbing can install them. 

Battling Coliform in Well Water

Hello Jim,

Thank you for contacting us through our website.  You wrote:
“I have an E. Coli count of 70.3 and a Coliform count of 275.5 in raw spring water located on a ranch that I would like to improve. Any suggestions on how to reduce these counts to less than 1?”

To thoroughly treat this water, we can recommend using a Precision-24 chlorine injection metering pump, which provides extra strength oxidation for killing bacteria and oxidizing high levels of iron and manganese (which can be linked with sulfur odors).   Following the point of injection, the chlorine would then feed into a 120-gallon contact tank to provide enough contact time for the solution to react with the coliform and e coli bacteria in the water.

Following the large contact tank, the water should pass through a backwashing carbon filter, which will collect all of the particulate organic matter as well as remaining chlorine.  Finally, since this is surface spring water, we recommend using a 1-micron absolute filter cartridge to kill off cysts like giardia or cryptosporidium that aren’t eliminated by chlorination alone.

Grit in Water Causing Clogged Washing Machine

Hello Tina,

Thank you for contacting us through our website.  You wrote:
“lately we have had grit in our water. different sizes of black specs. It does clog our washing machine. The hot water heater seems to filter it since we only get it in the cold water.”
 
Generally, for sand, dirt and sediment removal, our sediment backwash filter is the best solution.  The high-purity, naturally mined zeolite ChemSorb media filters and removes sediment down to 5 microns.  Unlike filter cartridges that quickly become clogged and require frequent changes, the Backwash Sediment Filter automatically backwashes the sediment restoring water pressure. The media is easily changed and lasts for about 5 years.

Filter System Solution for Collapsing Well

Hello David,

Thank you for contacting us through our website.  You wrote: 
“Have an inn in NY, well started sucking air & getting air hammers in faucets/toilets. Called plumber, he diagnosed well needed to be "hammered" (done the next day), problem tho, it's a gravel well. So hammer did nothing positive.
Real problem was broken (frozen) water pipe, out the back of house, feeding a trailer home, & blowing 3,000 gal water a day. 3/4 hp Variable speed pump was able to disguise the problem. Capped leaking pipe, well is slow recovery now, and has sand/silt that won't seem to go away. Plumbers' solution is/has been, drill deeper! Or New Well.
Gotta be another solution...?”

You can definitely get clean water and filter out the sand and sediment.  In some cases however, if your well is collapsing, or silting in, or filling in with sand, it can be a losing battle.  But we have had many customers over the years continue to use their wells for years with treatment systems in place.  If you  ever did have to replace your well, you can continue to use the filters for good measure.

Because it is a variable speed pump, centrifugal sand separators don’t work that well.  We would recommend a settling tank using an 80 gallon contact tank, followed by a Sediment Trapper, then a Sediment Backwash Water, followed by a 25/1  20” big blue filter. If there is still turbidity or cloudiness after that, we recommend a UF membrane as a final filter.

Help for Suspended Turbidity

Hello Mr. W,

Thanks for contacting us through our website.  You wrote:

“We have suspended turbidity.  no sign turbidity settling after 48 hours.  Needs some type floculant.   Failed bacteria test.  Possible bad draw forgot to remove aerator in faucet. Unknown what bacteria. After spring thaw (WA state) and rains the water is very murky and brown/yellowy in color.

It leaves residual  in toilet and shower floor. 

Murkyness lasts 4-5 months! Water is ferrous and no iron bacteria.  No slime in toilet tank. We currently use R/O for drinking/cooking but would like to not see the water sediment/turbidity.  At this time water looks ok other than the turbidity.  toilet/shower staining wont return until merky returns.

We are right at the mcl for uranium however are drinking/cooking water is R/O. But it is there.   I have an idea on what I need to do but want to run it by a pro first...”


Other than the RO system, what treatment do you currently have in place?  There are actually two separate recommendations we could make. 

Clearing Cloudy Water and Sulfur Odor

Hello John,

Thank you for contacting us through our website.  You wrote:“Water is slightly cloudy in a glass. Toilet has light brown staining at water line and light brown sediment in tank.  Sulfur odor mostly in hot water.  Our main concern is the cloudiness of the tap water.”
 
Thank you for submitting that information and your water chemistry.  I’ve looked it over, and the problems appear to be high iron and trace amounts of manganese.  I don’t know if you were looking for any recommendations on treating this water or not, but just in case, I would recommend installing an oxidizing iron filter.

Easy Flow Rate Guide for Sand Separator

Hello Marie,

Thank you for contacting us through our website.  You wrote:

“looking at sand separator for a 3/4" incoming line from well. would like to auto purge 110V. What items are required and cost”

We would recommend a centrifugal system such as the Sandmaster system listed below.  The sand separator works on a the principle of centrifugal force removing over 98% of all 200 mesh sized particles (74 microns) and greater. No moving parts to wear out, no screens, cartridges, cones or filter elements to clean or replace. The separator must be periodically purged, which is best done while the system is in operation and the water is flowing.  I’ve included a link to a common model as well as the automatic purging kit, as requested, so that you don’t need to manually purge the system.
I should point out that the Sandmaster system is sized based on the flow rate of your water, not the pipe size.  Do you know what your flow rate is?  If you are unsure of the flow rate, here are instructions on how to determine flow rate for wells with pressure tanks:

Whole House Filter as Shower Filter

Hello Lumo,

Thank you for contacting us through our website.  You wrote:
  
"I would like to use a whole house filter as a point of use shower filter. I would like to remove the existing shower head and attach a whole house filter which uses activated charcoal to remove chlorine, chloramines, disinfectant by-products, VOCs, etc. This set up will have the shower filter being pressurized only when the shower is in use. I have not found a section of your website which deals with this. Do you have knowledge of whole house filters being used as I have described?”


The problem is really just that whole-house filters tend to be a little too big for such a thing.  The smallest in-line whole-house filters are 2.5” x 9.75” in size, and their housings are bigger and bulkier than that.

UV System for Hot Water Odors: Myth or Fact?

 Hello Rob,

Thank you for contacting us through our website.  You wrote:

“I have a well. Recently I replaced my hot water tank. Shortly afterwards I began to get the rotten egg smell on the hot water side. As I understand it, the anode rod in the tank is reacting with the bacteria in the water. I do not want to remove the sacrificial anode rod and have heard that a UV filter will placed between my water softner and my hot water tank will take care of the odor. I need to know if the investment in this type of filter will be worth it”

We do not believe a UV system would eliminate hot water odors, and we wouldn’t recommend that you go that direction.

For the most part, the odor builds up in a water heater over time with hydrogen sulfide and bacteria, often in conjunction with a decaying anode rod.  Since you don’t want to change out or remove the rod, you may very well need to sanitize and disinfect the whole tank.

If you decide to try to work with the tank you have and just need a way to chemically sanitize it, we offer our Easy Water Heater Odor Killer Kit:

 

Water Softener Backflush Discharge Issues

Gerry,

Mrs. M  is my wife, whom you spoke with last month.

We have questions regarding water softener backflush discharge into the septic. I have heard this creates issues with the biodegradability of the sludge tank. Can you please comment on that.

Is it common practice to run this discharge outdoors to daylight?

How effective would a reverse osmosis system (with prefiltration of iron prior to RO) be for a small household?

Thanks

Hello Mr. & Mrs. M,

Thank you for getting back to me, happy to help here.  In regard to the discharge it is true that if a Softener was to backwash with exorbitant amounts of salts and was to do so frequently that would indeed ruin a septic tank. 

Sediment Backwash Filters: Know Your Valves

Hello Dan,

Thank you for contacting us through our website.  You wrote:

“What is the brand name of the valves used in your whole house sediment backwash filters”


We use two different control valves, depending on the size of system.  So for the smaller residential models (0.75 cubic foot up to 1.5 cubic foot) we use the 5900e valve, and for the larger models, 2.0 cubic foot and up, we use the Fleck 7000-SXT.