Please help me choose a softener for a well with iron

[scooby074]

Hey.......We are not going for a Chevy, Ford or Dodge..........We are going for the Toyota.....They give you a ride for your life. LOL

Oh what a feeling!!!

Back on topic, is they're any issue in chlorinating well on a softener? On another forum i was told that you cant chlorinate a well on a softener without wrecking the bed? if you intend on chlorinating then you need to use a special resin thats $$$

[Akpsdvan]

If one is on city water with chlorine, one can use a softener straight up, but after a number of years say 10 the resin bed will compat in on its self.. chlorine will do that to the bed.
If there is iron in the water and one puts chlorine in , the chlorine will change the iron and that changed iron will pass through the softener.
If one uses chlorine, then one is going to need to use a media that can handle the changed iron and chlorine.. say a pummis type bed that can take out the oxidized iron, or use a tank to let that settle to the bottom of the tank.. then carbon to pull out the chlorine and what ever it makes.. some 600 items if there are organics in the water..

Why is it again that you would need to use Chlorine?

[Skip Wolverton]

Chlorine will take it's toll on any resin. It depends on how strong the chlorine is and the amount of water used on how long the resin lasts. You can remove the iron with a softener, but you must keep the resin clean with iron out which, over time, the resin will need replacing.

[scooby074]

i wasnt planning on needing to chlorinate, but it was discussed on another forum where a person mentioned iron bacteria and the need to chlorinate to kill the bacteria and remove any smells (sulphur?)He had to get special resin to tolerate this chlorination using bleach.

I was just asking due to my father needing to put bleach in his well every couple months when the smell gets bad. I wanted to know if i face the same things, will it damage my softener.

My water at this time, has no real smell. The only time i got any smell was once, when the water wasnt ran for several days. I havent smelld anything since.

So occasional (4-6 times/year?) chlorination with bleach wont hurt the resin too bad? I understand it may be taking a little life out of it, but it wont destroy it?

[Akpsdvan]

Different wells do different things, even wells that are 100 yards apart can be like night and day.

If you don't need the chlorine why go there?

There are a number around here that might use chlorine in their wells every 3 years....

If you leave the softener on line when you use chlorine in the well yes you are going to be doing a number on that softener... iron fouling, shorting the life of the resin and in general making a mess with in the softener...

I like to take things one step at a time when doing equipment,, if one does not need it why put it in ?

When you got the smell was it more metal iron smell ? or the egg?

I would wager that it was the iron metal smell....

[scooby074]

I cant say exactly if it was a "metal iron smell" but it definately wasnt "eggy" like my fathers when it goes bad. It was much fainter, barely detectable. It only lasted for a few seconds as the water was being poured into a bucket, and only if you had your nose right in it.

I dont intend on chlorinating unless absolutely necessary,. I will be sure to get a bypass with any softener i get. This was just more for my curiosity
I do know that wells can change, Dad used to have the best water, then a new, large house moved in next door and the water went eggy almost immeadately.

Weird how that happens?

[Akpsdvan]

Not really strange how it happens, more water getting pulled out changes the amount in the ground, the flow... have seen it around here, then there are the earth quakes that can change the water quality or flow... then there is the amount of rain or snow that can change what happens to the flow , quality of the water..

[Skip Wolverton]

I was just asking due to my father needing to put bleach in his well every couple months when the smell gets bad. I wanted to know if i face the same things, will it damage my softener.

I DO NOT recommend pouring chlorine down the well. I have heard customers say things like, "Had to replace the pump because it shorted". One said his pump "broke off" the pipe.

[scooby074]

Thanks to all those that helped.

I ended up going with a Clack WS1 from Aquatell.
After conferencing with the guy in sales, i upsized to a 2Cuft model. This was only around $60 so i figured it worth it.

The guy i talked to said they're would be savings from buying the larger unit and downgrading the unit's capacity. he said id save on salt by being able to have less regens per week and not having to use 100% of the capacity.

It was explained that the closer you get to max capacity, the harder the machine has to work (more salt). Made sense, plus the upgrade was cheap,

He also suggested against the Turb. But recommended the Fine Mesh resin. Both were the same cost $30, so i went with the fine mesh for the most bang for the buck.

Thanks again all for the help. For any other Canadians on the site ,I cant say enough about Aquatel. Excellent service and amazing shipping. Only took 3 days to come from Ontario to NS.

Now i get to look forward to the setup ...eek

[Akpsdvan]

My My, the fun part is about to start......

Might I ask why he suggested against the turb?

[scooby074]

he said that basically it wasn't needed, especially with the larger unit, and that price was a factor (which it was for me) so it was best to put the money towards the fine mesh.

About the iron, he said to just add Resup or equivalent every couple bags of salt. He said that should be fine.

I was wanting the clack with the upflow bed but he didn't stock them and special order would raise the price considerably. Thats when i suggested the turb, and he recommended the resin instead.

i suppose i could add the turb later if needed

[Akpsdvan]

Up flow brine only truely works if the bed does not unpack... if it unpacks then the up flow brining is not as effective as it should be... ie the water boss and water max units have the resin bed between 2 mesh plates that do not let the resin move... works great if there is NO iron in the water, but add iron and it is best to be able to move the resin around..
This is what I have learned, others will say different, but I am going on feild work as to what has and what has not worked..

[scooby074]

Akpsdvan,

so you'd recommend dowflow then as well ,over the upflow. he said hes sold lots of downflows in iron conditions without turbs with no issues. I was dead set for a turb as it made sense to me, but he considered it overkill.

but he did say i have to be vigilant with the iron out or there would be issues.

[Akpsdvan]

Akpsdvan,

so youd recommend dowflow then as well ,over the upflow. he said hes sold lots of downflows in iron conditions without turbs with no issues. I was dead set for a turb as it made sense to me, but he considered it overkill.

but he did say i have to be viagalent with the iron out or there would be issues.

Yes downflow over the upflow unless the bed is between to mesh plates.
There are any number of units around here that do not have the turbo and work fine, do not let it get away from you, ie keep salt in it with some iron out from time to time and cycling within the time frame needed, if the unit can go 1000 gallons have it cycle 100 to 150 gallons short of the 1000 to keep from iron build up or fouling of the resin bed.