Need advice on ANS and softener

[Rocco T]

I started seeing signs of blue corrosion around some of the copper water line fittings and had a well water test done. I've been in the house for over 30 years with only a sediment filter, no smells, staining or other visible problems in the sinks/toilets other than you can see the water line in the toilet tanks. The blue corrosion is a relatively recent observation, and the guy on one of the adjacent properties has run an ANS for years while others near by have not needed them. I told the testing lab what I was seeing and they suggested and ran the following:

Calcium as Ca 93 mg/L
Calcium as CaCO3 232 mg/L
Magnesium as Mg 19 mg/L
Magnesium as CaCO3 77 mg/L
Total as CaCO3 309 mg/L

Langelier Index -1.90
Alkalinity Total 50 mg/L
pH 6.1
TDS 700 mg/L

I was a little surprised at the hardness level, but maybe I'm just used to it.

Two people in the house, two bathrooms, occasional guests for a couple of days. From what I've been reading on this forum and other places I believe I should be looking at a 1.5 cubic foot backwash calcite filter along with a softener with a 48K grain capacity. I'm thinking I should retain the sediment filter before the calcite filter and install a 2nd one between the calcite filter and the softener. Undecided on a RO filter for the kitchen sink.

Does that sound right?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Reach4]

Maybe put the second cartridge filter after the softener.

You might want water after the calcite tank as drinking water -- your own mineral water.

Softener size sounds right. Try to run plastic pipe before the calcite tank.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Bannerman]

Suggest posting the entire lab test report. Other elements in the water such as iron and manganese will consume softener capacity, and calcite used in most acid neutralizers, will add further hardness to the water which the softener will also need to remove.

 

[ditttohead]

If you have been happy with your water and lack of scaling then you may want to consider a different treatment method. Your LSI is low which is indicated by the copper staining. The low LSI/pH can also reduce scaling to almost nothing as you likely already know through experience. A better solution for you may be to simply inject polyphosphate. It is simple, cheap and easy to maintain. It will not raise your pH but you cost per gallon of water treated will be less than a couple hundred bucks for every 100,000 gallons treated.

 

[Rocco T]

If you have been happy with your water and lack of scaling then you may want to consider a different treatment method. Your LSI is low which is indicated by the copper staining. The low LSI/pH can also reduce scaling to almost nothing as you likely already know through experience. A better solution for you may be to simply inject polyphosphate. It is simple, cheap and easy to maintain. It will not raise your pH but you cost per gallon of water treated will be less than a couple hundred bucks for every 100,000 gallons treated.

I appreciate your response, and I'm hoping you can elaborate a bit. Are you talking about a reloadable or replaceable filter or a full chemical injection system? I'm not at all familiar with polyphosphate, so I poked around on the web a bit and found both in line whole house filters and a liquid injector system. One of the filter vendors is claiming his filter works as a salt free softener, while others claim corrosion reduction. If you could point me towards a proper write up on what these can or can't do it would be great.

 

[Rocco T]

Suggest posting the entire lab test report. Other elements in the water such as iron and manganese will consume softener capacity, and calcite used in most acid neutralizers, will add further hardness to the water which the softener will also need to remove.

Unfortunately what I posted is what the lab provided, not nearly as detailed as some seen on this site. I learned that adding the calcite will jack up the hardness, estimates vary depending on the data source.

Maybe put the second cartridge filter after the softener.

You might want water after the calcite tank as drinking water -- your own mineral water.

Response is greatly appreciated, plastic is already in place as are bypassed outside faucets.
Softener size sounds right. Try to run plastic pipe before the calcite tank.

 

[ditttohead]

Liquid injection... ignore 90% of what you read online about water treatment, so much of it is awful and fake. Send me an email and I can send you over the information, it is fairly simple, inexpensive and relatively affective. allan@impactwaterproducts.com

 

[Water Pro]

a sediment filter prior to any equipment is usually recommended when on a well to protect equipment from potential damage (ie. sediment). The blue staining is corrosion of copper pipes from the acidic water. I suggest you get a calcite backwashing filter then a softener, but wait a month or two to put the softener in service. the hardness added by the calcite will build scale on your copper, essentially coating over the corrosion and repairing any potential pinhole leaks.

 

[ditttohead]

a sediment filter prior to any equipment is usually recommended when on a well to protect equipment from potential damage (ie. sediment). The blue staining is corrosion of copper pipes from the acidic water. I suggest you get a calcite backwashing filter then a softener, but wait a month or two to put the softener in service. the hardness added by the calcite will build scale on your copper, essentially coating over the corrosion and repairing any potential pinhole leaks.

Check out this sediment filter... most of our dealers install these on every well system so they can monitor the well, in case it starts sucking mud or sand...

When you have low pH and low hardness, many companies prefer to do simple polyphosphate injection. Why add hardness, then have to soften the water. if you already have hardness levels high enough to need a softener, then certainly a calcite filter can be a good solution. A small amount of hardness and polyphosphate can provide excellent water quality while coating the pipes with a protective layer. Cost per gallon treated is far lower than softening/calcite methods.