retrofit a water softner to become an iron filter

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Jocko11

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Unless the 12" original tank is leaking you should reuse it because it sounds as if it worked well until the valve starting leaking. And I've never heard of a 9" x 41" tank, 9x48" is a 1 cuft. You won't get 2 bags of most anything plus gravel in that size tank, let alone have the proper freeboard (about 15").

The unit with the 12" tank originally came for another site, It would foul and need cleaning every five/six months. From the other discussions I suspect the flow was not enough to completely clean the bed. does a smaller tank work better with less flow?
 

Chevy427

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Remove the drain line and see if there is a restrictor that can be removed or replaced.
 

Akpsdvan

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The white cam is the older cam, one that had the rapid rinse and brine tank/salt tank refill at the same time.
The pins and space set up is different than that of the black or now blue cam set up.

The first pins where back wash and then the spaces where the brine or salt draw along with the slow rinse and then the next pin set was rapid rinse together with the brine refill or salt tank refill.
 

Akpsdvan

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It is not so much the tank as it is the media that is used.
If the media needed 6gpm for the back wash but was only getting 4gpm then there where going to be challenges and fouling that would need to be cleaned by hand that would have most likely been done by the water had it had the flow needed to get the job done.
Some valves will need cleaning no matter the flow, it is the nature of the iron and how it is getting treated to be removed.
Air injection is the most messy of all the treatment ways.
 

Jocko11

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Should I remove the hydro charger, now that I an using the filox media, or will that enhance the properties of the new media?
 

Gary Slusser

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The unit with the 12" tank originally came for another site, It would foul and need cleaning every five/six months. From the other discussions I suspect the flow was not enough to completely clean the bed. does a smaller tank work better with less flow?
A smaller tank requires less gpm to backwash properly but, it also has a lower gpm flow rate to remove the iron from and that means too small and you don't have the SFR (service flow rate) gpm for your peak demand water use and the filter won't work. IOWs the SFR gpm has to equal or exceed your peak demand gpm.

Doing this stuff on your own is kinda like setting your own broken arm or leg without having the required surgery to git it done right... it usually doesn't work well or for long and creates more problems. Birm may have been a much better choice than MTM etc.. But there are certain things that prevent Birm from being used; like H2S gas and insufficient dissolved oxygen content in the water to be treated, but then it sounds as if you have an air injection part.

It sounds as if your 2500 is set up as a regenerating filter, not simply as a backwashed filter.
 

Jocko11

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If i use the cabo formula, counting fixtures downstream of the filter ,i get a service flow rate of 7.2. Filox media specs say it is capable for 6gpm service flow per cu ft. Does that mean you have to have slightly more media than 1 cu ft.? Although, the cabo specs.only go down to 7.2.
 

Jocko11

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So i'm going to rebuild the fleck valve and use the old larger tank with the filox. I am ordering another 1/2 cu ft. to make a total 1 1/2 cu ft of media. Is there a benifit to leaving the hydrocharger in place, using the filox media, or should I remove it?
 

Gary Slusser

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Does Filox require regenerating or only backwashing? If you have a regenerating 2500 you and do not regenerate Filox, you should change the piston in the 2500 and convert the valve into what is called a flat cap, no injector body or brine valve connection.

Using 1.5 cuft in a 12" (2.0 cuft) tank probably isn't a good idea because the mineral spreads out and you lose bed depth. That will cause a much lower SFR than you probably need and the filter will fail.

You also need to know if you have sufficient gpm to properly backwash 1.5-2.0 cuft.

And do not remove the DLFC (drain line flow control) button as Andy mentioned. Andy (a Kinetico salesman) should stick with Kinetico equipment.
 

Jocko11

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The valve appears to be a flat cap, there is no injector on the top, just a block off plate. Filox is a backwash media. I believe the original media was birm, just backwash also. The air injector was to help the media attrack the iron. Some water treatment sights mention air/oxygen injection to help the media perform better. Just wondered if leaving the air charger in line is a good idea.

I will also look for a 1.5 cu ft tank.
 

Gary Slusser

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Actually the air was to allow the Birm to oxidize the iron. Air will also oxidize some of the iron. Birm can not work unless there is 15% dissolved oxygen in the water.

Birm can not be used if any H2S is present in the water.

I wouldn't use the air injection for Filox because it will cause ferric iron particles (rust) on top the Filox.

You will need the correct DLFC button for Filox; Birm is much lighter and will have a much smaller gpm DLFC. And less time for backwash and rinse positions.
 
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