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How to treat Iron in well water

Started by Ljohnsaw, December 10, 2018, 09:31:56 PM

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Ljohnsaw

My well water is a bit on the metallic taste side. ::) Had it tested and nothing bad in it, just a bit of iron.  The write up said if the iron is over 300 ppm, you will taste it and maybe see "rust" in it.  Well, mine tested out at 10,600ppm :o so, yeah, you can taste it.  It sometimes comes out reddish and other times it is clear.  But if you let it sit open to the air, sometimes it will rust and turn red.  Has to do with the different states of the iron in the water, so I've read.  It will settle out if you let it sit for a day.

My water is not hard but I do have a bit of Manganese (241ppm, recommended limit of 50ppm).  The pH is 6.74 (slightly acidic) which I read may hinder iron removal.  My water is moderately mineralized as the specific conductivity was measured at 106.

I've done a bit of reading but found conflicting solutions/effectiveness.  I'd like to hear from anyone who is treating for iron (before and after levels), what you've tried and what works the best for you.  Also, a ballpark price would be good to know so I can comparison shop for my solution.

My ideal solution would be a very low/no maintenance (settling tank?) followed by a reasonable price to give me a good tasting water.  Hopefully I'm not searching for a unicorn. ;)

Thanks in advance.
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

Southside

Can't offer any help but would like to know what others say.
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scsmith42

When I lived in a different state I had a lot of problems with ferrous iron in my water.  A water softener resolved it.

As I recall there are two different types of iron that can be present in water - ferrous and ferric.  A softener works for ferrous but not ferric.
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   We have a water treatment system here we use too. We put salt in the well and it has a UV light for additional treatment. It also has a backflush cycle that helps flush the crud. I don't understand the physics behind the salt in the water since we certainly don't taste it but it clarifies the water. Water in our area is notorious for iron and sulfur in the water.
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Ljohnsaw

Yeah, I read something about the ferrous and ferric, adding air to one makes it change to the other.  Also read about the reverse osmosis and that it take an enormous amount of water (400-600 gallons) at high pressure to back flush it.  I'll have limited water at low pressure.

I was hoping that the info I was reading was old tech and that there might be some new...
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

WDH

I have a water treatment system with a resin tank and a salt tank that holds 300 pounds of salt.  The resin beads capture the bonded iron and hold it until the back flush is done.  Mine back flushes once a day at about 2:00 a.m.  My system looks just like this one but with a larger salt tank.

How Water Softeners Work
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florida

Here in south Florida some wells have a terrible iron problem. It's so bad that sprinklers will stain the trees and sidewalks red! We had it in our well water and had the traditional water softner, aerator and resin tanks. In spite of that for 25 years we had to buy all of our drinking water and ice due to bad taste. Last year I spent $4,000.00 on a whole house RO system and finally have great tasting water. Our ice is clear and hard and our fixtures don't get scale. It was money well spent.  
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Ljohnsaw

Florida,
What is the maintenance cycle/requirements on your system?
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

florida

The installer comes by once a month and replaces the filter, 2" X 20," puts a little chlorine in the holding tank, checks all the adjustments, etc.  for $60.00. It's too much money but as long as I'm paying him he gives a 100% repair guarantee on my entire system including the well pump.  I'm contemplating doing it myself and saving $50.00 a month.
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Retired now!

Hilltop366

I have plenty of iron in my well water, the water looks clear but after a while it leaves a stain. I was told it was dissolved iron that oxidizes once it gets air.

So apparently the cure is to get the dissolved iron to oxidize so you can filter it out, there are several different ways to do this the system I have lets air into the water line from the well, the air lets the dissolved iron oxidize and then the filter tank with a special filter sand takes out the iron and backwashes according to the timer setting (I have mine set for every three days). I have had this filter for about 10 years with no issues or maintenance required so far. It was around $700 at the time.

It works pretty good but according to what I had read when looking for a filter is that the filters that use chlorine or hydrogen peroxide do a bit better job oxidizing the iron and is able to remove a bit more of it. The hydrogen peroxide was suppose to be the best and turned to hydrogen and oxygen (water) when used if I remember correctly. 

RPF2509

We had iron in a house we rented,  a salt system worked but we still bought water to drink.  One thing about our salt system is that it made it difficult to get the soap from a shower off - you always felt as if there was soap residue on you.   We moved and bought a house a mile away and now our water comes out crystal clear, cold and great tasting.  The difference is we are now tapping into water coming off the mountain instead of pooling in the flat.  Our neighbor across the street has terrible iron water but he gets his out of the flat.

Ljohnsaw

Quote from: RPF2509 on December 11, 2018, 06:26:20 PMWe had iron in a house we rented, a salt system worked but we still bought water to drink. One thing about our salt system is that it made it difficult to get the soap from a shower off - you always felt as if there was soap residue on you.

That's a water softener system.  I've been to houses that have that or their water is really soft - I don't like that feeling in the shower that you are soapy.  I really don't want to go that route.  I'm at the base of a 500-600' mountain but I guess I hit a pool rather then a river.

Hilltop - what kind of water flow (pressure & volume) is required for your sand flushing?  And where does this flushing water go, down the sewer?  I'm on septic and wonder/worry about large flushing volumes.  As far as the timing goes, is it time or some sort of measure of water used/filtered?  I am talking about my cabin so a weekend here or there in the winter and a week or two at a time in the summer - sporadic use.  Perhaps 100 gallons/day?
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

Klunker

we have a water softener and a iron filter.
Softener uses salt as mentioned, the iron filter uses ozone and has to be recharged every 2 days.
Iron filter is called a "iron Curtain".
Looks very similar to water softener without the salt reservoir.

Does the job, without it water was very strong iron taste and a 5 gal. bucket if you let it sit would have a fine sediment on the bottom in a couple of hours.

Ljohnsaw

Klunker,
What does it take to "recharge" the Iron Curtain?  Is it required to run the water through the softener first or do you just have really hard water?
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

Tee

I didn't read all replies so if this was answered to one of the above, sorry.
The salt (in water) is what back flushes the media beads to clean them.

Ljohnsaw

So I looked up Iron Curtain and watched a short video on it.  That led me to another video about how to clean your 1 micron filters with oxalic acid.  He was having to clean his filter once a month for 25 ppm.  I've got 425 times that so I think that may be out as a solution...
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

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