New Home Water Filtration System with Well Water

[mpbaker82]

Hello,

First, let me start by saying i'm a electrician by trade so if you need any help, im sure i can be of assistance.

Secondly, I was hoping to get some direction from some professionals much like yourselves.
My wife and I are building a new single level home and this home will use a well and septic system.

I’ve spent about two weeks or so researching all the data I can get my hands on from the Web to YouTube and I think I have a decent understanding… here is where you guys come in…

First let me note that the well hasn’t been drilled yet but I’m being told the average is anywhere from 20-30gpm with a total hardness of around 25gpg. Obviously, after the drill, the water will be tested and the actual well water perimeters figured out, ill adjust accordingly.

From other homes in the area, I’ve noticed that the inlet pipe from the well is 1”… I have mixed feeling on this. My research shows that a inlet should match the well available output. I'm thinking if the well can do 20 or even 30gpm, it might be worth requesting a 1.5” inlet…

Based on the average gpg of fixtures such as toilets, faucets, washers, dishwasher, etc.. we have estimated a max usage at any given time to be about 11-12gpm load (washing machine, shower, toilet, and sink) I think I may have estimated high on this one…

Water Filtration Design:
Before Water Filtration System (house as built)
From Well > Pressure Tank > To Home Hot/Cold = yuck!

After: With Home Water Filtration System
From Well > 50micron Spin down Filter > Pressure Tank (w/ Continuous Switch) > Big Blue 20” (5 Micron) > Big Blue 20” (open) > Water Softener Fleck 5600 > Big Blue 20” (Carbon) > To Home Hot/Cold

Filter Options:
20” Big Blue (1” npt) with filter media rated for 15gpm (estimating 2.5gpm loss for each inline filter, and .5 for every elbow)
or
20” Big Blue (1.5” npt) with filter media rated for 20gpm (estimating 2.5gpm loss for each inline filter, and .5 for every elbow)

I understand ill get mixed feelings on the spin down filter before the pressure tank, but my idea is to keep the big sediment from the tank and will hopefully reduce the stress on the inline 5micron filter before it hits the water softener. I have also done some research on this continuous pressure tank switch which is supposed to help regulate water pressure in the home and return a greater life time on the well pump. maybe i can get some feed back on this as well.

At the end of the day, I am trying to get as close to 12-15gpm for the home, so we don’t have any issues with available water pressure. The home is plumbed throughout with ¾” and faucets and fixtures are reduced to ½” lines.

Water Softener System Design
Volume Requirement
225 gallons per day (3 people x 75gpd/person) Avg Water consumption is 75gpd per person

Water Quality
25 grains per gallon (gpg) Total Hardness
225 gallons x 25 grains = 5,625 grains per day
5,625 grains x 4 days (regen period) = 22,500 grains required
22,500 grains/0.7 (adding for reserve) = 32,143grains capacity required

How I came up with grains:
20gpg hardness
4gpg iron (1ppm x 4)
1gpg mag (0.25ppm x 4)
= 25gpg total hardness


Questions:
-Do you think the design is ok? And if not, what are your suggestions?

-Do you think to get to the 12-15gpm required that I should up the well inlet to 1.5” or do you think 1” is doable?

-If I keep the 1" inlet from the well, can i bump the Big Blue filters to 1.5 npt and get better flow?

-If I had to add an iron filter, due to excessive iron levels, where would you place this filter?

-Can you add anything else I prob forgot

Any help would be much appreciated,

Thank you!
Michael

 

[VAWellDriller]

I can't answer all your questions but can address a few.
10-12gpm is way more than enough for most residential systems.
1" pipe size from well is fine unless its super long run like 150' or more. You may not have ANY sediment at all so spin down and big blues may be a total waste of time. I might start with 1 big blue and a high flow pleated sediment filter just to see if there is anything to catch. 1.5" big blue connections waste of time...the housings have very little headloss....its the filter you put in the housing that you need to be worried about. Some carbon filters especially have very high headloss.

If you have pex plumbing, that is where you really need to be looking to make sure you have good pressure and flow in the house....3/4 pex is terrible at 10gpm flow. CPVC or copper is a lot better as far as headloss.
I dont do much water treatment but I know there are some good combination units that soften and reduce iron. You really need to get the water tested and see what you've got before worrying about the design too much.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Valveman]

You may need 12+ GPM if everything in the house is running at the same time. But rarely will a house use more than about 5 GPM at any given time. When you have a 15 GPM pump and use less water than 15 GPM the pump will cycle on/off repeatedly. A Cycle Stop Valve will eliminate the cycling on/off between 40 and 60 PSI by maintaining a strong constant 50 PSI anytime water is being used. I am moving this to the softener forum where there is some good help with that.

 

[ditttohead]

Before any water treatment is considered, get a real water test.
http://watercheck.myshopify.com?aff=5

I agree with Valveman on the Big Blues, typically not needed and simply another leak point in the future in many applications.
For the spin down, the Hydra is exceptional and well worth the extra few dollars.

BB carbon for a whole house is typically considered ridiculously undersized. Akin to having a 1 gallon gas tank in your car. If you are going to do whole house carbon, get a backwashing design with at least a 10x54 tank.

Regardless, all of this doesn't matter since we don't have a detailed water report yet. Imagine planning the electrical needs for a house without even knowing what country you were going to be installing the equipment. 50 or 60 hz, 100, 120, 240 volts, which plug etc.

 

[mpbaker82]

Thank you all for the information and i agree a detailed water report is needed. The post was more aimed @ starting dialog of which it has surely done both in this forum and through private messages.

I will surely take the recommendation for the water test kit and if we see sediment, ill look into this spin down filter.

Can you speak more to this carbon filter which utilizes backwashing?

 

[ditttohead]

A big blue filter has a very limited flow rate. It may flow 10 GPM but its actual functional flow (Service Flow) may be realistically around 1 GPM. A backwashing carbon tank can have a peak flow in excess of 20 GPM, but a service flow in excess of 4-6 GPM for most standard sized systems. Service flow is the flow rate that the system will continue to properly reduce certain contaminants including THM's, VOC's, organics, tastes, odors etc.