pH Correction

I am looking for an outlet for a reliable neutralizer for a whole house system. The pH of the water is 5.69, but everything else is fine with the water. I have two quotes $1800 and $2100 with $200 per year maintenance fee. Is there a wholesale source for a basic unit? I hate to spend $1000 for installation if I can get a good unit for $800!

Thanks to everyone who can make recommendations.

I hope those prices are installed prices.

I sell them for around $400.00 with an in/out head or $750.00 with a backwash head.

bob...

There are two types of acid neutralization; soda ash in a solution feeder with a retention tank or a sacrificial mineral filter that adds hardness to the water.

Filters come in two types; upflow with a required prefilter or backwashed. I suggest you use a backwashed (downflow service) AN filter, and install it yourself. The usual price range is $550 to $700 delivered.

The filter's SFR (service flow rate in gpm) must be sized for the peak demand gpm water use your family and fixtures use, or you won't get the pH up correctly. I do not believe an upflow will consistently raise the pH to 7.0.

Gary --

I'm already injecting chlorine into a holding tank; can I add the soda ash to that solution and kill two birds with one pump? What concentration of soda ash? I assume I'd start with an educated guess and adjust as experience dictates.

Bob --

What size tank is that?

Thanks Gary and Bob. And, yes those were installed prices! That is why I figured I could save my client quite a bit if I could install one myself.

The application in question is a two bedroom and small home with a dug well with a pH of 5.95. We want the simplest system possible that brings the pH up to 7 (or close enough that I won't have to replace the copper in my lifetime.

Bob, I looked at the Model #: WH1054CSCX-UF on your site. Is this the model you would recommend?

Gary, I found a Clack model that looked to be about the same. How is the performance different between the calcite only vs. the calcite & corsex models?

Cheers,

I think you were on the wrong website. I don't even recognize that number.

I don't advertize neutralization filters on my website because we don't have that much experience with them. They are rarely needed here, so I'm not up on all the different scenarios that may take place.

Gary can give you as good or better pricing than I can and he knows them inside and out.

That will be $10.00 Gary.

bob...

I bought a 1.5 CuFt fiberglass tank, in/out head and set it up for upflow. Filled it about 2/3 of the way up with Calcite. It works GREAT! My pH was 5.7 and it was eating my pipes. I already had some pin-holing. Now, a pool pH kit shows 6.8-7ish using Calcite. I'm not sure how accurate that is, but if the taste of the water is any gauge, it's a HUGE improvement. I think I spent about $250 for everything. Just for a goof, I opened it up and used plastic pipe to poke around at the bed to see about cementing. Seems pretty good to me. Plastic pipe went as deep as I wanted to push it with no issues.

Bob,
Yeah, I went to your website and couldn't find a reference to neutralization equipment except through one of the links on the top of your page. I thought they were connected to your site - H2Ofilter.net. Anyway tell me about what you would use.

Thanks,
Biff

So that's where you found them. It's those confusing Google ads. They pay me a few bucks for having them there, but they are basically the competition.

What I use here locally is the upflow calcite filter with a simple in/out head. It works fine here for the few customers we have installed them for. But I am not in tune with all the different kinds of water in different parts of the country and I do know it can vary a lot. Gary has far more experience in that area than I do. That's why I don't push water filtration too hard on my site.

bob...

Mikey, Some guys do that but it usually doesn't work well IMO. BTW, to get chlorine to work, you have to have the pH right; as a disinfectant, the pH should be lowr than higher and as an oxidizer, higher. Adding bleach raises pH.

Jimmym, did you sample when the water had been sitting in the filter for some time or run the water for a few minutes first? You should have run say 3-4 gpm for 3-4 minutes, then see what the pH is. It usually won't be up to 7; and certainly with using only calcite with your pH. Cementing depends on the amount of hardnessin the water.

Thanks Bob, I'll deduct that off your account...

Biff, the use of mixed bed depends on a number of factors but mostly how low the pH is, and the peak demand used.

I only measured it at the kitchen sink. I did let it run for a while. Not quite a lab quality analysis. I imagine it would not correct as well as the flow rate increases. Makes sense.
Bottom line... I've got CPVC pipes (now) and a MUCH better pH, a neutralizer that I like, water that I love. Worth EVERY PENNY I SPENT.