Water Filter system for well.

[Sysop]

Just curious as to what folk are doing for filtration on their well water and how much they have invested in their systems. I have pretty decent water where I live, but it could be better. I've been shopping the world of filtration and there is a lot to it. I've had a water test done and am narrowing in on a system, but just wanted to find out what others have installed and the associated costs.

Thanks!

 

[KiotiKowboy]

I'll be building soon and be on well water. The sulfur smell is enough to curl your hair - lol. I suspect, at a minimum, I'll be filtering for iron/sulfur/sediment, then running through a UV system into a pressurized storage tank. Prices for all this can run from $3K to whatever your wallet can bear. Personally, I would never consider using well water without UV.

 

[jimpen]

This is a story I was told a few years ago. NASA came up with a filter that remove every single other than H2O from water. They ran this through the ground test capsules. They found that the absolutely pure water would corrupt and corrode every single material from steel, copper, and any type of plastic. Once they added a little salt or other chemical the issue went away. So you may want to take a look at that in the process.

 

[Sysop]

I'll be building soon and be on well water. The sulfur smell is enough to curl your hair - lol. I suspect, at a minimum, I'll be filtering for iron/sulfur/sediment, then running through a UV system into a pressurized storage tank. Prices for all this can run from $3K to whatever your wallet can bear. Personally, I would never consider using well water without UV.

From my understanding there isn't a standalone filter that does iron and sulfur. You need a chlorination cycle with a retention vessel that will oxidize the water to a specific level for a specific amount of time (level and time determined by your contamination levels and average water temps in your retention vessel). The oxidation/chlorination process will separate and solidify the sulfur and iron so it can be filtered out.

The plan I have laid out on my system so far is: submersed pump to pressure tank to chlorinator to retention vessel to filtration to conditioner to house. So far I have the pump and pressure tank installed. I'll also be running a reverse osmosis system at the kitchen tap for drinking water and cooking (that contains the UV).

Do you have an approximate cost for your system worked up yet?

This is a story I was told a few years ago. NASA came up with a filter that remove every single other than H2O from water. They ran this through the ground test capsules. They found that the absolutely pure water would corrupt and corrode every single material from steel, copper, and any type of plastic. Once they added a little salt or other chemical the issue went away. So you may want to take a look at that in the process.

I think that filter (or filtration process) is what has helped fuel the growth of reverse osmosis systems. Good RO systems filter water into what is called "the Dalton scale". RO systems can remove contaminants as small as one atom. There are only a few types of plastic that can carry and store this type of water (I think they were specifically designed for this purpose). It is also known as "demineralized water".

 

[KiotiKowboy]

Here is just one site for filtration gear. I have no plans to use chemicals in my filtration.

Water Problems Treatment & Solutions - We can improve your water quality with purification systems and softeners

 

[Sysop]

From what experiences I've seen, I honestly don't think there is much way of doing a truly chlorine free system that will run long term. The activated charcoal filters some of my neighbors have had, advertised iron sulfur and manganese removal with just an electrical connection to run a timer for the backwash cycle, but ended up being clogged with bacteria growth. One of the closest neighbors had one that was supposed to be good for 3 years and was ruined in 3 months and the manufacturer claimed the levels had increased since the water test or the backwash cycles weren't happening frequent enough. Either way they opted out of providing warranty for it and she was left to buy a new system from another vendor. I've also heard more bad about most things than good, which is why I'm nervous about the investment and thought I'd reach out here and see what everyone else was doing and their associated costs in doing it.

 

[schmism]

standard sand filter for a pool for iron. water softener and carbon filter for after treatment. RO filter for drinking water.

 

[mrmikey]

All I've got on mine is a 20 micron 75 gpm filter that the water goes thru first for the big limps lol then to a smaller 5 micron filter with an UV light, serves me well so far and I don't have to change the filter every month, the big ones got the volume and the coarse filter, the smaller takes out the fines. Sulphur smell, I do have it but not bad enough to spend thousands of dollars to get rid of it...Mike

 

[wjmst]

What type of system depends on the type of water you have. I have a simple carbon filter from water to filter out the sediment (5 micro). I also recently installed a soda ash injection system to increase the ph of the water.

My parents have totally orange water from the well. It runs through a water softener and cleans it up nice. Destroys the water softener in about three years, but it works.

 

[Deere Dude]

My last two homes had wells and the water tasted pretty good. I just wanted the sediment out, which there wasn't much anyway.
I just ran the 1" pipe that came into the house and hooked up two $40 whole house filters in series.

I put 5 micron filters in both and changed them once a year. For all the toilets and sinks and dishwasher I branched off after the filter with a water softener, but any hard water was run through the filters.

I decided to change both filters once a year even though the second filter didn't much for sediments in it.
I liked the taste of the minerals in the water and didn't like the bland taste of fully purified water just as much as I don't care for bottled water.
The filter elements cost only $20 a year to replace.

If I have a good well and like the taste, that is what I would do again.

 

[sdboers]

What you end up needing will depend completely on what is coming out of the ground. A reputable company will be able to test and recommend the right product.

I have iron bacteria, sulfur and tannins in my water. After a false start with one company - I landed on a chlorination system which I have been using for the last decade+.

As water is pulled from the well and sent to the storage tanks - two solution tanks and pumps inject small quantities of chlorine and alum into the flow. The chlorine oxidizes the pollutants and the alum helps it coagulate and settle out of suspension in the holding tanks.

The holding tanks allow fresh water to be drawn from the top with the settled out material resting on the bottom. 3 times a week - for 60 seconds - the storage tanks push water out the bottom to waste to get rid of the sediment.

As fresh water leaves the holding tanks I passes through a sediment filter to catch any remaining debris, then a charcoal filter to remove any remaining chlorine, and finally a water softener.

A system like his needs to be sized to your usage. Since it is not "instant" treatment - it is possible to exhaust your stored supply and push lousy water through the house. It will "catch up" after several hours.

If I recall - total cost of the system was in the $7k range.

Sean

 

[Redneck in training]

This is a story I was told a few years ago. NASA came up with a filter that remove every single other than H2O from water. They ran this through the ground test capsules. They found that the absolutely pure water would corrupt and corrode every single material from steel, copper, and any type of plastic. Once they added a little salt or other chemical the issue went away. So you may want to take a look at that in the process.

Exactly right. I used to work for a apartment management company. We used to buy steam from local power generator to heat water for hydronic heating of about 25000 apartments. The condensate would eat any material but stainless steel or glass. It wouldn't corrode steel it would dissolve it. It would eat concrete.

 

[Sysop]

Thanks for all the replies. Sean, wow, $7k 10+ years ago? That sounds like a really high end setup and I'd hope fairly trouble free. Have you had any failures? Would you do anything differently knowing what you learned over the time you've owned it.

 

[sdboers]

The system has been very reliable - but not without maintenance. I wish it were a "install and forget" system, but it is not.

I will provide context by saying - I have *really* bad water without the system. The untreated water looks almost like a glass of iced tea. I have actually considered drilling a new well, but that is a lot of money to potentially get the exact same thing. My neighbours don't have water like mine, but I live on 150 acres - so my neighbours aren't exactly close either.

The solution tanks need to be re-filled about every 6 weeks or so depending on usage - same with the water softener. For the chlorine, you add 10 liters of chlorine and dilute with 90 liters of water. The alum is about 5 cups of alum dissolved into 100 liters of water. For the water softener - add salt as necessary.

The nipples where the solution is injected into the untreated water can occasionally become clogged and require a cleaning. Not frequently - less than yearly.

The original solution pumps were a diaphragm design. They required periodic replacement of the diaphragms and sometimes lost their prime. I eventually replaced those pumps with a different type - forget the name. The new pumps use almost a strip of surgical tubing and rollers to force the solution through - MUCH better.

The only thing I would do differently is to skip the first two systems we installed that didn't work and go directly to this one. It works.

Happy to provide you with any additional details you may want - either here or via pm - let me know.

Sean.

 

[vulcancowboy]

I had a serious problem with iron bacteria in my well. Periodically, the water came out of the tap looking like iced tea. The toilet bowls would be brown in a matter of days. I bought a filter & chlorination system from budgetwater.com. The system has been in for about 7 years now and the brown water is completely gone! The only problem I have is with the chemical pump, the check valves, springs and seats take a real beating. In fact, the pump has not been working now for about 3 months and guess what? I have not noticed any change in the water quality, makes me wonder if I really needed it at all.

I installed the equipment myself, the filter back washes once per day and requires no maintenance. The company was very helpful and I would recommend them highly.

As others have said, you need to determine what problem(s) you have with your water first. Get a test done by an independent lab that is not trying to sell you something and go from there.

 

[8N Ren]

Sean, they are called peristaltic pumps, we use that type at work to pump various solutions and suspensions.

 

[sdboers]

Sean, they are called peristaltic pumps, we use that type at work to pump various solutions and suspensions.

Yeah - yeah - what he said.... (points...)

These pumps are great. No such thing as air locks, and it never gets stuck on sludge. These pumps will literally pump mud if you ask them to.

Sean.

 

[joeyd]

I built my home 7 years ago and quickly found out that I had iron in my well. I had a couple of companies come out to test the water and give me estimates on their solutions. One answer was a softener and filter system which they "thought would fit in my mechanical room. I don't like softeners and I was intrigued by the other option, a single tank with a .02 micron filter that automatically backwashes daily. The system is called Homespring and has now been purchased by GE. My water is crystal clear and it removes 99.9999 % of bacteria and 99.99% of viruses. It was about $4500 when I purchased it but I didn't have much choice, the wife was not going to put up with iron rings on all the porcelain and rusty whites in the laundry.

It does require annual service which is pressure testing and cleaning the filter with a mild acid (citric). This year it tested the same as the day they installed it! Very happy with the product.

 

[crackerjack222]

"The holding tanks allow fresh water to be drawn from the top with the settled out material resting on the bottom. 3 times a week - for 60 seconds - the storage tanks push water out the bottom to waste to get rid of the sediment.

sdboers, I would like to have a description of the flush system on your holding tanks. I have a well that makes a L_O_T of sand. I have put a "whole house" filter on it and the sand is so fine it goes right thru the filter. Putting in a finer filter is not a solution as it would just plug up in minutes. I have a 1100 gallon plastic tank that I have been thinking of using as a settling tank, pulling water off near the top. I have not figured a way to remove the sand from the bottom of the tank. Can you share with me how your system works to remove the sand?

 

[Sysop]

I'd be interested in such a thing also. My filter and softener have automatic flush/regeneration cycles, but my big oxidation/retention vessel will need sediment manually flushed from the bottom each month.

I've ended up going with a full system of chlorination, customized mix of filtration and conditioning medias, and point of use reverse osmosis. The system was slightly less than $5000 to my door. Getting supplies to run it for about a year, plumbing it all in, and installing a 50 gallon CNG water heater (this house has never had a water heater, damned civil war era construction. :laughing: At least I can tap off the line that feeds the old gas lighting to run the new water heater on :thumbsup has me almost up to $6k...

Reasons I went with the system I chose (in no particular order) was it was keeping a small family owned/operated business in operation, comes with a 10 year warranty, very little maintenance, no heavy jugs of liquid chlorine to dilute and play with, high capacity/output, no chlorine or salt enters the home (unless you want it to as there is a mode to allow some chlorine into the house to disinfect plumbing and fixtures like running the house on city water for a day), I'm sure there were other reasons that now escape me. No clue how well it will do, I have some high expectations.