Home Water Filter Question

[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