Need advice on Iron problem

Hello everyone,

I"m new and know very little about wells and such so please bear with me.
I have a new property with and a new 120 ft well (free flowing). I suspected high iron so decided to have it tested.

I took samples to the city health dept and they are going to check for pathagens , bacteria and metals ect.

I took another sample to a water softner dealer, who to me sounds honest and tested my water for iron ph and softness. he said I have soft water, a ph of 8.0 and iron level of .09 ppm.

he told me staining from iron starts at .03 ppm. He also told me that a water softner would not likely work for me because of the soft water, something to do the calcium being low already and becuase of that the iron that I do have may slip right through the softner.

Beats me, he was talking about positve and negative charged ions. he recommended a greensand filter, but the regen and backwash was 250 gallons, which for us could be a problem we are on a septic tank, 2000 gallons.

he also mentioned a chemical free iron filter, has 50 gal backwash rate but requires ome sort of air induction pump? to the tune of about $800.00, on top of the filter. He sells Hydrotech by the way.

Does any of this make sense? or is this guy playing me.

Regards

I agree with most of what he says, or your interpretation of it but not everything.

Have received the other test results yet? If so what are they?

How much hardness did he say was in the water?

Do you want to be a DIYer or dependent on a local dealer?

Thank-You Gary,

I don't have the health dept results back yet. I would be interested in DIY. As far as the hardness of the water goes, the guy did a softness test by adding the water to a chemical and said if it turns blue its soft and if it turns pink or red (can't remember which) its hard.

Well it turned purple and he added just a smidge of something then it turned blue. I don't have a number. But he said it was on the soft side.

I am waiting for the health dept results and will post those results.

Thank-You

That is an accurate test. If the water is hard, the chemical he added turns the water pink/purple. Then one drop of clear liquid from his dropper = one grain per gallon of hardness until the water turns blue.

I have sold a fair number of air pump systems. They can be expensive to repair if needed.

A Birm iron filter with a Clack WS-1 control valve would be less expensive than their prices for their air pump system.

Thanks again Gary & Andy. Its all very interesting and confusing. I am going to wait for the official results then post them. I too thought 250 gallons for backwash was very high.

Thanks again

Andy CWS said:

If the hardness is null or not an issue and you want to take out iron only, then a chemical-free system can have advantages. An aeration system is a good idea. Again, at your low iron level, an air compressor is not needed. A passive air venturi can be used with a gas-off tank and a timered backwashing filter will be all it takes to manage your iron.
http://pwptx.com/aermax.htm

Andy Christensen, CWS-II

Click to expand...

Andy, The link you included is for an air compressor injection system. Do you have a lik for the passive air venturi/gas-off tank you mention?

Air compressor type is called an air pump system, there is no air injector.

A "passive" air injection system is a venturi that is installed in the water line and it allows air to be sucked into the water as water goes through it.

The problem with that type of treatment is that the oxidation of iron usually causes a serious build up of rust in the water line from the venturi into the vent tank. That build up seriously reduces flow through the pipe and that starves any backwashed 'turbidity' filter for water which eventually causes the filter/mineral to fail.

Another problem is that guys install the venturi before the pressure tank and use the tank for retention, which is a bad idea; you need a vent tank to get rid of 'excess' air, which you will always have if you set the system up correctly. Otherwise without sufficient air, you don't get all the iron/H2S etc. to oxidize.

Another problem is that guys install the venturi before the pressure tank and use the tank for retention, which is a bad idea; you need a vent tank to get rid of 'excess' air, which you will always have if you set the system up correctly. Otherwise without sufficient air, you don't get all the iron/H2S etc. to oxidize.

Gary....
realized this has been written sometime ago....but

My installation is done that way and as stated I have to clean the Tee at least once a year and have always kind
of disagreed with this also. Can the venturi be installed elsewhere??????
I also have the vent tank installed in my setup....Thx