Suggestions for alternative well water treatment?

[bobmct]

Living in east central CT I have both a deep well and a septic system. Many decades ago I had my water analyzed which showed considerable levels of iron in it. As a result I had installed an "exchange tank" that each month has to have a vendor come in and exchange the tank with another containing new chemicals. I am assuming the chemicals might be a salt based substance (just a guess).

The cost of this service has gone up and up over the past decades to the point where I am looking for an alternative that "might" be less dependent on an outside vendor and hopefully less expensive to support. BTW - I also have a whole house odor filter that I replace every couple of months.

From those of you with similar water issues, what have you done to solve the iron and/or odor problems on your systems? Remember, I believe I'm not supposed to backwash a treatment/softener system into the septic (so I'm told).

All suggestions/recommendations/ideas GREATLY appreciated.

Bob

[High Miles]

I have a deep well in Illinois that produces more iron than a small mine. For fifty years, a regular water softener - self serviced - with addition of block or pellet salt, and the ubiquitous rust filter with changeable filters is all that it takes. The hot water still stinks. Also, only the toilet goes into the septic tank and field. All other waste goes into a home made grease trap and then into an entirely separate field of drain tiles. My Pop figured out that setup sixty years ago and it has proven to be a wise way to go. That said, everyone else in the area runs the softener backwash right down the laundry sink drain - or what ever, and directly into their septic tanks. No problems that I've heard of, but it does dump a lot of excess water into the fields. especially in wet weather.

Dorothy

[WW]

When I was doing appliance repair at farm homes that had a lot of iron in their water, I would find dishwashers that were turned dark brown inside. A cycle run through with a couple ounces of Oxalic acid crystals would bring back the white interior. Then run one more cycle with the electric dishwashing detergent. You can find this acid crystals at some hardware or garden centers. ww

[benick]

I have ALOT of iron in my water and have the regular treatment/softener system that uses salt with iron out and it backwashes into the septic...Here in Maine grey water systems are illegal and everything has to go into the septic...No problems....

[Ed Pawlowski]

I'd get the water tested again, preferably by a different vendor. You may be getting the filter changed to often and the only way to know is to test.

Start by reading here

click on the link about filters. Unless you know the concentration you can't really make a good decision for the best treatment.

[Evelyn]

The brand name of the dishwasher cleaner is called "Glisten". Believe it or not some people get the same result by using Tang the orange flavored drink. It is the citric acid in it that cleans the dishwasher.

[Evelyn]

We have huge amounts of both kinds of iron in our water and we have quite a system for getting it out. The water combines with chlorine bleach at first, then it goes into a huge tank where the iron falls to the bottom (where it can be drained off into a drain from time to time). It is also combined with a flocking agent to get rid of the colloidal iron.... (the only way to get rid of it) at the same time as the chlorine. It then goes into a neutralizer tank (limestone) then through a carbon filter to remove the bleach and other odors. Then it goes through a pair of twin water softeners and a particle filter.

It is a good system but it was put in place here long before we bought this house by a previous owner. We have had experts look it over, and the final configuration was set up by Culligan. It has been working beautifully ever since Culligan redid it. Before that we were getting ripped off regularly by local plumbing companies who knew little about water purification systems, but enough to get rich off us. The Culligan setup was expensive too, but it has been a lot easier to maintain.

[Frank]

Just a quick hit of an older site:

you are using an ion exchange unit which needs to be regenerated or frequently changed.

I'm on well and septic but chose not to treat water which is borderline but tastes fine. I have a whole house particle filter that goes 6 months between changes and wife occasionally uses Iron Out to remove toilet and washer stains. Neighbor across street has bottled water delivered each month. I would imagine it would be cheaper to bring in your own drinking water and leave your well untreated.

[JimmyDahGeek]

I buy bottle water for my cottage it's only .29 a gallon if I bring my own bottle. It's great water and cheap. Wall Mart also has it and it's .33 a gallon there. At my primary residence I have a water softener that goes into the septic tank. It's been like that for 30 years. When I cleaned the tank last last year the cover of the tank cracked. I was told this was from the softener.

[Hipupchuck]

I have a reverse osmosis system for my drinking water only. It was inexpensive to install and cheap to maintain.

[Evelyn]

Only drawback to those is that they work best with strong water pressure, as in city water. Well water usually doesn't have as much pressure. They also work extremely well if you already have a water softener.

[Eric in North TX]

We use a home brew system that starts with a huge (about 3 gallon) sand filter I bought off of Ebay $75 I think, It was intended for use in the oil service industry (yes it was new). I use a powered ball valve on the purge fitting & control it with a sprinkler timer. We just sprinkle the purge on the garden/orchard. I didn't include a check valve, so the purge also back flushes the holding tanks partially. The final step is just a manifold with 4 normal whole house filters in pairs which last about a month on the primarys and about 3 months on the secondary's, I buy the cheapest filters they sell. I suspect the initial cost was $100 - $300 hard to be accurate as I picked up stuff as I found it, a little thrift store, a little Ebay, Home Depot sale rack, etc. The results are good, the water is pure, no clogged sink aerators, no junk in the toilet tanks, good taste. I do ahve to manually add a little chlorine to one of the filters every

3-4 months, or it picks up a sulfur smell, & I'm working on automating that. My operating cost is less than $10 per month

[Pete C.]

If you have a well system and add a RO filer, you can readily adjust the system to operate at higher pressure. Well systems are normally set to operate a a lower pressure and with a wider pressure differential between pump turn on and off for economy to maximize the draw down capacity of a small diaphragm tank, but they can readily operate at higher pressures.

[Evelyn]

We already have SOOOOOO much water purification equipment that it would be just one more thing. We're sticking with what we have, but I also get bottled RO drinking water delivered in 5 gal bottles from Culligan, so we're OK.

Remember too, that there is a 5 gal. of waste water for each gallone of RO drinking water that you get out of that unit.

[benick]

How in the heck could the softener crack the cover ??? I think the clumsy septic guy is pulling your leg to cover his ass...JMHO....

[Hipupchuck]

My well pump operates at 30 to 50 lbs and the osmosis system works fine.

[Hipupchuck]

I run my RO waste water out the storm drain instead of into the septic tank.

[Evelyn]

I used to sell those systems (RO drinking water) and they stronger the pressure the more efficiently the system works.

[Evelyn]

That's a good way. After all there is nothing bad in it, just minerals!

[Pete C.]

The RO product to reject ratio is much better than 1:5, more like 1:2 at worst.