Is my acid neutralizer faulty or just inadequate?

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DesertEaglePt50

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I am wondering if my acid neutralizer performance is as expected for my setup or whether something might be amiss. I just did a complete dump and refill of the neutralizer. I have not taken pH readings previously.

pH Testing:
My untreated water has a pH of approximately 6.0. I have obtained a pH as high as 7.6 from the tap when water usage is minimal. However, if I take successive readings from the tap separated by 60 second draws after the shower has been in use for 25 to 30 minutes or the washing machine has just filled, I consistently get an initial pH of 6.6 that steadies at 7.1. Using the time it takes to fill a 5 gallon bucket, the shower flows 1.2 gpm.

Acid Neutralizer Setup:
The acid neutralizer is a 10x44 tank (painted unfortunately) with an Erie 542-009 backwash/control valve. There is no gravel bed. The distributor tube has a lower and upper basket, and due to my past on-the-job learning, extends only 38.5 inches from tip of the lower basket to the end of the distributor tube. The tank just had a complete dump and refill with 1 3/8 cu feet of new calcite, leaving 7 inches of room for media expansion during backwash. (I know this is less than recommended, and I elaborate on this below.) Considering the shortened distributor tube, and assuming the calcite below the bottom of the distributor tube contributes nothing to the neutralization process, this is effectively a 31.5” (38.5”-7”) bed of calcite or (31.5”/37”) x 11/8 cu ft = 1.2 cu feet of calcite.

Backwash:
Despite my best efforts to the contrary, the valve cannot be removed without pulling the distributor tube up with it. This leads me to believe that the backwash is sufficiently expanding the media. Nevertheless, on paper the backwash setup is a disaster. The Erie 542-009 manual calls for a discharge line of at least ½” ID. My discharge line is a clear, probably vinyl, tubing of OD ½”. The tubing spans 25 to 30 feet and has five 90 degree bends where the tubing has collapsed and creased. I have adjusted the backwash rate valve, and the effect on the time to fill a 5 gallon bucket is essentially zero, leading me to believe that rate limiter is the tubing itself. The backwash flow is 1.5 gpm. I backwash nightly for approximately 15 to 20 minutes. As stated above, the distributor tube has an upper basket, and as I got better at returning the neutralizer to service after a dump and refill, I became more aggressive with how much calcite I added. I used to leave 12 inches of room for expansion, but recently having been leaving 7 inches. Now I just refill the neutralizer with water very slowly with the valve in backwash, then run a proper backwash for 20 to 30 minutes. Upon return to service, the water looks slightly milky for a bit but there aren’t any particles settling out.

Other Potentially Relevant Info:
When I dump the acid neutralizer most of it looks like regular calcite. However, after I siphon off the water, I can see a thin upper layer of finer, rust colored particles. It leaves behind what resembles a soft, uncompacted layer of clay when dumped and the water has evaporated. My pressure switch is set at 70/50. After redoing the in-well plumbing, I increased the pressure to 70/50 to ensure that the pump wouldn’t run for less than 60 seconds. My pressure tank will be replaced with a larger one once I know what I am doing with the acid neutralizer, so I can do one re-plumb. My pressure tank has a compromised diaphragm. It still performs its function, but releases a small amount of air into the water supply every time it approaches the cut-in pressure.

Thank you for the help!
 

DesertEaglePt50

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If the neutralizer is working properly I can run fresh tubing that is not kinked and that should help increase the backwash flow rate. It would be better to run a larger diameter tubing that meets the valve spec but that will require removal of the fitting installed into the backwash port. It appears to have been sealed with black rtv gasket maker, and I don't look forward to cleaning those internal threads.

Is a 6.6 pH good enough for fresh calcite when the flow rate is only 1.2 gpm? I started another thread previously about calculating the LSI, so I know that 6.6 may not itself be a problem. It just concerns me that there is something wrong and x months from now when there is less calcite the copper will be leaching out.
 

DesertEaglePt50

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I have ways been impressed and grateful for the amount of help available on this forum, so let me try to ask for help in a different and hopefully better way.

Is there a way to test the control valve of an acid neutralizer for leakage of untreated water into service? If not, I imagine that a professional would look at the pH of the treated vs untreated water and weigh that against the acid neutralizer setup and make a call as to whether the performance of the acid neutralizer seems as expected. If not, and considering that the calcite was just replaced, a professional would conclude that there is a leak and that a rebuild/replacement was in order.

I don't want to address the valve only to find out that I need a bigger tank and that a bigger tank means i need a different valve.
 
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