Whole House Water Filter?

My last home had a well with horrible sulphur and iron (as well as all of the usual hard minerals). We installed a carbon filter much like the 5600 you link to in series with a normal water softener. They worked very well, however... you need to realize that you'll probably need either chlorine or hydrogen peroxide to disinfect the carbon media during the backflush. We ran for about a year before the carbon bed clogged up with iron bacteria growth. The company that installed it came back and added a small tank for peroxide and the backflush from then on would sip some of the peroxide and kill bacteria while it flushed the sediment from the filter. It required that we purchase about 8 gallons of 7% peroxide every 6 months or so, but it was worth it to avoid the rust stains and aweful smell of the water.

Do you have a sump pump? If so, you could easily discharge the backflush water into the sump rather than the septic system to avoid problems with chlorine or peroxide in the septic tank (also it's probably not good to dump large amounts of fresh water into the septic tank either).

We had a real bad sulphur problem and I tried carbon filters which lasted only a short while before the problem persisted.

I wound up purchasing a pyrolox filter. It is similar looking to the

None of the options are cheap, but there's nothing worse than smelly water. I am a very satisfied customer now.

I have a bad sulfur problem with my well. When I first bought it I tried carbon filters, but they lasted a couple days. That was too much trouble and expense, so now I just live with it. YMMV.

I don't know anything about the larger filter, but I am skeptical about renewing carbon filters.

No sump pump unfortunately. I am looking at running the washer's drain out to a grey water system and I could tie the backflush water into that. Thanks for the help! cc

Not to mention that the 5600 wastewater has a good load of salt in it,

Water softeners and RO water purifier both produce somewhat concentrated brine. So much so that many communities that rely on septic tanks have BANNED water softener AND RO waste water from being connected to septic tanks!!!!

A water softener with a peroxide/chloring flush is likely the only meaningful solution. RO is a downstream polisher of the water softener output, at least in the units sold for residential use.

Thanks Robert! I didn't realize this unit used a salt medium? I'm actually starting to lean more towards this unit that was recommended earlier. Not sure if this uses any sort of salt medium as well but I'd better check:

the unit you selected with this link is NOT a water softener, as it ONLY deals with Iron Chlorine and the like.

Yes, you need a water test to see not only what contaminants, but also what the hardness level of your water is. Soft water makes an AMAZING difference in clothes washing, bathing, drinking, cooking, water heating, EVERYTHING to do with water. Comes at a price of a brine flush a few times a month.

And a higher Sodium level in the water - it's a simple ion exchange, Calcium for Sodium. Need to watch that if you're on a Sodium restricted diet - something the water softening folks won't tell you...

Mine did. They said that it didn't actually make a significant difference, but if the idea bothered me, I should use potassium salt instead of sodium salt, and they couldn't remember why, but I shouldn't mix the two.

Sodium carbonate has a very different absorption rate in the body than sodium chloride. Sodium carbonate has no taste.

Soft water is NOT salty to the taste, whether you use Potassium chloride or Sodium chloride for the salt in the tank.