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shadco1

well water treatment

shadco1
10 years ago

Hey there

We have a new to us home in NC.

Here's what the water is like.

250 foot well, 100 gal per minute.

Trashed Pressure tank needs to be replaced

2 year old Rinnai 75LSi tankless water heater

Hardness 2 grains per gallon

Iron .75 ppm greater than 5 microns
Iron .2 ppm less than 5 microns

Iron has been determined to be ferric iron

Manganese .06 ppm

TDS .6ppm

Sulfur 3ppm

Radium 1 PicoCurie per liter

Nitrate 1 ppm

PH 5.8

no chemicals, or tannins.

Here's what I'm thinking

Kinetico 2060f whole house filter

Stenner proportional injection system for soda ash

Kinetico post system cartridge filters 5 micron and .5 micron.

House has a mix of quest and pex.

Backwash will not be sent to septic system.

2 people 1 daily bath in large tub.

1 visitor fairly frequently.

Irrigation will run from the same well but bypassed from the treatment system

Is this overkill?

Any other recommendations?

Is soda ash risky for home owners to handle and manage?

This post was edited by shadco on Fri, Feb 28, 14 at 14:02

Comment (1)

  • User
    10 years ago

    The Kinetico 2060f may not work well for you. It is designed to work with less than 1 gpg hardness. You have more than that. It also has a service flow rate of 5 gpm, which is pretty low.

    pH control: Soda ash is a good alternative for pH adjustment. You should us gloves when handling it and avoid breathing dust. If you can't avoid dust, a dust mask is a good idea. Stenner injection pumps are very reliable.

    You have many options for iron and sulfur removal. A little light reading:

    1. Softener: A softener will not remove sulfur, and since your iron is ferric, this is not an option for you.

    2. Oxidation/Filtration: An oxidizer such as ozone, air, or chlorine may be used to react with the iron and force it to become particulate iron that can then be removed via filtration. A typical setup would involve the oxidizing unit, a holding tank, then a media filter. This type of system works quite well, but takes some expertise in sizing - you would want a water treatment pro that you trust to help you with this option.

    3. Oxidizing filtration media: This type of treatment consists of a sealed tank filled with one of several media. Water passes through and is oxidized and filtered by the media. These are relatively easy to operate and what I would recommend for the average homeowner. There are several different media that can be used:

    • manganese greensand: water runs through for treatment. The media must be regenerated with potassium permanganate. Care must be taken with dealing with potassium permanganate as it readily dyes organic material, such as your skin, a purple-brown color. Some people are quite comfortable dealing with the chemical; others are not.

    • Synthetic greensand: This is essentially the same as option (a) but consists of a coating of greensand on a silica sand core so does not require as much backwash flow. Service flow rate is 2 - 5 gpm/sqft. Backwash flow rate is 12 gpm/sqft.

    • birm: This media acts as a catalyst to force oxidation of iron. While it does not need to be regenerated, it does need fairly high dissolved oxygen in the water. If your water does not have adequate dissolved oxygen (and it probably doesn't since it is well water), air injection would be necessary prior to the birm. Additionally, birm requires a minimum pH of 6.8.. Service flow rate is 3.5 - 5.0 gpm per sqft. Backwash flow rate is 11 - 20 gpm, depending upon water temperatures and desired bed expansion.

    • pyrolox: an ore that oxidizes then filters the iron out. It does not need regeneration, but needs to be backwashed (to rinse out the iron) at a high rate. pH range is 6.5 - 9.0. This type of filter works very well, but backwash is critical. Service flow rate is 5 gpm/sqft. Backwash is 25-30 gpm/sqft. Backwash daily.

    • Terminox: Similar to Pyrolox, but a proprietary formula . It does not require as much backwash flow rate and is more resistance to a low pH. The particulars are only available from the company that sells it. Backwash daily.