Calcium buildup in water heater

[Gary Slusser]

Or call me.

You're welcome.

[Elliott]

Update:

The company that installed this iron filter removed it and gave me a refund. It's been several months since it was removed. No more noisy water heater or calcium buildup in the screens.

Now I am getting reddish brown sediment in the toilet tanks and toilet bowls. The wife is starting to complain about it being hard to clean this stuff off. When I had the water tested several months ago by a local certified water lab there was no iron detected. I bought an iron strip test kit and have been monitoring the water but haven't had a single positive test result. Is it possible there is a small amount present that doesn't register with the test kit but is enough to show up in the water that sits in the toilets?

How do I figure out what kind of iron this is so I can get the appropriate filter?

Steve

[Gary Slusser]

Update:

The company that installed this iron filter removed it and gave me a refund. It's been several months since it was removed. No more noisy water heater or calcium buildup in the screens.

Now I am getting reddish brown sediment in the toilet tanks and toilet bowls.

How do I figure out what kind of iron this is so I can get the appropriate filter?

Steve

It's very odd that removing an "iron filter" would cause the little steam explosions in hardness scale in a gas or oil fired water heater stop. But then if the scale was getting softer, by being dissolved by a water softener's soft water, that isn't softening the water now, that may explain it.

Reddish brown is always ferric iron which is oxidized ferrous iron.

So you were going to get a water analysis, if you haven't, do so and see what the iron content is with a test other than the dip strip type test.

[Elliott]

It's an electric water heater. The filter they installed had some calcite media in it which raised the hardness. I have no idea why they decided to use that. I've had 3 water lab test over the last 18 months. None of them have shown any iron present.

[Gary Slusser]

That would only add hardness IF the pH was low causing acidic water.

[Elliott]

The good news is that problem wnt away when they removed the filter. Now I just need a remedy for the iron.

[Gary Slusser]

To me, although I haven't read the whole thread over again, it seems that removing the AN filter treated the symptom rather than the cause, and now you get to deal with acidic water IF the AN filter was needed; and an AN filter is not an iron filter.

What iron, you haven't measured any yet. If you have a softener, it should be removing the little iron it seems you may have. If you have one, it isn't working. That will allow more hard water scale formation in the water heater and that seriously increases the cost to heat water and replace elements.

[Elliott]

I know the history of this is hard to follow... I don't have a water softener, never did.

Here's a summary:

When I built this house and had the well pump and pressure tank installed the well contractor performed a field test of the water. He said I had iron in the water that needed to be treated and recommended a filter specifically to remove the iron. A month or so after moving in is when I started having all sorts of problems with sizzling noises and scale forming in the water heater and ending up in the house totally clogging all the fixtures.

At that point the well contractor was dumbfounded. I took water samples and sent them into the lab. No iron was found. I called the well contrator wanted to know why he installed this filter when there was no iron present. He claimed his field test showed there was iron but after showing him the water lab test results he agreed to remove the filter and hive me a refund.

Right after removing the filter the water heater quit making the sizzling noises and no more scale was showing up in the fixture screens. I don't understand why but that filter is definitely what was causing the scale problem. Hard water is not that common in my area.

What I am confused about is why the water tested negative for iron but it is showing up in the toilets. Is it possible that the amount present is below measurable limits or they were testing for the wrong kind of iron?

Should I have the water tested again? I have strip tests for iron, hardness, and PH.