AtomicSquirrel
New Member
First I’d like to thank everyone who posts help to this board. I enjoy reading through and gathering as much information as possible.
I’m in need of some design help to condition my well water here in my Hunterdon county NJ home. The home and well were constructed back around 1993. Unfortunately I don’t have any details on the depth of the well or well pump. We moved in about 1.5 years ago and finally have some time and $ to address the issues. As far as I know all equipment is probably original to the house but I don’t’ know for sure. In any event I really want to start with a clean slate.
The house is approximately 3900sf including a finished basement with additional kitchen. House has 4 bedrooms upstairs and 2 more bedrooms in the basement level and 3 ½ total bathrooms. Since my mother was moved into senior living it’s only the wife and I, so basically two people utilizing the water resources. We have guests but they rarely stay for more than three days.
Our current water setup is well to 4 x10 big blue whole house filter, to old Culligan softener unit, to a 5 gallon Culligan RO system that services both kitchens as point of source drinking water as well as two icemakers. Point of source being a side mounted separate filler for drinking water only. Additionally both outdoor hose bibs are fed with softened water. This is no bueno for watering the plants so I’d like to separate the two existing hose bibs from the softener and add a new exterior hose bib with both softened and hot water to wash the vehicles.
I’ve tested for water softness with the drops kit and the softener appears to be functioning as the water is soft. It does however seem to suck down a ton of salt considering its only two people living in the house. The salt is cheap but its PIA to carry down the stairs and I worry about all that backwash being dumped into the septic system.
My RAW water test at time of home purchase indicated hard water, iron and manganese outside satisfactory levels, everything else was good. Iron at 0.51mg/L and manganese at 0.21 mg/L. I called two local well installers to inquire as to how I should remedy water with these levels. Both stated my levels are low and water softer is what they would recommend.
Overall I don’t think our water is too bad but we do get red, brown, orange staining in the toilet bowl and tank. Additionally our steam shower has orange stains on the glass and shower door gaskets. I also notice a funky smell in the shower area, not sure if this is iron bacteria or just iron? We leave the doors open for airflow but I’m not sure what causes the smell. Also when I wash the car we get some serious water spots, I must rush to dry as quick as possible with a microfiber towel. It’s a real problem especially etching into the glass.
How should I go about selecting equipment to replace my current system? I know I will need a new softener and I’m going to upgrade the RO unit as well but I’m unsure if I need additional equipment to handle the iron or manganese? Is the softener really the right tool for the job and if so what size, brand should I get? I like to do things the right way, spending appropriately without waste. I plan on a self install as I’m more than capable. Thoughts and comments are much appreciated.
I’m in need of some design help to condition my well water here in my Hunterdon county NJ home. The home and well were constructed back around 1993. Unfortunately I don’t have any details on the depth of the well or well pump. We moved in about 1.5 years ago and finally have some time and $ to address the issues. As far as I know all equipment is probably original to the house but I don’t’ know for sure. In any event I really want to start with a clean slate.
The house is approximately 3900sf including a finished basement with additional kitchen. House has 4 bedrooms upstairs and 2 more bedrooms in the basement level and 3 ½ total bathrooms. Since my mother was moved into senior living it’s only the wife and I, so basically two people utilizing the water resources. We have guests but they rarely stay for more than three days.
Our current water setup is well to 4 x10 big blue whole house filter, to old Culligan softener unit, to a 5 gallon Culligan RO system that services both kitchens as point of source drinking water as well as two icemakers. Point of source being a side mounted separate filler for drinking water only. Additionally both outdoor hose bibs are fed with softened water. This is no bueno for watering the plants so I’d like to separate the two existing hose bibs from the softener and add a new exterior hose bib with both softened and hot water to wash the vehicles.
I’ve tested for water softness with the drops kit and the softener appears to be functioning as the water is soft. It does however seem to suck down a ton of salt considering its only two people living in the house. The salt is cheap but its PIA to carry down the stairs and I worry about all that backwash being dumped into the septic system.
My RAW water test at time of home purchase indicated hard water, iron and manganese outside satisfactory levels, everything else was good. Iron at 0.51mg/L and manganese at 0.21 mg/L. I called two local well installers to inquire as to how I should remedy water with these levels. Both stated my levels are low and water softer is what they would recommend.
Overall I don’t think our water is too bad but we do get red, brown, orange staining in the toilet bowl and tank. Additionally our steam shower has orange stains on the glass and shower door gaskets. I also notice a funky smell in the shower area, not sure if this is iron bacteria or just iron? We leave the doors open for airflow but I’m not sure what causes the smell. Also when I wash the car we get some serious water spots, I must rush to dry as quick as possible with a microfiber towel. It’s a real problem especially etching into the glass.
How should I go about selecting equipment to replace my current system? I know I will need a new softener and I’m going to upgrade the RO unit as well but I’m unsure if I need additional equipment to handle the iron or manganese? Is the softener really the right tool for the job and if so what size, brand should I get? I like to do things the right way, spending appropriately without waste. I plan on a self install as I’m more than capable. Thoughts and comments are much appreciated.
