Well Filtration for Two Houses, High Iron and Other

[cwms27]

I have a well that has tested pretty high for iron as well as several other elements. I am wanting to build a filtration and softening system for the well that will supply 2 homes (each 3 bed 2 bath, one having 2 occupants, the other having 2 of 3). One being built now and the other to follow after completion of the first. Well pump is 1.5hp. We had three companies come out to give quotes. All three had different ideas for the filtration setup. 2 of them tested the water with a portable kit. The iron level read higher than their test color would read which was 10. The first guessed the iron count to be around 12 and designed the system for that, the second guessed 15-16 and designed his for that number. The third didn't even try to test, he just quoted whatever he thought would work I guess. This seeming to be not the right way to do things, I had the water sent off and tested. The iron came back at 25ppm. Along with some other things that may be of concern as seeing them says they are but their levels appear acceptably low depending on where you read the info at. The goal is to get the water as clean as possible, the hardness down, and get the water as safe as possible for daily use. Was considering a settling tank with a peroxide injection, carbon filter tank, and water softener. I'm not sure on the sizing requirements for the levels our water tested at combined with the 2 houses as well as equipment branding. It seems online, only older equipment is available. I'm not sure if my GC license would help in obtaining equipment from a local distributor. Any help or pointers as to better directions would be greatly appreciated.

I have attached a sort of condensed version of the water test results. If this isn't the preferred way, I can attach the full report.

 

[Valveman]

Iron is still a problem for the equipment prior to the iron filter. Everything in the well including the pump is subject to getting clogged up. I always recommend cleaning the iron in the well when possible. That way the pump, pipe, and even the well itself don't clog up. Aeration works just as well for iron as sulfur. Look into the Sulfur Eliminator. It drops 1.5 gallons of aerated water back down the well every hour. The pressure tank needs to be a little larger for this reason, but still only a 44 gallon size or so when used with a Cycle Stop Valve, as the CSV will prevent pump cycling.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[cwms27]

Thank you for your response. I've been trying to study up on the Eliminator and it kind of makes sense, and it kind of doesn't. I understand the need to prevent the build-up of the pump, well etc. as much as possible. It's just not clicking how aerating the well and filtering with such a small filter will get rid of the high iron and prevent the pump from building up seeing as it pumps the unfiltered water to the aerator and drops filtered aerated water back down the well. It looks as though the filter only catches the iron in the water that gets fed back to the well, not the greater amount that will be feeding the houses. The water currently looks like a strong tea, so I am guessing a lot of the iron is already oxidized in combination with the turbidity helping cause the color. The water test didn't give separate results for ferric and ferrous iron. The well driller told us to run the water constantly preventing the pump from shutting off for 48 hours and the well would clear up and it did. Over the next few days, it resorted back to its current state. Does the Sulphur Eliminator deluxe create a similar situation as to what running the water constantly for 2 days did?

 

[Valveman]

I am not a chemist. But I think the little filter is just to keep the aerator nozzle from clogging. The way I understand it is the iron precipitates out of solution and falls to the bottom. As long as there is some open hole below the pump for it to accumulate it should not get pumped out. It is chemical free and simple, which is how I like things. I have never tried one, but the customers I mentioned it to have reported excellent results.

 

[cwms27]

It is definitely on my list to add to my setup. From continued research, it seems from reviews it does help quite a bit with iron. Maybe not to the extent of what we have but if it cuts it any, that will help the longevity of the equipment, require less chemical or other means of filtration extending the life of those filters or filtering media. I plan to give them a call sometime today or tomorrow to discuss further as it seems they are very helpful and customer friendly. I appreciate your recommendation greatly. I have been reading more on the forums and is it seems a lot more of the filtration and softening questions seem to be posted in the softener section. I was thinking being well specific, this was a more appropriate forum. Should I ask over on the water softener forum for assistance with the remainder of my issues? I do not want to create multiple posts around the same topic and cause issues. Again, thank you so much for your assistance thus far.

 

[pcmeiners]

Trouble with aerating water to drop iron out of it is two fold. Iron is in two forms in well water, ferric iron which is already oxidized and ferrous iron which precipitates when oxidized. Ferric iron is unaffected by adding oxidized water to a well, I would not recommend adding more iron to the well by oxidizing the ferrous iron, considerable iron will build up over years, you do not want iron covering the well screen or clogging it. Add to this oxidized water will rust steel casing. Peroxide and chlorine will corrode metal.
I have 2 large Katalox light tanks ( 54") after the mentioned filter below which oxidizes ferrous iron to filterable ferric iron, along with oxidizing heavy metal compounds. Katalox light does not affect metal pipes, faucets, boilers and other metal containing devices; it adds no chemical compound to the water at all. Back washing cleans the iron and heavy metals from the Katalox tanks. You need large tanks for it to work properly, a 24" tank will not be sufficient. My water now has no appreciable iron, I can place a glass of aerated water on a window sill for weeks and there is no iron sediment, or wash may house window or car with not spots.

Check out the pre-filter I installed for iron in my well water, (further down in the thread)....

Filters Clogging Up - Drought or Iron, Redevelop Well?

Hello All, I have some knowledge of water treatment but not as much as most of you, and what knowledge I have gained is from the 6 years of managing this system, from this forum and consulting Dittohead. 6 year old System: Output to input: Softener (Fleck 5810 SXT 1.5 cu ft. 10x54)...

terrylove.com

 

[cwms27]

Thanks for your response pcmeiners. I have been reading through the forums quite a bit trying to put together a system. Thoughts of shocking the will along with the Eliminator mentioned above are still in research. I'm leaning towards a chlorine injection system feeding a 120gal retention tank with blow off valve. That will feed to a spin down filter, then into a tank with 3cuft of katalox light and then a tank with a similar amount of catalytic carbon followed by a softener with 2.5-3cuft of resin. The katalox, carbon and softener tank will use some version of the Clack WS1. The chlorine injector will likely be a stenner whos version is yet to be determined. I have to figure all the math and whatnot and find the post I read a while back that had alot of that info. Still trying to work through figuring out the GPM requirements of all this, but I think it will be a massive improvement in removing most of the metals and IRB, and maybe some of the Arsenic, uranium etc, while also softening the water. Any feedback to my thoughts so far would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Reach4]

What you are anticipating is an ambitious system. I suspect if you omit the KL tank that will still work great. But then you have a tremendous amount of iron. You can reserve space to add that stage if needed.

 

[pcmeiners]

Skip the chlorine injection, it is not needed, as it will only oxidize the ferrous iron to ferric iron and not affect the ferric iron at all; your major problem is the ferric iron. A large pre-filter such as the Pentair mention is needed; at 25ppm a large settling tank would definitely help but would require a very large tank. Katalox light after a pre-filter will filter out turbidity/ferric iron down to <3microns, will convert/filter most ferrous iron to ferric. Without a large pre-filter you will overload the Katalox.
For two homes you need a fairly large Katalox setup. The 2 (10"x54) tanks setup I have allow for a slow flow through the tanks, I would think you need about twice that amount for the two homes; you need to consult a degreed water engineer as to your needs, go with more than the minimum suggested . Now your well output is roughly 7 gallons, not much for two homes`, this is where a settling tank or pressure tank(s) comes in. As to sufficient flow/pressure a single large pressure tank (120 gallon) would not be great for two homes, perhaps a 120 gallon tank in each home. I have a 120 and a 40 gallon, without the pump on I could have 2 showers and cooking needs satisfied, to give you an idea what 160 gallons tank capacity can do. This would not be nearly sufficient as a holding/settling tank to drop out ferric iron, as it would require very low flow for settling to occur. As note your cadmium level are high, Katalox would filter this. Also what ever system you develop, use more than a 3/4" piping for you filter system, as filters, valves, elbows etc produce friction loss. Use full flow valves and check valves, advise you to create by pass valves as most commercially supplied valves are design by bean counters NOT engineers and have very high friction losses. Skip the spin down filter, ferric iron is generally in minute particle size, spin down filter work on large heavy particles.