Our system uses a bromine and chlorine compound which is in tablet form. The water runs over the tablets and erodes 1 to 3 parts per million which is deposited into the well to kill the bacteria in the well. One to three parts per million will not oxidize the minerals in solution. The pipes you see clogged on our website came out of our well house 6 years ago. We have never had another pump failure, and the water is pristine.
The level of chemical in the well is controlled by the amount of time the system operates. For example, a 6" well with a 35' static level and a total depth of 150' and a pump which pumps 10 gallons of water per minute would be treated 1.7 to 3.4 minutes once per 12 hours. That is the amount of time it will take to impart 1 to 3 parts per million of the chemical into the well. This is checked empirically using a colorimetric test kit we provide with the unit. A 45 to 60 minute idle period is needed to give the drinking water treatment chemical to kill the bacteria in the well. This chemical kills all bacteria which do not have a spore in their life cycle, for example, cryptosporidium. To achieve the idle time, the system is normally set to run in the early hours like 2 am and then at 2 pm to operate after lunch or before children return from school or adults return from work. When I am home doing lots of laundry, I notice no impact from my water HaloVac system. I do what I wish when I wish and if the well has no idle time today it will tomorrow or tonight. No problem. Conversely, should you plan to be away for more than a day, turn the system off during this time to prevent over-treatment. This is a disinfection process as we are killing bacteria. Any disinfection process produces disinfection by-products some of which are thought to be carcinogenic at 80 ppb over a period of 70 years of exposure. This is true for the municipal water we all drink which must by law be disinfected. You may use activated carbon filtration to remove these compounds.
