Septic system/whole hse iron filter ??

**sha424** · 03-23-2007, 06:02 AM

Don't know if I am in the right forum or not, but here goes!!

I am finally getting aroung to put a water filtration system in my house. Per my previous article some months ago in the well forum, I stated that I change my whole house filter every 5-7 days. Well this is getting old after 20 odd yrs. ANyway water ph is 6.5 hardness is a 2 and iron is a 5.8!! Needless to say the iron is the problem(orange water) so the ?? is that the 2 systems I am looking at (1 is a kinetico and the other is a aif) require that they backwash once a week of approx 140 gallons into my septic.

I have a 900 gal septic system and was wondering if the system can handle that. The 2 outfits that I had at my house told me they didn't know but it should if its in good shape. Well to me that is not a good answer but they were upfront about it. I don't want to purchase a filtering system for the house if its going to ruin my septic. For the 4200 they want to put the system in vs the $5 a week I am spending on filters won't be worth it to me if I have to replace my septic becasue of this.

As usual thanks in advance for your replies.

bill g

**Gary Slusser** · 03-23-2007, 07:07 AM

That 5.8 ppm of iron isn't going to be removed by sediment cartridges, unless the iron is ferric iron. For it to be ferric iron, your water would be very dirty, to the point you'd have trouble seeing sunlight through a glass of it.

So how current is the 5.8 ppm of iron?

Something you are missing about the septic system, this water will go into the tank at a flow controlled rate. The gpm depends on what type equipment you install. The size of that equipment is based on the peak demand of the water use for your family.

There are a number of choices for iron removal. So.... if you had additional people move in, would you think their water use on a daily basis would cause harm to your septice system? If you did an extra load of laundry, would you think that would harm the septic? If yes to either, then you need a new septic system.

Residential water treatment equipment isn't going to harm a septic system that is good shape anymore than the above examples would.

Kinetico is very expensive and I've never herad of aif. So what control valve and media are both wanting to sell you? And if you're handy rather than handsome, you should want to buy over the internet and install the equipment yourself and save the rest of the money you'd pay those guys.

**sha424** · 03-23-2007, 07:36 AM

Yes they said its ferric iron. If I would to pour a glass of water directly out of the tank before the filter, it would be very cloudy with a red tinge to it, hence the whole house filter which does work but only for 5 or so days before it needs changed due to clogging. As to your meaning of "current" I am guessing you mean how often it is, well its constant.

The AIF filter (here is quote from the suppliers website) The AIF Iron Filtration system is a chemical free process to effectively manage Iron and sulfur in well water systems. Air induction provides a source of oxygen that fuels oxidation and enhances the media’s ability to filter the water.

So I am assuming its the brand name of AIF. That is supposedly a green sand filtration system. The Kinetico is combination of resin,gravel, some type of marble rock and then some "mixture" he called berm to remove the iron in a 2100f system, saying that this system does not need a pre-filter which I do not want cause it will most likely clog like my whole hse system. He said because of this combo that I would need a water softener along with the iron filter.

As for type of control valve, well that I did not ask and I dont remember either of them telling me what it was.

As for usage of septic system, well I had 4 kids living there, now I am down to 1 and of course my wife for a total of 3 people in home vs the 6 as they were growing up. So basically my septic load is a lot less than it ever was and I never had any trouble with the septic. FWIW I usually get the septic cleaned every 2 yrs as that is a local township ordinance.

As to being handy vs handsome, well, all little of both(at least in my wifes eyes!!!!) anyway, I have no problem tackling plumbing, used to be a bricklayer in my previous life before back went out. So now I sit at a desk.

So any recomendations on what to look for over the internet, I have to go with the above numbers that the 2 dealers gave me for the water samples and both were very close in the readings. Example is one dealer got a 5.8 for iron vs a 5.6 and 2 vs 3 for the hardness, PH was 6.5 vs 6.6

Thanks
bill g