Please help and tell me what softener and filter I need.

[Frustrated1]

I live in a two bathroom house with two people. We are on a private well I had a water test done through national testing laboratories. I am very old-school, so I am not sure if I can attach a PDF of the results. I will attach a screenshot of what was found. I would like to have drinking water available, at least at one sink and much softer water. Any advice would be very welcome.

 

[Water Expert 509]

I live in a two bathroom house with two people. We are on a private well I had a water test done through national testing laboratories. I am very old-school, so I am not sure if I can attach a PDF of the results. I will attach a screenshot of what was found. I would like to have drinking water available, at least at one sink and much softer water. Any advice would be very welcome.

I am not sure where you live but here in the Northwest and I would assume after chatting with my colleagues that when it comes to water treatment for well water it is a different beast that the typical "city water" The reason for that is that there are many different variables that come into play to ensure that your resin is protected so that it can efficiently produce soft water. For instance I am on a well here in Spokane Washington, My water contains about 15 grains hardness, as well as Iron. Due to my iron contents I had iron bacteria that caused my last water softener to fail. What happens is the bacteria enters the softener and turned it into a new home for it to grow and multiply causing a orangish slime to build up, coat the resin, and caused my system to fail. The previous owner was treating the bacteria by blasting it with bleach, which was damaging the resin as well, manufactures warranty states that if chlorine is in the system beyond 2ppm without chorine removal prior to the system then it voids the manufactures warranty.
What I ended up going with was a whole house water softener by EcoWater with Ozone treatment prior to softener which ensures that bacteria will no longer be an issue for the rest of the time in my home, the system I went with has a lifetime warranty on the internals which is great, and my water is now 0 grains hard and going through 1 bag of salt every 3 months for a 3 bed 2 bath family of 4 and our doggo.
I have listed below a link to some information that was helpful to me in selecting a system I hope it helps you too! The guy on the phone at the local company was a great help and I am sure if you reached out they could provide you with some assistance as well, especially since you already have your well report.
I do however recommend getting a point source reverse osmosis system, you do have hard water which destroys the home and makes cleaning a pain, however the other contaminants such as your Nitrate are an indication of some other possible contaminants that are no good, I would recommend getting a reverse osmosis system to ensure the water you put directly in your body via drinking and cooking is the highest quality possible. EPA has no current regulations on some pretty nasty stuff that ends up in water, and with you being on a private well it means you are responsible for ensuring your water is healthy. I will include a link to the RO system I purchased as well that is NSF/ANSI rated for reduction of 99% + for 92 contaminants ranging from herbicides, pesticides and pharmaceuticals, Hope this helps and GOOD LUCK!!!

EcoWater Spokane

EcoWater Systems provides complimentary water testing and design for drinking water and whole home water filtration. We provi

ecowaterspokane.com

Water Softener Information for Well Systems

Check out this site had some great educational information

EcoWater Spokane

EcoWater Systems provides complimentary water testing and design for drinking water and whole home water filtration. We provi

ecowaterspokane.com

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Frustrated1]

I live in central Illinois. I have had homes before where we have had the iron algae problems. I know for a fact this well does not have that.
Thank you for responding and all of your great advice. I plan to put an Aro system under the sink in the kitchen for drinking and cooking. I just need to know now what size water softener, and or brand to use that would be most efficient for this situation.

 

[Water Expert 509]

I live in central Illinois. I have had homes before where we have had the iron algae problems. I know for a fact this well does not have that.
Thank you for responding and all of your great advice. I plan to put an Aro system under the sink in the kitchen for drinking and cooking. I just need to know now what size water softener, and or brand to use that would be most efficient for this situation.

I could be bias because I own an ecowater system but with this being my 3rd softener, I HIGHLY recommend them. Previous to this I owned a whirlpool softener, and was sold on a kinetico because of the feature of the dual tank for no "down time", both lasted me just past the manufactures warranty.
Divide your Mg/L by 17.2 and that gives you gpg (Grains per Gallon) which looks like you are at about 20 gpg, a little higher than my water hardness.
I would recommend a minimum 30,000 grain system, at your hardness that would supply 1,000 gallons before recharge, average house uses 60 gal. per person per day to give you an idea of how fast you are going through water as a family between recharge. As I said the feature EcoWater had me sold on now with usage to match their claim is the efficiency, as I said fill it up once a year with salt and thats it!
Also FYI not all reverse osmosis systems are the same, I would highly recommend looking at their NSF/ANSI certifications for their % reduction to make sure when they say "reduce" they don't mean 20% reduction. My RO does 90% + and everything and the main concerns around 98-99% reduction here is the info on my system:

 

[Reach4]

I am surprised that you don't have iron.

350 mg/l hardness is about 20 grains of hardness. A softener with 1. 5 cuft of resin in a 10x54 inch tank should do the job for you.

I would be inclined to go with a softener system with a Fleck 5600SXT valve, altho the Fleck 5800SXT may have some advantage. The 5800SXT does refill the brine tank with softened water, which is good. 5600SXT is an older tried and true valve.

I would consider a filter before and/or after the softener. I like the idea of both. I use the Pentek Big Blue 20x4.5 housings.

 

[Frustrated1]

I could be bias because I own an ecowater system but with this being my 3rd softener, I HIGHLY recommend them. Previous to this I owned a whirlpool softener, and was sold on a kinetico because of the feature of the dual tank for no "down time", both lasted me just past the manufactures warranty.
Divide your Mg/L by 17.2 and that gives you gpg (Grains per Gallon) which looks like you are at about 20 gpg, a little higher than my water hardness.
I would recommend a minimum 30,000 grain system, at your hardness that would supply 1,000 gallons before recharge, average house uses 60 gal. per person per day to give you an idea of how fast you are going through water as a family between recharge. As I said the feature EcoWater had me sold on now with usage to match their claim is the efficiency, as I said fill it up once a year with salt and thats it!
Also FYI not all reverse osmosis systems are the same, I would highly recommend looking at their NSF/ANSI certifications for their % reduction to make sure when they say "reduce" they don't mean 20% reduction. My RO does 90% + and everything and the main concerns around 98-99% reduction here is the info on my

I am surprised that you don't have iron.

350 mg/l hardness is about 20 grains of hardness. A softener with 1. 5 cuft of resin in a 10x54 inch tank should do the job for you.

I would be inclined to go with a softener system with a Fleck 5600SXT valve, altho the Fleck 5800SXT may have some advantage. The 5800SXT does refill the brine tank with softened water, which is good. 5600SXT is an older tried and true valve.

I would consider a filter before and/or after the softener. I like the idea of both. I use the Pentek Big Blue 20x4.5 housings.

Any tips on brand? I also know from researching on this website that building one is also a possibility I’m assuming I just need a traditional down flow? The exact set up you speak of is available through many brands. And I absolutely will be putting a good reverse osmosis system in for drinking water.

 

[Reach4]

The system should include 15 lbs of gravel.

If the softener is shipped to you with the media preloaded, it saves more work than you think.

Strap the tank to a hand truck to move the system around.

I don't have a dealer to recommend to you at this time. But you don't want them to cheap out on the media tank, top and bottom basket, brine float and air check assembly. You are looking for Fleck, Clack, Structural brands.