Well water question

[Egon]

With the salt water softeners the sodium ion is exchanged for the hardness ion in the water. If you taste salt in the water the unit is not backwashing properly.

It's the sodium that may create medical peoblems.

 

[kenstrac]

I had a very high iron content in the water If I put the water in an empty milk jug it was fairly clear leave it in the sun for 2 hrs and it looked like coffee.
installed water softener and potassium permanganate filter and that got rid of a lot of it but it's messy to work with.
after a while I called water co and they came out and took a test and told me that what I had for a filter was about all I could use to take that much iron out.
BTW if you install a water system make sure that any outside spigots ( that you use for irrigation stock water ) is piped in before water filter I had only 1 outside spigot going through water filter ( to wash car -etc)

 

[Ford850]

I got iron water too,and some sulpher, but plenty of it,but mine don't look cloudy like yours,mine is clear looking anyways. Gave up wearing white tee shirts years ago,Stains about anything.Does yours stain? if not it might not be your problem.

Only thing I got is a whole house filter on,and I use a brita filter pitcher for drinking water,that works fine for drinking if you change the whole house one about every 6 weeks.

Don't think one of those salt water sofeners will help you[if yours is iron water],they do make systems that are for iron water.

My hot stinks with the sulpher,cold has no oder.

Next time I get a hot water heater,going to either take that anode out or get one that helps with this problem[at least I heard this was the way to go?],anybody know anything about that?

But,like I said,got plenty of it[I guess,neighbors well went dry,mine didn't,his was good tasting water unfiltered. So,would rather have mine than his!

Greenmule,
You can unscrew the anode from the top of your softener and replace it with a brass pipe plug. Just turn off the water valves and drain a little from the tank first. It's a very easy 5 minute job and your water will stop smelling immediately. If you have a forced vent heater, you might have to remove a few screws to lift the fan, like I did. It still was a 5 minute job.

 

[greenmule]

Thanks,yeah thats what I heard,and you confirm it.

My hot water heater is getting old and its in a place under steps where you don't have room to do that[would have to cut copper lines,etc],electric heater,but the next one I get,will take it out before installing.

Wonder how many years you get out of one without anode? Also heard anode made out of something else might do both,[get rid of oder and help stop corrosion],old one is probably 8 years old or older.

 

[radioman]

Hmm, what I heard is that if the anode was removed from the hot water tank, , it would rust out alot faster then the tank is worth. It helps to repdue the electrons fromattacking the sidewalls of the tank due to heated water causing a small dielectric current. ( anyone want to correct me ? this is the best i remember without googleing this.) replacing the anode after 5-8 years greatly extends the life of the tank. DO you feel like replacing the tank every 2-5 years ? at 400 or more a pop ? As other tbn'er mentioned, areation and greensand and certain type of carbon will remove most of the sulfur smell.

 

[Dutch445]

we had a new water heater put in a couple years ago,
and soon after we had that smell. my softener guy, and
my plumber said that since i had the softener, the anode
could be safely removed. i think it was magnesium. i pulled the
water input out, cut off the rod that was attached to it,
and put that fitting right back into the tank saving the need for any additional parts.
smell went away.

as far as using potassium, i was told by my softener guy
that it's ok, unless there was iron, how much
he wasn't sure, but felt there could be issues caused by
the iron/potassium mix.

i am considering some filters also, as s/o has concerns from
the sodium content of the water. with my hardness of 25, the
formula worked out to 187 grams sodium per quart. if you look
at any food in your fridge, (2-300 grams per tablespoon of many items)
this is quite a moot point. but, i am still being asked to look into
alternatives. I will test my non softened spigot at the sink and see
what they might recommend for a filter, either undersink or whole house.

 

[sunspot]

A lot of good information water heaters.
Hot water heaters: Make yours last decades; solve a problem

 

[kenstrac]

we had a new water heater put in a couple years ago,
and soon after we had that smell. my softener guy, and
my plumber said that since i had the softener, the anode
could be safely removed. i think it was magnesium. i pulled the
water input out, cut off the rod that was attached to it,
and put that fitting right back into the tank saving the need for any additional parts.
smell went away.

as far as using potassium, i was told by my softener guy
that it's ok, unless there was iron, how much
he wasn't sure, but felt there could be issues caused by
the iron/potassium mix.

i am considering some filters also, as s/o has concerns from
the sodium content of the water. with my hardness of 25, the
formula worked out to 187 grams sodium per quart. if you look
at any food in your fridge, (2-300 grams per tablespoon of many items)
this is quite a moot point. but, i am still being asked to look into
alternatives. I will test my non softened spigot at the sink and see
what they might recommend for a filter, either undersink or whole house.

The potassium permanganate filter is used to remove iron but is messy to work with if you get some on your hands it stains them brown and it last about a week before it disappears( used it once to find out who was ripping me off put on door handle and locks guy had the stuff smeared all over him)

 

[GaryQWA]

There's a lot of misunderstanding in this thread. No softener will remove 18 ppm of iron for very long. There's not enough hardness in that water to use a softener to remove half that iron. You get very little to no benefit from the minerals in the water you drink. The amount of sodium added by a softener is; 7.85 mg/l (roughly a quart) per grain per gallon (gpg) of compensated hardness removed. I.E. 20 gpg times 7.85 = 157 mg of sodium added if you use sodium chloride to regenerate the softener, none if you use potassium chloride but, then you get roughly IIRC 12.5 mg of potassium per gpg (which may not be very good for you). If you look at food and beverage labels, you'll see 30 mg of sodium per can of Pepsi, 120-160 mg per slice of white bread, 530 per 9 oz glass of skim milk etc. etc..

Hot water only H2S (sulfur) odor is caused by sulfate reducing bacteria in the water. You can raise the temp on the heater to 140*F and kill them, remove or replace the anode rod with another type, or kill the bacteria in the water before it enters the heater.

To remove 18 ppm of iron, you need an iron filter and then a softener. Manganese greensand is not a good choice. Aeration of any type will not work for long and is more expensive than a backwashed or regenerated filter. Disposable cartridge filters will not remove ferrous (dissolved, clear water) iron, it goes right through them and they remove some of the ferric (insoluble rust red water iron) iron that discolors the water. If you have iron reducing bacteria (IRB) you must kill it because no softener or filter will and IRB can colonize softeners and filters of all types. You can use UV light to kill them and hydrogen peroxide doesn't work well for any type of reducing bacteria. Reducing types of bacteria are harmless and you can see evidence of them in the toilet tanks; an oily film on the water, clear to black slime at and under the water line.

All softeners and filters must be sized to treat the maximum peak demand flow rate gpm of the house based on how your family uses water or they can not remove all of whatever they are supposed to. There is a lot of information on all that on my web site.

Gary
Quality Water Associates

 

[Dutch445]

Gary,
I remember a quick conversation with you via email back
in 1995, had some softener issues. I don't think it was long
after that the softener was replaced and has been fine ever since.

My S/O believes the sodium intake is bad for her, and she started
drinking the unsoftened water that's available at the sink. I don't like
the way that water looks when i make gallon batches of iced tea,
but she's against the sodium. that's why i've been considering a
filter, but i don't really know what for.. can't filter out the sodium,
and need the softener to reduce the minerals