Iron in water after softener regerates

Hello,

Our house has well water with a low amount of soluble (clear water) iron. I put a little iron-out in the water softener and it seems to take care of the iron problem. However, the morning after the softener regenerates, when I run the water out of the tap, it will all of a sudden turn redish, like it's full of iron. If I run it for a few minutes then it goes away and is clear again, and we don't have a problem. The only time I've ever seen this is shortly after the softener regenerates. Does anyone know what could be causing this and what I can do? Thanks.

How do you apply the Iron Out and how much of it do you use?

How much iron is in your raw water?

How hared is your water?

What size softerner do you have?

How many people in the house?

Gary,

Thanks for responding. I put in 1 cup of iron-out each month directly in the brine tank -- that is what the original owner told me to do. I do not know how much iron is in my raw water, the only measurement I have is that I used a "PurTest Water Hardness strip" to test the raw water and the results were that I have between 0 and 3 grains of hardness. I'm also not sure the size of my water softener. Just to give a rough idea, it looks to me that the tank that holds the resin and has the control unit on top looks maybe a bit smaller than a 40 gallon hot water heater. The only labels on it read "Structural Fibers, Inc." and the model number is "DUA-1047". I could not find any more information about the unit. There are only 2 of us in the house. Currently, I have it set to regenerate every 4 days. This seems high to me, but the previous owner (with 5 people) had it regenerating every 2 days. With 4 days it probably uses about 100 Lbs of salt a month. Thanks for the help.

I don't know the DUA part but probably a smooth sided FRP tank. The tank is a 10" x 47" and usually it would be a 1.25 or 1.5 cuft softener. At max salt dose 38k or 45k and the salt dose would be at about 2000 grains/lb. which is not good.

To learn about setting it up for your family and compensated hardness:
http://www.qualitywaterassociates.com/softeners/sizingchart.htm