For those with bad water

[LoopSki]

Not your lake but to your house. Just checking if anyone knows of any low cost DIY water treatment. we're extremely hard water but the real problem is the amount of iron. house came with a water softener and some iron tanks. system was about 10 years old wasn't functioning properly .so I had some companies come out and bid me to replace a system with something better. bids from anywhere from $4500- $9,000 . settled on a system from Culligan. they insisted that their new water softening system was enough to handle the iron without adding iron tanks. I was very skeptical and after about 7 months I have been right. they've been out about six times to maintain it and clean it out. this last trip out they ended up taking the system out of the home because it was unrepairable at the home. the iron causes stained laundry, ruins fixtures and low water pressure. tell him I don't want it put back in without adding the iron removal tanks. but I can't get an answer from him I can't get a price I don't know why it's so hard to get anything from this company. so now I'm just checking to see if there's anything else out there that I can just buy and install myself that won't break the bank.

[oldjeep]

My folks house is on a sandpoint and has extremely rusty water. They run a dual sediment filter right off the well output (2 big cheap paper filters that get replaced monthly) and then an ecowater iron filter and a standard salt type (Kenmore) water softener is all they run. Haven't touched anything but the paper filters in years. (and adding salt as needed)

[MISkier]

I am having some new water treatment products installed on Monday. I am getting a new softener (mine was 20-25 years old), a new whole house filter, and the Iron Breaker filter system. My water did not test high for Iron, but I am doing it anyway (it also gets rid of sulphur).

 

All products are from this manufacturer:

 

http://www.chargerwater.com/

 

 

[Rednucleus]

I read this title thinking rough ski conditions!

[MISkier]

By the way, rust stains and other water problems can be caused or exacerbated by your water heater, if the sacrificial anode is not regularly replaced. Furthermore, rust buildup in the tank can reduce the efficiency and effectiveness of the heater itself.

[LoopSki]

just replaced water heatee

[oldjeep]

If the rust is getting to your water heater, that in itself is an issue. The goal would be clean water pre water heater. Dip tubes in most modern water heaters are plastic. There is no separate anode on my 21 year old water heater

[h2onhk]

@LoopSki when we moved into our house it had a well system as the source for water with similar issues. Hard water and lots of iron. The house had a BIRM filtration system right downstream of the expansion tank to remove the iron and then and old water softener right after the BIRM to soften. Our BIRM system consists of 3 tanks. The first tank injects atomized compressed air into the tank while water is being introduced. The first tank should never be more than half full of water to allow sufficient oxygen water blending. This is key before the water travels to the next tank where the filter media is present. The water containing iron flows through the media, if there is enough oxygen in the water, the Birm causes the iron to form rust, or solid iron particles. After these rust particles get trapped in the filter media, once or twice a week they are automatically backwashed out to drain, and the filter media is ready to filter again. Depending on your iron levels you can set the backwash to run as frequently as necessary. Ours runs every other day. The 3rd tank basically has a float valve/vent on the top that allows any remaining oxygen to escape so your faucets don't sputter with air.

 

I'll be honest, it took me a long time to get it all figured out and at one point I had Culligan come out and quote a replacement system just as you did. $5k was more than I wanted to spend. Once I got the system figured out and balanced. I only had to replace the media 1 time in the BIRM filter tank and that was only about $200 ~ 5 years ago. As long as the backwash runs when its supposed to, the iron is removed and the media stays fresh. We did install a new waterboss softener with Iron control about 3 years ago. We always use the Morton Rust removed salt pellets. That helped with the water hardness.

 

If our system ever fails, we know it within a day as the water starts to develop a very metallic smell to it. I'm sure newer systems may be more compact and have more technology but what we have works well once setup properly. Hope this helps.

[Jetsetr]

My Iron Curtain system is the same as above...works awesome. Around 3K installed. No issues in 8 years. Had super hard water with iron that tasted horrible. Noticed a difference in taste after only a few hours, excellent taste after 24hrs.

[Orlando76]

I have incredibly high iron. When we bought our house 6 years ago there was evidence of an old filter system but all removed and bypassed. I did my homework. Water test at 17 ppm for iron when high is considered 3.5 to 9 IIRC.

 

Water softeners do nothing for iron if it’s above 3. Period. Softeners treat hard water, different issues. Period. Even the “pros” don’t understand this.

 

Chlorine is a good system for treating iron but above 12 you have to make special considerations. I opted for chlorine system due to availability.

 

Hydrogen Peroxide is the best system for treating iron over 12ppm. This system I should’ve and wished I went with. It’s basically no different than chlorine system just different brine and possibly different carbon tank. I too was getting quotes like you and I was well aware of the large profit to be made with filter and the “softener scams”. I got out for about $2500 which included highering a plumber to plumb the system even though I bought and pieced the system together.

 

Again, research you issues. Have your water tested with the county or whoever to verify your issues and go from there. I have very little love for these “filter” companies.

[dvskier]

I agree with Orlando76 and would add the following. I owned a cabin on Lake Lanier at the tail end of the Blue Ridge mountains. There was a lot of iron in my well and the previous owner had installed a reverse osmosis filtering system. It did an ok job but I wanted a better tasting water. Went to Home Depot and bought an under sink system for about $150-$200 ( this was in the late 90's). Unbelievable tasting water. It was the best tasting water I've ever had. The neighbors dogs would walk over and drink our water because the water at their house a funky.

 

In discussing the water filtration with the water filter company they told me that their biggest customers were the chicken farms because the chicken farmers had figured out that clean water for their birds had caused the production to increase. So it made sense to them. Therefore if you have any poultry farms around see what they use for purification. Another perspective. I also had my water tested annually by the county to make sure it was good.

[Skoot1123]

Water-right water softener hands down. I too have very hard water from our well and this softener takes everything out. I’ll have to check our model but it is awesome.

[Cnewbert]

We have a lot of iron in our water from rust in our well casing. When we built our pool I had a filter installed at the well so we wouldn't fill the pool with brown/rust colored water. The filters are plastic cylinders with nylon mesh. The are reusable and you can select from a range of mesh fineness. I just soak the dirty filter in phosphoric acid and it comes out clean of rust stains and just like new.