Well Water Filters ; horses

[weedsportpete]

My UV light filter was buzzing yesterday, so I went down to take a look and there was water coming out of the top of it in a steady stream. In hind-sight I'm thinking that there was an automatic shutoff and the bulb was not screwed in enough to hold up to the water pressure - thus the leak.

However at the time I panicked and got a plumber to take the whole thing off line. The first thing I will do is get a shutoff valve between the well water supply and these filters, but now he's just got new pipe to take the place of the UV filter.

I want to save the UV filter unit - it looks good, has the buzzer, red and green status lights on it, and I'm pretty sure it has a shutoff feature.. Maybe when the bulb was last replaced, it wasn't tightened enough??

Which prompts me to ask: is a bulb effective until it burns out, or does it slowly lose effectiveness, so that if you wait for the bulb to go out, you've already gotten much reduced UV filtration.. ??

Is reverse-osmosis better than the sediment filters & UV light fixtures? Now that I've just had a breakdown in the system, I wanted to replace a non-standard large particle filter anyway, so I'm ready to get new 'standard' filters. And also re-arrange the filters so that the UV light comes after the small filter not between the large and small filters.

Plus I'm thinking about putting in a charcoal filter under the kitchen sink just for drinking water. Is that the right spot for a reverse-osmosis filter? Or should I add it to the whole-house set of filters.

The water softener is after the filters.. thats the right spot, right? The water is kind of slippery.. can I adjust it to a lesser hardness setting to get rid of that? Or is it not possible? If I adjust it back too far then I get more iron in the water??

Finally (whew!), the barn water (for horses) is coming from the house. We are thinking of filtering that also. Right now it is not filtered. Should we use a whole second set of filters for that? I don't think we need to use water softening on it..??


Pete

 

[MikePA]

<font color=blue>Finally (whew!), the barn water (for horses) is coming from the house. We are thinking of filtering that also.</font color=blue>

When I look in our horse's water buckets and see stray bits of feed, pieces of hay (we drop hay into the rack from above) and the the occasional dead fly so soon after my wife cleans them, I can see no need to put a filter on the water line that goes to the barn. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[WVBill]

Pete: I would suggest:

Well ----> Pressure Tank ---> Shutoff Valve
Shutoff Valve -----> Barn
Shutoff Valve -----> Outdoor faucets at House
Shutoff Valve ---> Sediment Filter ---> UV Filter ---> Water Softener --->
Water Softener -----> Hot Water Heater -----> Kitchen & Baths
Water Softener -----> Reverse Osmosis unit ------>Kitchen (Sink and Ice Maker)
Water Softener -----> Bathrooms

 

[Hakim]

Pete,

<font color=blue>Now that I've just had a breakdown in the system, I wanted to replace a non-standard large particle filter anyway, so I'm ready to get new 'standard' filters. And also re-arrange the filters so that the UV light comes after the small filter not between the large and small filters. Is reverse-osmosis better than the sediment filters & UV light fixtures? </font color=blue>

I have no experience with UV.

Most experts will tell you that a reverse osmosis system is the very best filtering/purification of water that can be obtained. This is what is used in hospitals, Navy attack subs, etc. You can also get a unit for your home. This can be used to treat either part of your water supply, or the whole house. A full house system is going to cost a lot of money, and take up a huge amount of space. This is because RO systems process only small amounts of water.

The RO is NOT a charcoal system. It is a bladder system, which means that it processes water at a very slow rate, around 2 gallons a half hour (read that again!). We have a carbon filter for the main water supply, and a RO for the kitchen sink, which pumps out water for drinking and cooking. It also runs to the cie maker in the fridge. The RO water has its own small gholding tank in the basement, and its own faucet, next to the hot and cold tap (RO only comes out "cold" or room temp). Even thopugh it has only a 2 gallon holding tank, we seldom "run out" of RO water. It is plenty for meals (you don't wash dishes with it, or take showers!).

For the rest of the house, we use the carbon filtration, plus a water softener. If I had it to do over, I'd leave off the softener. If your water isn't really hard, and if your family experiences no skin irritations from whatever comes out of your tap (carbon filtered only), then leave it alone. You'll never get effective softening without the "slippery" feel (which just drives me nuts).

When I called out various water treatment firms and plumbers, I got all KINDS of suggestions, up to $18,000!!! I just didn't believe them. In the end, I draw samples myself and took them to a commercial lab about 40 miles from me. It cost me $130 for an assay of about 300 items, including all of the "problematic" farm chemicals (none were present in my water). It may cost a bit now, but you'll have a true picture of your water condition. Bear in mind that even after installing any system, various factors can alter your water condition and quality---neighbors drilling new wells, natural gas drilling, earthquakes, etc.

<font color=blue>Plus I'm thinking about putting in a charcoal filter under the kitchen sink just for drinking water. Is that the right spot for a reverse-osmosis filter? Or should I add it to the whole-house set of filters.</font color=blue>

As I noted, RO and charcoal are different filtration systems. RO wil give you the purest water. A whole house RO is a pretty gigantic system.

My system including whole house softener, whole house carbon filter, and RO for kitchen & fridge was about $2,200. It has worked flawlessly for about 4.5 years. I have seen under the sink RO systenms for sale at Sam's Club for a hundred bucks or so.

Hope this helps,

 

[Wingnut]

First off ... I'd completely agree with Bill in getting a proper analysis of the water so that you know what to filter for.
I don't believe there's a reduction in the UV ... at least until it burns out. However ... I'd think it a poor solution for potable water use since it only treats what's flowing by and unless you have little pressure ... would never effectively treat a great amount of water.
Like the antenna thread ... I'm a little leery on these "great new process" solutions .... what works well in a "city water" situation may not work well in a "single house" scenario.
My major problem was organics ... so I opted for a chlorination (injection) system with a carbon filter ... and it turned brown gunk into tasty clear water.
Reverse Osmosis ... on a whole house ... is a pretty costly solution ... it takes time for the process to work ... so really is a "holding tank" process. Best suited for a tap, or two.
Horses? Well ... I agree with Mike ... IF the analysis just shows hardness, softness of other non-threatening but annoying problems. If you have adverse chemicals or minerals, you want a solution that treats all the water - horses get sick too!

 

[weedsportpete]

Thanks WVBill - nice configuration doc - makes sense, we are almost there, so I'll make sure we end up that way.

Thanks Hakim - R.O. unit in kitchen makes sense also; we don't need it for the whole house certainly. And we do want to avoid the costly systems you have been pitched..

And thanks Wingnut - absolutely - we need to get a better idea of what we are up against, for ourselves, our appliances and our horses. Thats our first step..

Pete

 

[rocky2]

I know a guy who has a son who is quadriplegic so ANY bacterial bad guy in the water can be deadly in his case. He has whole house water clarification based on UV protection and he told me that even though the light still burns, it's only effective for around 6 months at a clip, and then it needs to be replaced. Again, his needs may be extraordinary due to his circumstances.

 

[Wingnut]

the reason I went with the chlorination injection system was that ALL organics were toast ... and then the carbon filter pulled all that out. Since I had a shallow well (50 feet) and didn't want the expense of drilling a new, deeper, hole ... the chlorination unit did a phenomenal job ... and I didn't have to worry about whether the chlorine was getting old.

I have a problem understanding how the effectivity of UV would be limited that quickly. If it's still emitting the waveband ... it's still effective ... even if the strength is somewhat diminished. Just like a lamp .... you got light ... it get's a bit dimmer before it gives up the ghost ... but it doesn't just gradually go black. Different wavelength, true ... but same principal. Old IR lamps still give off heat .... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[rocky2]

Couldn't tell ya. This guy and I worked together so I got alot of the details of what goes on with quadriplegics. Again, this guys sons needs may be a million times more critical than the average user ever has to think about. My spa is about 4 years old, has the UV on it, and it still lights so I'm not even considering replacing it. But hey, it's 350 gallons of human soup that I don't plan on drinking.

 

[Wingnut]

<font color=blue>My spa is about 4 years old, has the UV on it...</font color=blue>
interesting ... is this what they sell as an ozone unit? or something different?
I'm using bromine for the pool and spa ... and never really checked into the non-chemical type since I'd never heard of anyone who used it (hate being an expensive guinea pig).
How's it working? You like it? Power consumption? Enquiring minds want to know.