Well Water Filter

[rScotty]

I hear what you are saying. I guess I'm trying to tweak this the best I can. When I bought the house, there was a single, 1 micron big blue filter. I would change it every 3 months. I should have left well enough alone. Everything worked, I was just trying to buy more filter time. Then I heard about the spin down filter. It sounded like a great idea, but fine silt would stick to the screen and the black magnesium would stick to the silt and bake onto the screen where it wouldn't let the silt spin down when purging.

I'd suggest that you sketch out your system and post it. Maybe someone will see something in the way it is designed that might help. Sketch in things like just where are the filters inline with respect to the pressure storage tanks? Approximently how long are the lines between each and what size? And are there any additional things like a UV system, RO, mineral pH treatment (softeners), or booster pumps or additional pressure storage? And real important: At what point do you separate the household water from water used outside the house?

Here's what we do.....Our water comes from a shallow well, so the water has to have a lot of treatment. First in line is a manual self-puging backflow filter - which I think is what you are calling the spin-down filter -. Ours is of the brass type with a 200 micron screen and a manual backflow valve on the bottom which I turn on for a few seconds every week to clean the filter and purge the crud.
Most backflow valves have a choice of 50, or 100, or 200 micron permanent filter screens - which are available in either polyester or stainless steel material.
You might want to experiment.

In our system, the next thing in line is a pressure tank to feed the fine filters. However, important point is that water for the yard is tapped off after this pressure tank but before it goes to the fine filters.

For the finer filters. I use 10" length size filters and put 3 of them in parallel so as one clogs anyone can throw a lever and switch to another. I find it more convenient that way and think it saves time changing filters. At least for me it takes little more time to change three than it does to change one. And if they do clog fast, I can just open the valves on all three and triple the flow until I get around to changing them.. Having them in parallel in their clear plastic containers also gives me a chance to eyeball them to sort of evauate how the different micron & filter medias work compared to each other.

Last in line is another pressure tank with it's own booster pump. One rarely needs more than 15 or 20 gallons of household water at any one time, so because of the second tank there is never a lack of pressure inside the house. And that also means there should be time enough for water to flow through the filters and recharge the second pressure tank even if the filters are getting a little saturated.

Something to think about is that there is nothing wrong with a filter being saturated. They are not only doing their job, but they filter even better as they clog up..... just more slowly. In fact, sand filters don't filter at all well until they build up a layer of crud in them to reduce their effective micron size. Sand filters tend to get better with age and clogging, which explains why they are often quite large. Again, the solution to keep pressure as filters clog is a larger final pressure tank. Cities use water towers for that final pressure tank and the same sort of philosophy applies to house hold systems as well. A larger final pressure tank gives the whole system the time it needs to fill up even when the filters begin to saturate.

This system I've just described works pretty well for water inside the house. Just remember that for watering the lawn and outside hoses to tap into the system right after the first pressure tank but before the fine filters. That way only the household water gets the full treatment.
good luck,
rScotty

 

[lzicc]

Here is how it is setup now. I installed the Rusco sediment filter. It is first in line from the well. This is more like a sediment/Spin down filter. From there it goes to the Big Blue, 20" 5 micron, then from there it goes to another big blue, 20" 1 micron then to the house faucets. I have had this setup for 2 days and this is actually working so far...... My water pressure is better now than it has ever been. I've noticed a difference. It's not huge, but noticeable.

What is nice about this Rusco vs the ISpring is that there is an area below the screen that acts like a sediment reservoir. Also, when you flush it, it has a 1/2" outlet vs the Isprings 1/4" outlet. When you open the valve to flush the water from the Rusco, the water comes out fast and you can see a little vortex in the reservoir while this is happening. The screen cleans out very well. It's only been 2 days, but the Ispring clogged up within a few hours. If this does work out for me, I am going to connect a garden hose timer to auto flush the system.

 

[lman]

I guess I feel blessed as I have a 90 ft. well that was installed in 95. I do not have any filters and still have the original pump and water heater that was installed at that time. I do use a water softener. I have never seen any sign of sediment or anything that needed to be filtered.

 

[lzicc]

Me too. I looked for the transparent ones and the design of the input/output ports, the reviews say these ports would leak because of the tolerance being too large. If Pentek would make one that was clear, I'm sure it would not leak. I only looked at the 20" ones. The 10" ones may have a better selection of brand, but I don't want to go down to a 10" filter.

I do not and never have liked non transparent filter bowls. I want to see what the media looks like at all times.

 

[lzicc]

My last house was like that. Although I did have to add a chlorinator for ecoli and a water softener, but no real sediment to deal with and it was only 100' deep. The one I have now scares me since it is 270' deep. That's a long pull if I ever have to pull it out.

I guess I feel blessed as I have a 90 ft. well that was installed in 95. I do not have any filters and still have the original pump and water heater that was installed at that time. I do use a water softener. I have never seen any sign of sediment or anything that needed to be filtered.

 

[fruitcakesa]

I usually use 5 micron solid media type filter that gets changed about every 2 months or so.
BTW, our deep well pump failed last February after 25+ years. The local well drillers came out and pulled and replaced the old pump in about 2 hours.
Expensive but a relief to get it fixed so quickly in the middle of winter.

 

[goeduck]

I guess I feel blessed as I have a 90 ft. well that was installed in 95. I do not have any filters and still have the original pump and water heater that was installed at that time. I do use a water softener. I have never seen any sign of sediment or anything that needed to be filtered.

Mine is not filtered either and I do not think many people around here filter. It is fairly hard water unfortunately.

 

[lzicc]

I was emailing tech support at WaterBoss water softener, that's the softener I have and they said to connect the softener directly after the pressure tank then install the sediment filters. They said the water softener is designed to capture dirt and sediment. Then put the sediment filters after the softener to capture anything that may have leaked through. Interesting. Mine is setup with the softener after the filters. This could make a difference for my situation. I would have thought that if I would connect it directly to the pressure tank, the sediment would ruin the softener, but that doesn't sound like the case.

 

[check]

I do not and never have liked non transparent filter bowls. I want to see what the media looks like at all times.

I didn’t know you could even get the transparent ones. Will have to check it out.

 

[MF RED in MT]

I didn’t know you could even get the transparent ones. Will have to check it out.

Here's the clear filter I installed after my pressure tank:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01JIRLRXY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And here's the filter I am using for a well system:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BQWYDO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s03?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If I remember correctly, for a well system you don't get very aggressive filtering unless you invest in a big bucks system?

I usually change my filter out every 6 months.

Good luck, KC

 

[rScotty]

Some background info that I didn't know before installing our own house water supply from a shallow well.

1. The biggest concern is pathogens.... i.e. bad bugs. Municipal water sourced from places like shallow ground water wells, creeks, rivers, & some springs kill the bugs with either a drip chlorine system, a biologically active sand filter (where good bugs eat bad ones) or by using Ultra Violet light.
Deep wells don't always need to kill pathogens. Deep wells are considered to be naturally free from contamination with pathogens as long as sterilization procedures are followed when the well is drilled and the pump is hung.
In most areas you can get your water tested for pathogens for a nominal fee.

2. Second concern is dissolved chemicals. This is the largest concern with deep well water. Metals range from arsenic to lead to iron or uranium. Chemicals are things like fluorine & carbonates. There will always be some amount of everything, so the health services have limits to all of these. Since they are dissolved, filters will not remove them. If you care about this, you may want to do what we do, which is to send a water sample to local state university every few years and they send back an analysis which also notes if any of these dissolved chemicals are over or under the limits. Costs a hundred bucks or so...

3. The last concern is the only thing that filters will remove. i.e. particles that make muddy water. This is way down on the list of things to worry about. The number of particles is counted in a measurement called the "turbidity index" that measures how transparent or muddy the water is. Particles are not much of a danger themselves. They are only a concern because pathogens can hide behind these particles and avoid the chlorine or UV sterilization.

BTW, you can get transparent filter housings at Home Depot. All of mine came from there and have lasted 20 years now.
enjoy, rScotty

 

[Firemanbuck]

If you don't know what you have, you don't know how to treat it. You have to get the water tested, or bring in someone who knows wells and filtration systems to test and see what you have. Then, and only then, can you begin to make intelligent decisions on what needs to be done with your system. Is it particulate, chemical, or biological, or some combination? To keep randomly adding filters to the system only wastes your time and money. Please, for the love of all that is holy, bring in a specialist....

 

[poncho62]

This is what I have. My pressure tank just went for a crap, was replaced yesterday ($1000)....Pressure is still low and the plumber figures my 10 year old iron filter and water softener are on their last legs. That's gonna be 3 grand more, unless I decide to rent, which I am thinking about.
Apparently, these systems are only good for about 10 years, especially if you have high iron like I do. Still cheaper than city water I guess.

 

[lzicc]

My concern is more about consistent pressure. The well was tested when we purchased the house and was good to drink. I just use our water for washing and showering, etc. I have an RO system connected that we use for our drinking water. My main goal here is to get as much time out of my filters as I can. So far, the way I have it setup now with the new Rusco sediment filter, my pressure has been actually really good and consistent. The Rusco also flushes the filter unlike the Ispring spin down I had on it. The Ispring did not clean much off of the filter when I would spin it down.

After speaking with WaterBoss about moving my softener before the filters makes sense after thinking about it. With the filters before the softener, when the softener would backwash, it was back-washing using filtered water and using filter life. WaterBoss support said that it needs to be first in line so when it does backwash, it get's full water pressure. They said not to worry about sediment, the softener was built to handle that and if it would happen to catch any sediment, it would back wash out.

Also, a softener removes magnesium which looks like the black buildup I have on my filter. If I could eliminate the magnesium before it hits the filter, my filters would last longer.

In theory it sounds right.

After using the Rusco spin down, my filters are still white. They have only been in use since I start this thread, but without having the Rusco, they would have had quite a bit of black on them already.

 

[lzicc]

I don't know about that. With the amount of money I put into filters and salt, I think city water would be a wash for cost. I wish I had city water. I do have city sewage, so I am happy about that. I would rather have city sewage and well water, so I am lucky there.

This is what I have. My pressure tank just went for a crap, was replaced yesterday ($1000)....Pressure is still low and the plumber figures my 10 year old iron filter and water softener are on their last legs. That's gonna be 3 grand more, unless I decide to rent, which I am thinking about.
Apparently, these systems are only good for about 10 years, especially if you have high iron like I do. Still cheaper than city water I guess.

 

[jorswift]

We first had some issues with our well when we first moved to the home. Sulfer smells, horribly hard water, deposits and bugs in the well and just found out we had high levels of arsenic in the water. MY solution was to have a couple of different independent water conditioner contractors come out and give me their pitch and advise. I first shocked the well and plumbing. Then went with a rented softener that is awesome! Which connects to a whirlpool central home filtration system, and installed an APEC under cabinet Reverse Osmosis system for our drinking water. Water has been great since. Just need to replace the RO filters every 6-12 months.

 

[PILOON]

Good grief. Our water bill with usage is 1/5 or less that much. The crooked water department that痴 more rural would still be 1/3 that.

Just wait.
What with electric cars and bikes there will be no user taxing and they need more and more $$'s to satisfy their union demands.
Shucks be lucky you are not commercial and they install a water meter (on your dime).

Soon the cost of having a well will look like a real bargain.

 

[mike48130]

My concern is more about consistent pressure. The well was tested when we purchased the house and was good to drink. I just use our water for washing and showering, etc. I have an RO system connected that we use for our drinking water. My main goal here is to get as much time out of my filters as I can. So far, the way I have it setup now with the new Rusco sediment filter, my pressure has been actually really good and consistent. The Rusco also flushes the filter unlike the Ispring spin down I had on it. The Ispring did not clean much off of the filter when I would spin it down.

After speaking with WaterBoss about moving my softener before the filters makes sense after thinking about it. With the filters before the softener, when the softener would backwash, it was back-washing using filtered water and using filter life. WaterBoss support said that it needs to be first in line so when it does backwash, it get's full water pressure. They said not to worry about sediment, the softener was built to handle that and if it would happen to catch any sediment, it would back wash out.

Also, a softener removes magnesium which looks like the black buildup I have on my filter. If I could eliminate the magnesium before it hits the filter, my filters would last longer.

In theory it sounds right.

After using the Rusco spin down, my filters are still white. They have only been in use since I start this thread, but without having the Rusco, they would have had quite a bit of black on them already.

I was always told the filter goes before. If you have a lot of sediment and other crap and your filter is clogging, then it is working. I was told you don't want all that going into your softener, a lot more expensive to deal with. At my last house I had the spin down type like you, then a cartridge, then the softener. I had a lot of crap that looked like rust but I think it was bacteria. There is some bacteria that is red and rusty looking, but not harmful. I wanted to add the automatic valve on the spin down would have been nice. I took out the filter once a year and scrubbed it, it get build up in the mesh.

Do you chlorinate your well often? I did it twice a year, and it pulled out all sorts of crap after, then clears up and better. I have seen people have the wells flushed too if you have a lot of issues. I was looking into a sand or regenerating filter, but then moved so didn't care anymore. My new house has very clean water so not so many issues.

 

[rScotty]

My concern is more about consistent pressure.


The well was tested when we purchased the house and was good to drink. I just use our water for washing and showering, etc. I have an RO system connected that we use for our drinking water. My main goal here is to get as much time out of my filters as I can. So far, the way I have it setup now with the new Rusco sediment filter, my pressure has been actually really good and consistent. The Rusco also flushes the filter unlike the Ispring spin down I had on it. The Ispring did not clean much off of the filter when I would spin it down.

If your concern is about consistent pressure, then filters are not the first place to look to change that. It's true that a clogged filter will reduce the pressure to the faucet, but that only happens if the pressure holding tank is so small that it exhausts quickly which means that the house water is being drawn directly through the filters without the opportunity to be stored under pressure.

Dirty filters or too small of a pressure tank can both cause the same lack of pressure. i.e. not enough to take a long hot shower at high pressure...

You can get a larger pressure tank - they are inexpensive. If space or price is prohibitive, you can always run several smaller ones hooked together in parallel to equal a larger tank.
I've even seen systems with pressure tanks before and again after the filter/softener stage.
rScotty

 

[andrewjp]

I recommend Culligan WH-S200-C sediment water filter. To me this filter is absolutely amazing. As far as filtering goes, it works great. The water quality is so much better and there are no leaks.