brothersnow
New Member
A concernced father in the lower 48 suggested I read up on some discussion that has taken place here and I have since read countless threads on different aspects of my ongoing research. I have a shallow well which has provided my family with perfect water for three years. I could sell this water... Every year towards the end of winter our shallow well jet pump begins to suck some air. I could start a few new threads on the lengths I have traveled up that road but instead I had a deep well drilled this past fall in case the shallow well ever quit. At 30 feet we hit 50gpm and I decided to stop since I had already established that every well drilled deeper in my immediate area had crummy flow rates, hard water, and tons of iron. At that time we had the water analysed and it contained 6ppm iron, 3gpg hardness, and a PH of 7. The Iron on a later test without continuos water flow (I dropped a galvanised pipe with cap for a sample) revealed an iron level of 8ppm. Here we are towards the end of winter and the shallow well sounds like each pot of coffee may be the last. My question to the forum is simple; what do I do??? I have been stuck on that question for weeks and am about to leave on vacation for a month leaving a house sitter who may have to bath in melting snow. Some threads I have already viewed have discussed pros and cons of water softeners. I have a very young baby girl who could be adversley effected by increasing the salt in her diet. Others have been ridiculed on their threads for being against water softeners but I challenge anyone to explain that to new parents and win. I'm against it, and furthermore told my wife my concerns so it is now in the 'not going to happen' category. There are also some claims that salt could effect the bacteria I have nurtured in our septic system which I would also like to avoid. I have also ruled out reverse osmosis as a whole house solution for claims that the amount of water wasted is substantial and loss of pressure can be quite a bit. I wondered about using Potassium pellets in a water softener but after a few days of going through softener manuals it was explained that one shouldn't use such a medium for removing iron. The GE manual went further to say softening water below 3gpg wasn't advised. I've read enough on this site to get the idea that pyrolox systems are marketing scams but they have shown up in discussion with arguements on both sides. I have also read up on the manganese treated media systems but there is enough talk about harsh chemicals in the water to get that new parent bug going, almost enough so to tell the wife. So who has the facts? Why is pyrolox a joke? What chemicals show up through the manganese media when flushed with potassium permanganate? Why won't pottasium pellets work to remove iron in a water softener? Are there affordable aeration methods that work? And how can you sleep at night if you don't know?
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