Dirty water after backwash

I am brand-new to this forum.
My problem is that after my water softener regenerates/backwashes my water is dirty for a couple of hours. All my valves (see below) are Fleck 5600 and they all seem to manually cycle correctly. My softener is using salt and is backwashing appropriately and seems to be softening okay as well. There are two people total in the house. It has been suggested to me that the problem may be that I had my carbon filter backwashing too frequently. I shifted from every three days to every six. It seems to have helped some. I’m wondering if I could just get a new valve with an adjustable backwash setting, such as the Fleck 5600se or 6600, and that an increase in backwash duration might fix the problem. I’ve bought parts here and there over the past three years and have relied on what I could learn on the internet. Thanks so much for any advice. JJ

My water conditions three years ago were:
Hardness as CaCO3 100 mg/l
Iron 1.7 mg/l
pH 6.4

In May 2007 my water tested as:
Hardness as CaCO3 150 mg/l
Iron 11 mg/l
pH 6.3

And post filtering in May 2007:
Hardness as CaCO3 <1 mg/l
Iron <.007 mg/l
pH 6.8

My system is, in this order:
A Stenner chlorine injector with two 40 gallon retention tanks.
A 10x47†tank with about 1.0 cubic foot of calcite (bw every four days).
A 10x47†tank with a cubic foot of Centaur Carbon which I replace every year (bw every 6 days).
A 10x47†tank with 1.5 cubic feet of standard water softening resin (bw every three days).

Your iron content has increased substantially. If you haven't set up the equipment for that amount, none of it will work correctly.

You shouldn't have to replace Centaur but every 3-5 years or longer.

The size of your filters and the softener is small for your iron content.
Get a new water analysis see what the iron, pH and hardness is now. Also get a manganese test.

Polyglass tanks for a 1.5' are 10 x 54, 1' is 9 x 48. You have odd sized tanks or the wrong cuft. And if you only have 1' of Centuar, it's too small for what what you want it to do. You also have less retention time than I'd use.

Backwash duration increase?

Hey Gary,

Thanks for your excellent advice. I do understand that if my equipment is not setup to handle the water quality I am experiencing that it will not work. It sounds as if you are suggesting that rather than deal with individual symptoms I should retest my water first. That’s a good suggestion, I’ll do that.

I have a nice dry well lit crawlspace where my equipment is. Unfortunately, the head space is limited. I *might* be able to use a 12x48 inch tank. I also realize that it’d be nice to have at least 120 gallons of retention tank, but I’m forced to buy multiple smaller tanks rather than a large one.

For now, I’m guessing that my water quality conditions are the same as they were three months ago and my system has been working great as evidenced by my post processed water testing three months ago so I’m wondering if increasing the backwash on my water softener might be the way to go.

JJ

A water test will tell you if the iron is fluctuating or remaining high.

I've had customers with crawl spaces to dig holes for taller (properly sized) equipment.... wider shorter tanks is not good. It reduces the bed depth which reduces the capability of the equipment requiring a lower max peak demand gpm or you over run the stuff and it can't work.

I have a special inline pellet chlorinator, 12 x 65" mixing tank equivalent to a 129 gal retention tank and it has a bottom drain to clean it out once a month, followed by a Centaur carbon filter. The system works every time and can be installed in as little as 4.5' of wall space. Depending on the size of the filter, about $1500 delivered.

Mix a cup of Iron Out in a gallon+ of warm water and pour it into the salt tank but not down through the salt if possible. Then add another couple gals of water and wait two hours and do a manual regeneration. You can get IO at hardware and grocery stores in the cleaning section. It will clean the resin of rust and iron.

Increasing the backwash on a regular softener can make things worse.

Thanks Gary! I guess I do need to know whether my iron levels are fluctuating. Your comment about a wider tank not being the solution makes sense. It didn’t occur to me that bed depth would be critical. I am interested in the pellet chlorinator. Also, thanks for the advice on the Iron Out. I am most interested in understanding how increasing the backwash of my softener could be a bad thing. After backwash/regeneration I have dirty water for a couple of hours and then seem to have excellent water for days. Seems like more backwash would be a good thing. Thanks, JJ

Gary Slusser said:

A water test will tell you if the iron is fluctuating or remaining high.

I've had customers with crawl spaces to dig holes for taller (properly sized) equipment.... wider shorter tanks is not good. It reduces the bed depth which reduces the capability of the equipment requiring a lower max peak demand gpm or you over run the stuff and it can't work.

I have a special inline pellet chlorinator, 12 x 65" mixing tank equivalent to a 129 gal retention tank and it has a bottom drain to clean it out once a month, followed by a Centaur carbon filter. The system works every time and can be installed in as little as 4.5' of wall space. Depending on the size of the filter, about $1500 delivered.

Mix a cup of Iron Out in a gallon+ of warm water and pour it into the salt tank but not down through the salt if possible. Then add another couple gals of water and wait two hours and do a manual regeneration. You can get IO at hardware and grocery stores in the cleaning section. It will clean the resin of rust and iron.

Increasing the backwash on a regular softener can make things worse.

Click to expand...

Dirty water means insufficient backwash OR final rinse.

Or the water from the well is so dirty it overpowers the filter until a layer of dirt on top the mineral gives it better filtering ability. The rinse may be insufficient.

So how long is it backwashed now?

What mineral are you using in the filter?

How old is it?

How frequently is it backwashed?

How long is the rinse?

What pressure range is the pump operated at?

Hi Gary,
Thanks for your kind reply. I have a calcite (1cu ft.), a centaur carbon (1 cu ft.), and about 1.5 cu ft. of water softening resin. It’s my water softener that runs dirty the morning after it backwashes/regenerates. But it only runs dirty for about 20 gallons at most. I currently backwash my softener every three days. My resin (standard not fine mesh) is a few months old and the rinse and backwash are standard duration for a Fleck 5600. I cleaned my salt reservoir and utilized some Pro Rust Out this afternoon. I imagine I’ll buy an adjustable valve and work with the settings to see what impact that has. I'm operating at 35-55 psi. I have not even considered pressure as a variable! How does it impact filter/softener functioning? Thanks again, JJ

Set each filter so they backwash at different times and are done before 2:00 AM when the softener regenerates. That would be 1:00, 1:30 and 2:00 AM for he softener.