Home Water Filter Question

[marrt]

I have a relatively new house (2yrs old) with a well. We have always had a problem with sediment in the water. The house has a rather large (20” “Big Blue”) sediment filter on the line coming in from the well. However, even this filter isn't large enough as I have to replace the cartridge every 45-60 days at about $35 a pop. I saw that larger filter systems are available, using a back wash system, but they cost $700 to $1000. I only need a sediment filter. But it needs to be larger than the do it yourself filters, but smaller than the $700 systems. Any ideas?

 

[Darren]

You can buy the cartridge setup for a lot less. The key point is the micron rating on the cartridge. Use a multiple cartridge setup in series. Put something like a 10 micron or even 2 micron setup in the line to filter the water first. that will pull out the gross sediment before it has a chance to foul the cartridge in your exiating unit.

The 2 micron cartridges are avalable at Walmart for about $3.00. The housing probably goes for about $40.

If you haven't had your water tested, it would be a good idea. If you have something like manganese, dissolved iron or iron bacteria, you have a problem that might not be solved by a simple filter.

 

[WVBill]

When I moved in my new house 4 years ago, we also had sediment (silt) in our well water. I put in two of the <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.omniwaterfilters.com/u25_filter.htm> Omni Filter U25 whole house filters </A> (canister size is about the size of a 1 liter soda bottle). They were less than $50 each at Home Depot. The reason I put in two was to make sure the filter did not restrict the water flow (gpm) so I plumbed them in parallel. This also has the effect of increasing the filter "capacity" or length of time between filter replacements.

I use the Omni filter RS1 filters (or equivalent) and replace them about every 90 days - the cartridges are less than $10 each.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Hey Martt, just a thought but sometimes the pump is too low in the well (near the bottom) and it sucks a lot of sediment up everytime it kicks on. A neighbor of mine had this problem and he and two other guys pulled the pump, cut about 15-20 feet off the bottom pump, reattached the wires, etc. and then put the pump back in the well. Virtually eliminated the sediment problem. I have the same problem at my house so I might try to get the neighbor to work a deal with me. Of course you've got to know what you're doing (not me), or hire a plumber.

 

[mrcaptainbob]

I, too, went the multiple filter route. I'm using four Omni cartridges. The first two are at 20 micron's (usually), and the second filtration is at 5 micron's. This is done before it gets to the water softener. The incoming 1" is split off to two 3/4" to each cartridge. Then is sent on to the next cartriges and then reconnected to 1" on the way to the softener. As for sucking silt from the bottom, that is a possibility. raising it off the bottom (more than 3') brings it out of the screen area. That's alright to do if you have a very deep well, or a very fast recovery rate. At two years old, I don't think you'd have enough on the bottom to reach the pump. If it's shallow or the recovery rate is at the limit, you stand a chance of running out the water volume that's in the well casing and running the pump dry. That won't hurt it if it's a good quality pump. But it makes it hard on the household system if it runs low on pressure and can't recover fast enough. Since it is two years old, I suspect that all was done right and proper and that all you need is a neat set up with those Omni type filters. BTW...the well we're on is a 4" cast iron, 50' deep and almost 30 years old.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

My well has a settling tank as well as a filter. The water runs into the bottom of the tank and it is drawn from the top. The tank is about 3 Ft. Dia x 6 Ft high. About every week, or whenever I remember, I turn the spigot on full blast at the bottom of the tank and eject a bunch of crud onto the ground for a few seconds. Seems to work well.

A neighbor did the same thing mentioned above, raising the pump a little and that helped him with his problem.

 

[Soundguy]

Darren has a good idea.. use a cheap prefilter to grab most of the sediment before it hits your expensive filter.

( Though 45-60 days on one of the nice filters is not terrible... I have seen worse water systems ).

Don't go for the carbon units.. you just need the floss types for prefiltering... And ig you are up for this, try a sedimentation screen before your prefilter.

I have one on my system.. It is a metalic screen built into a tube, that mounts into a housint.. it is about the size of a 2 litre bottle... filter is washable, and lasts years with maintenance. Traps sand to clay size particles.... that and a cheap floss filter, will extend your nice filters life.

The sedimentation filter is also a cheap buy... less that 100 bucks.. in fact i believe mine was 80 installed....

Just flush the sand filter once a month and you are good to go.. and the floss might make it what 1-2 months? If you can get 8+ mos out of your nice filter you will be ahead of the game money wise by the end of the year.

Finally a discussion on the tractor board I'm actually qualified to comment on../w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Soundguy

 

[Darren]

Here's a source for the big blue filter housings and cartridges. http://farmtekcatalog.com/c/g8/p/fu...m/c/g8/p/fullpage.php?page=t1&session=1023928

Their filters are quite a bit less than what you're currently paying. It might be worth it to get one of their catalogs.

Your housing is rated at 20 gpm. A reuseable cartridge from Farmtek is $14.82 for 1, 5, 20 or 50 micron units.

 

[Darren]

Something else to consider is that your "Big Blue" setup is rated for 20 gpm. Most units you find in stores are 10 GPM. I'm not sure why you need that much flow but if you do and you want to prefilter the water, you should get another 20 gpm unit. Farmtek sells the 20" Big Blue for $37.00. Reuseable filters are $11.00.

 

[marrt]

I think I’ll take the advice offered here and add another 20” cartridge. However, the Farmtek filter looks like it uses a 2.5 inch filter. My cartridge is a 4.5 inch system. Anyone have any other sources? I’m also thinking about ordering a backwash system to go in front of the cartridge filters.

 

[Darren]

I'm not sure what you mean by a backwash system. The filter from Farmtek even though smaller is designed for 20 gpm and is reuseable. It may block up faster than the original unit but you can wash the filter and reuse it. If you have several filters for the Farmtek unit, just change them out when one blocks. Then clean it and put it aside. The more expensive filter in the original filter shouldn't need to be changed that often.

If you've got that much sediment, I wouldn't want to run that through a softener or iron filter. You want to remove the sediment first. That's the absolute first step. Then you pipe the water to the more expensive treatment equipment.

Does your water have an off taste, color or smell?

 

[marrt]

<font color=green> I'm not sure what you mean by a backwash system. </font color=green>

Actually, there’s one at the bottom of the Farmtek page that I am considering. A backwash system for sediment just uses a “permanent” filter that is cleaned through a backwash, rather than removed and replaced.

My water doesn’t have any color, smell, or taste issues. Only issue is the sediment.

 

[deepsnow]

martt,
I had an off & on sediment problem with my well. Some days significant amounts, some days not visible but present . I eventually spent the big bucks & hired a well driller who was able to diagnosis and correct my water problem. The pump was hung too close to the bottom of the casing. By just removing 10 feet of draw pipe the problem has been eliminated. No need for filters. The vortex created by the pump was strong enough to occasionally break loose the well core below the casing allowing the stuff to be sucked up.

 

[Alan L.]

My 500' well is about 2 and a half years old. The first year my water was cloudy about 80% of the time. The only filter that would clear it up was 1 micron or smaller. It was almost always cloudy, and I didn't want to filter the whole house because of the loss of water pressure involved. I first put a tap filter on there that had to be replaced about every month or so. It was inconvenient.

I then bought a GE 2 stage undersink water filter at Home Depot for about $125. The filters cost about $34 for the pair and I change them out every 3 or 4 months. The setup included a faucet that I had to install on the back of the sink to one side, so it is only used for drinking water - not for regular use. It only puts out about 1 gallon per minute, which is OK for drinking water.

Our water seldom ever clouds up anymore, but this setup has worked fine for us. The drawback of course, is that our toilet tanks collect a gray mud in the bottom over a period of time, and I suspect the water heater is the same. I dug out about an inch of mud out of each toilet tank after about two years of use.

The first two or three months after the well was drilled, and the water was mostly cloudy the pump went out and they had to pull it. I had them take a 21' section of galvanized pipe out, therefore raising the pump that much, hoping to solve the cloudiness problem, but it didn't help. Only time did.

My well is 500', and the pump now sits at 399 feet, formerly at 420 feet.

 

[jimgerken]

My water has an odor, guess I'd call it sulpher-like. The odor leaves the water if it is left to stand in an open container for an hour or so. Then the water tastes fine. Someone told me it may have iron bacteria, does this makes sense? What test can i do to verify, and what is the fix list? Thanks.....

 

[mrcaptainbob]

There is such a thing as iron bacteria. We got a neat book from the library that was very informative. We had a problem with black growing on everything. Bleach got rid of it, so I thought that it was bacteria. Found out a lot about manganese build up. Learned the PROPER way to disinfect the water system. There are some good instructions that you can download from either the federal or state governments as to what the chemical actions are that naturally take place in a well, and the proper way to treat the whole water system from bottom of well casing to faucet. Happy bleaching!....

 

[mrcaptainbob]

Incidentally, I still have the copy of the disinefectant procedure in my files. If you'd like I can e-mail them to you.

 

[jmattox1]

If you are up to pulling your well.

A simple way to find out if your pump is on bottom, after well is pulled tie a weight to a fishing pole then drop int well casing. Pull it back out and measure.

Also if your sediment filter is before your pressure tank the water pressure should not be effected.

just my $.02 worth

 

[Darren]

It seems like you have hydrogen sulfide. This link will help you determine what's going on. http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/groundwater/pdfs/MDH-HS&SB.pdf

 

[Soundguy]

I would be very cautious in putting a filter between the pump and pressure tank.

Restricted output flow is a prime cause for cavitation in hydraulic machines. Restrictor plates / orifices in hydraulic systems will do the same thing.

Not to mention, that if your sediment filter stayes plugged, there is significant back pressure.. and/or your filter may blowby, or rupture some pvc, depending on your specific pump and setup, etc.

Keep in mind that your pressure switch will not see the 'pump' pressure on the inlet side of that filter.. and that during a 'plugged filter ' situation, you may be developing excess pressures between the pump outlet, and the filter inlet.

Perhaps a settling tank between the pump and pressure tank may be more appropriate.

Soundguy