Stimpy
New Member
I'm moving into a brand new house with a new well and it looks like I'll need to invest in a softener and some filters. I've done a bit of research but I'm not sure if I'm on the right path. First, here are the results of the water test:
pH=7.87
Arsenic (As) = 0.0014 mg/L
Barium (Ba) = 0.0667 mg/L
Boron (B) = 0.042 mg/L
Calcium (Ca) = 53.2 mg/L
Copper (Cu) = 0.0028 mg/L
Iron (Fe) < 0.10 mg/L
Magnesium (Mg) = 31.6 mg/L
Manganese (Mn) = 0.0198 mg/L
Potassium (K) = 2.83 mg/L
Sodium (Na) = 10.6 mg/L
Uranium (U) = 0.00110 mg/L
Zinc (Zn) < 0.020 mg/L
Total dissolved solids = 291 mg/L
Sulphate (SO4) - Soluble = 15.4 mg/L
Nitrate+Nitrite-N - Soluble < 0.050 mg/L
Hardness (as CaCO3) = 263 mg/L
Conductivity = 448 umhos/cm
Chloride (Cl) - Soluble < 9.0 mg/L
Fluoride (F) - Soluble = pending
Bacteria = 0.0
Since the water is moderately hard, I will need a softener. But the biggest problem that doesn't show up in the test results is the abundance of small orange specs or flakes that are present in the water. There's always a few of them at the bottom of every glass of water and the bottom of my new toilet tank is completely orange after only 5 or 10 flushes. I don't know if these flakes are sediment or if they're ferric iron or something else. There's almost no ferrous iron so it seems odd that there would be so much ferric unless the Fluoride is high. In case it matters, the well is 197 feet deep with a 3/4HP variable speed 15 GPM pump installed at 60 feet. This is also a flowing well so the water kept squirting out all by itself after it was drilled. Once it got capped, the pressure hovered at around 8-10 psi before the pump was installed. I haven't yet done a flow test but I imagine it could supply more than the 15 GPM.
So going through the softener sizing calculations, 263/17.1= 15.4 grains per gallon. Compensating for Iron and Manganese I get 15.8 grains. Right now we have two adults and two kids and our total combined usage is around 130 gallons per day (averaged over 3 years). We are switching to more efficient appliances but the kids are getting older so maybe I'll round up to 150 gallons per day. That's 2373 grains per day. Targeting 8 days between regnerations I get a capacity of 18984 grains. Based on this I could get away with a 1.0 cuft softener but the 9 gpm flow rate seems a bit low. A 1.5 cuft should give me 12 gpm which is probably closer to what the pump can give. I suppose I can always put in a flow restrictor or lower the pump pressure if required. Aquatell has a 45000 grain unit for $689 with free shipping to any province which looks rather tempting.
Now the question is how to get rid of those darn orange flakes before they destroy the softener and before everything becomes orange including my clothes, my dishes, and my hair? I was thinking about starting with a flushable sediment filter, something like a Rusco Sediment Trapper with a 30 micron or 15 micron mesh. Then follow this by a standard 20" X 4.5" polyproylene 5 micron filter. My biggest fear is that too many flakes will go through the mesh and I'll have to replace the polypropylene once a week. I've also looked at a few large tank-based sediment filters but these are in the $500 range and I'm scared of it getting destroyed by the flakes after a month.
Any thoughts or ideas?
pH=7.87
Arsenic (As) = 0.0014 mg/L
Barium (Ba) = 0.0667 mg/L
Boron (B) = 0.042 mg/L
Calcium (Ca) = 53.2 mg/L
Copper (Cu) = 0.0028 mg/L
Iron (Fe) < 0.10 mg/L
Magnesium (Mg) = 31.6 mg/L
Manganese (Mn) = 0.0198 mg/L
Potassium (K) = 2.83 mg/L
Sodium (Na) = 10.6 mg/L
Uranium (U) = 0.00110 mg/L
Zinc (Zn) < 0.020 mg/L
Total dissolved solids = 291 mg/L
Sulphate (SO4) - Soluble = 15.4 mg/L
Nitrate+Nitrite-N - Soluble < 0.050 mg/L
Hardness (as CaCO3) = 263 mg/L
Conductivity = 448 umhos/cm
Chloride (Cl) - Soluble < 9.0 mg/L
Fluoride (F) - Soluble = pending
Bacteria = 0.0
Since the water is moderately hard, I will need a softener. But the biggest problem that doesn't show up in the test results is the abundance of small orange specs or flakes that are present in the water. There's always a few of them at the bottom of every glass of water and the bottom of my new toilet tank is completely orange after only 5 or 10 flushes. I don't know if these flakes are sediment or if they're ferric iron or something else. There's almost no ferrous iron so it seems odd that there would be so much ferric unless the Fluoride is high. In case it matters, the well is 197 feet deep with a 3/4HP variable speed 15 GPM pump installed at 60 feet. This is also a flowing well so the water kept squirting out all by itself after it was drilled. Once it got capped, the pressure hovered at around 8-10 psi before the pump was installed. I haven't yet done a flow test but I imagine it could supply more than the 15 GPM.
So going through the softener sizing calculations, 263/17.1= 15.4 grains per gallon. Compensating for Iron and Manganese I get 15.8 grains. Right now we have two adults and two kids and our total combined usage is around 130 gallons per day (averaged over 3 years). We are switching to more efficient appliances but the kids are getting older so maybe I'll round up to 150 gallons per day. That's 2373 grains per day. Targeting 8 days between regnerations I get a capacity of 18984 grains. Based on this I could get away with a 1.0 cuft softener but the 9 gpm flow rate seems a bit low. A 1.5 cuft should give me 12 gpm which is probably closer to what the pump can give. I suppose I can always put in a flow restrictor or lower the pump pressure if required. Aquatell has a 45000 grain unit for $689 with free shipping to any province which looks rather tempting.
Now the question is how to get rid of those darn orange flakes before they destroy the softener and before everything becomes orange including my clothes, my dishes, and my hair? I was thinking about starting with a flushable sediment filter, something like a Rusco Sediment Trapper with a 30 micron or 15 micron mesh. Then follow this by a standard 20" X 4.5" polyproylene 5 micron filter. My biggest fear is that too many flakes will go through the mesh and I'll have to replace the polypropylene once a week. I've also looked at a few large tank-based sediment filters but these are in the $500 range and I'm scared of it getting destroyed by the flakes after a month.
Any thoughts or ideas?