Kinnetico Softener Questions - Tannin, Etc.

[srssrs]

Hello,

Recently inherited a Kinetico 60 system from a neighbor who switched from well water to city water. It sat idle for a number of years before I got it. I've disassembled & reassembled the head successfully. I had to purchase a new sight glass and a new brine well valve.

My well water has 3 ppm iron, 7.5 ph, 14 gpg hardness, 500 ppm tds and contains tannin as well as a rotten egg smell. I am located in S.Florida and there are 2 adults in the household.

I cleaned my resin bed with Pro Res Care prior to putting in service and will be using a drip feeder to add the cleaner to the brine tank.

I have had it in service for about 2 weeks and it is doing a good job of softening & removing iron (using iron-out salt). I am using a carbon backwashing filter after the softener before entering my home. I have also installed a sediment filter just after my pump.

I am getting a slight odor in my water that smells like tar when I first turn on a faucet. It seems to dissipate somewhat after running for awhile.

Prior to instaliing the K unit I was using a standard 1 cu. ft. softener that is perhaps 10-20 years old with probably the original resins. After 5 years of use I noticed that I was getting iron staining in fixtures as well as a rotten egg smell even after replacing my filter carbon. I should tell you I was not using Tan-X or any other type of cleaner to maintain my resin. I am assuming after doing much reading on this forum, that my resin bed had become iron fouled.

Since removing the old softener & replacing it with the K-60 the rotten egg smell is entirely gone, no fixture staining and much softer water.

I have been considering adding a Filox filter or a chlorine system to oxidize the iron prior to softening but when I asked my local Kinnetico dealer yesterday, he told me that my K-60 would do a good job of removing my iron as long as I continued using the iron-out salt and added 1 lb. of Tan-X for each 40# of salt added. He said as long as I did that I should not have any problems with my bed fouling and that my unit was designed to remove my 3 ppm iron.

I am retired and on a budget so of course if I do not have to purchase another filter or system to remove iron I would like not to. But water quality to keep my wife happy is extremely important and I don't want to foul my resin bed again.

Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated. Do you think the tar odor I am getting could be a residue from the previous owner (they also had tannin in their water)? Any thoughts on this as well? Sorry for the long post.

Steve

[srssrs]

Tan-X is a product commonly sold & used in FL. by Aqua Products International, Royal Palm Beach, FL. A white granular water softener cleaner product for removal of tannin, lime, iron & calcium deposits.

Yes, I think there may have been a black residue in the inner pvc surface of the pipes. I also have copper tubing in my home. Is there a treatment I can do to clean my plumbing throughout my home?

No freezing - I have a #3 disc.

What system is necessary to use hydrogen peroxide? I did notice they sold that at my local Kinetico dealer?

I also have a large Fiberglass tank aprox. 12"x55" with a distribution tube that I am not using - aprox. what might the volume be?

[srssrs]

OK - Thanks.

Regarding a #3 vs. a #4 disc. Are you saying that a #3 uses more salt than a #4 or that more brine is used during a regeneration cycle with a #3? Therefore, later when my system is stabilized, I may want to go to a #4 to save on salt costs. So do you normally base the disc # on the iron content or hardness of the raw well water?

Aprox. what would be the initial cost of a peroxide system as well as ongoing supply costs?

What are your thoughts on a backwashing Filox filter for my situation? That has also been suggested to me for iron & sulpher smell.

[srssrs]

How do you adjust salt in the brine drum? By adjusting the water level?


So then I would have a compensated hardness of 23 (14gpg + 3 x 3 ppm iron) - correct? That would require a #4 disc instead of #3?


What are your thoughts on a Filox? Thank you again........

[srssrs]

Can anyone answer my last post? Thank you........

[Gary Slusser]

How do you adjust salt in the brine drum? By adjusting the water level?

So then I would have a compensated hardness of 23 (14gpg + 3 x 3 ppm iron) - correct? That would require a #4 disc instead of #3?

What are your thoughts on a Filox? Thank you again........

Kinetico uses a float setting to adjust the salt dose, which adjusts the volume of water in the salt tank. So if you bought a new brine pickup including a float, it has to be set for the number of lbs of salt.

You should never install a filter, or anything else that can block up, between a pump and its pressure switch.

That would be 14 + (3*3=9)= 23 but I use 4 gpg per ppm of iron and some use 5.

I've never used Filox but, bacteria loves to live and thrives in carbon/charcoal.