Acidic Water

[wjmst]

I recently tested my well water for my house and the result was a ph level of 5. It looks like a soda ash injector is what everyone recommends for adjusting the ph level to that degree. Anyone use one of these? It looks like I would then also need a water softener and some filters. Any thoughts on the best way to increase my ph level?

The reason I even looked into the ph level is because I had a copper pipe start leaking. Around the pipe was some green and bluesh colored stains. Maybe it would just be cheaper to replace the copper plumping! I only have copper at the fixtures, everything else is pex.

Just looking for thoughts and opinions.

 

[Circle W]

I think I'd just switch everything to pex. And with the price of copper being high, you can probably offset some of your cost.

 

[Egon]

Going to plex may be the easiest in the long run. That said what water quality do you wish?

 

[wjmst]

Going to plex may be the easiest in the long run. That said what water quality do you wish?

Water is fine other than the low ph level. I want water that won't eat holes in my pipes! So either change the water or change the pipes.

 

[coveredbridge]

If you use a salt softener that is going to increase the ph level. You may not need anything else.

 

[Fossil Farm]

My friend deals in pumps and water softener equipment all day long. He recommends a calcium (calcite) treatment instead of soda ash. If the soda ash equipment fails, you could get a nasty alkaline burn in the shower. Calcite is more expensive, but safer. We recharge it about every 7 to 9 months with half a bag of calcite.

 

[dave1949]

Water is fine other than the low ph level. I want water that won't eat holes in my pipes! So either change the water or change the pipes.

Just changing to pex still leaves your washer, dish washer, water heater, fixtures, etc. exposed to low ph.

 

[slow wrench]

I recently tested my well water for my house and the result was a ph level of 5. It looks like a soda ash injector is what everyone recommends for adjusting the ph level to that degree. Anyone use one of these? It looks like I would then also need a water softener and some filters. Any thoughts on the best way to increase my ph level?

The reason I even looked into the ph level is because I had a copper pipe start leaking. Around the pipe was some green and bluesh colored stains. Maybe it would just be cheaper to replace the copper plumping! I only have copper at the fixtures, everything else is pex.

Just looking for thoughts and opinions.

The green and blue stain is acid flux that was not cleaned off the pipe after sweating the fitting.Over time it can eat through copper, especially type M pipe.I always use a spray bottle of water, and a rag,after it cools a bit.

 

[teejk]

The green and blue stain is acid flux that was not cleaned off the pipe after sweating the fitting.Over time it can eat through copper, especially type M pipe.I always use a spray bottle of water, and a rag,after it cools a bit.

As a veteran of the "pinhole wars" in copper pipe in my previous house, you might be correct but I've also seen it the middle of a 10' stick. I did a lot of browsing on the topic and always came away with "nobody knows". It could be inferior copper, I've read about electrolysis, it could be a host of other things. In my case I think that it was something in the DHW loop in a Weil McLain oil fired boiler since I was getting the problem on the hot water runs and not on the town supplied cold water. Seriously consider switching to PEX regardless. Tearing open drywall and patching it is never fun.

 

[BobRip]

Even with PEX you have the copper connections. I think only having small sections of copper means the acid gets to focus on these fittings. I had a friend switch from copper to PEX and the PEX fittings are failing quicker than the copper did. You need to get the ph right to protect all of your equipment. You could also go to CPVC and be all plastic, but you still need to fix the ph to protect everything else.

 

[teejk]

Even with PEX you have the copper connections. I think only having small sections of copper means the acid gets to focus on these fittings. I had a friend switch from copper to PEX and the PEX fittings are failing quicker than the copper did. You need to get the ph right to protect all of your equipment. You could also go to CPVC and be all plastic, but you still need to fix the ph to protect everything else.

I think PEX uses mostly brass or stainless connectors now (at least in my house) after some of the early fittings failed. But same can be said for CPVC where the glue was failing. And in a high acid water situation, I would be leary (PVC is PVC).

I would certainly recommend Pex where the tubing is buried behind drywall. Locating a leak (usually a horizontal run evidenced by one of those brown stains on the ceiling where sweating in a patch will cause one to lose religion), having to cut the drywall out, fix the leak, replace the drywall, apply/sand the compound several times over several days. Not fun and a big mess.

But I agree. Ph of domestic water needs to be higher than a 5 (a myriad of sites out there saying 6.5 and up). Since the OP had the water tested, I'll assume it was on the well side and not a hot water tap. So back to the original question! What's the newest idea that won't break the bank?

 

[moship]

I have acidic water, but can't recall the exact pH level coming out of the well at this moment. To treat the water a blend of Calcite and Corosex (mag-oxide) will be needed since the pH is below 6.0. This will cause the water to become hard and thus it is common to use a water softener down stream of the neutralizer. I personally use a blend of Calcite and Corosex to correct my pH.

If the water was above 6.0 Calcite can be used by itself.

Be careful with Corosex as it needs to be mixed with the Calcite as it has a tendency to clump together and become like one solid piece.



From one of the water treatment web sites.

Calcite: Use if your pH is from 6.0 to 6.9 Raises pH to 7.0 to 7.5.

Calcite-Corosex 90%/10% Blend: Use if your pH is from 5.0 to 6.0 Raises pH to 7.0 to 7.5

Calcite-Corosex 80%/20% Blend: Use if your pH is from 4.5 to 5.0 Raises pH to 7.0 to 7.5

Corosex Useful for pH from 4.0 to 6.0 Raises pH to 7.0 to 8.5 Note: usually blended with Calcite


Hope this helps

 

[wjmst]

Thanks for all of the replies.

I had a kinetico guy come out and give his sales pitch. He came up with a complete system for around $6,000. This includes a ph neutralizer (soda ash), water softener, two filters, and a reverse osmosis drinking water system.

The basic water softener was $2100, what makes it $1700 better than the $400 model at SEARS?

Culligan is coming out tonight to give me their estimate.

Will let you know what they have to say.

 

[Dr_Zinj]

We run our water from the well through a calcium bed tank before it gets to the rest of the system. It's not particularly acidic, but it does have a lot of iron and manganese it in so that without it, we get horrible staining. Only thing about the calcium bed is it back flushes once a day and usually startles us when it goes off.

 

[RalphVa]

We put a sodium carbonate bed into the inlet poly line from the well about 5 years ago. Our well had gone acidic over the years. Had had it tested, just above 7 now. They took out the in-line filter when the bed was put it. Said it wasn't needed. Have to recharge the bed every other year.

The bed's a lot easier to deal with than replacing sheet rock all over the place from a repiping job..

Ralph

 

[wjmst]

Culligan stopped out last night and the tested my water as well, with the same results. The only problem is acidic water. Their solution was to simple put a tank with a soda ash feeder for about $950. I asked if I needed anything else like a softener, filters, etc., he said I could get anything I wanted, but I don't need any of that. The water is good, except for the acidic nature of it. So that was nice to hear. Much cheaper than kinetico and only what I need.

Still not sure what I am going to do though. It looks like the setup from Culligan is pretty simple. Something I could probably do myself, so I may price out the parts and see what happens.

 

[Pilot]

We have a very low pH, somewhere in the low 5 range, and no minerals in our water at all. Had blue stains in sinks and shower. Treated with a calcite system & it works just fine--except now we do get some mineral buildup. Cost of the system was around $1,300 15 years ago. We only add calcite about every 18 months, but there are just 2 of us in the house.