Need water help

From your description, there is no one piece of equipment that will take care of everything.

Your chlorinator isn't working right. I fit were you wouldn't have the odor or iron stains. Your carbon filter isn't either or you wouldn't have the odor or discolored water.

Neither of those two remove hardness, you need a softener to do that but, you can't get rid of the chlorine if it is used for bacteria problems or high iron or H2S (sulfur) unless you replace it with some other type of oxidizing or disinfecting type that will do the same job.

Why do you want to get rid of the chlorine?

Is your chlorinator a solution feeder? If so do you have a retention tank or is the injection ahead of your pressure tank with no retention tank?

What type pump do you have, submersible in the well or jet pump on the well or the surface on the ground or in the house? If a jet pump, 1 or 2 lines from the well to it?

No wonder it's not working! You need to elevate the Ph with a 1.5 cubic foot Acid Neutralizer first.

If you continue to use the chlorination system you need at least 120 gallons of retention followed by 1.5 cubic feet of carbon.
You can now add a softener.

I disagree, no one can tell him what size anything until he provides more information and assuming he has a solution feeder, he may be able to raise the low pH without an AN filter.

Can you describe your chlorinator a little? Is there a retention tank, accelerator, test port? How is the chlorine added. How is it metered?

An Acid Neutralizer (AN) would needed to raise pH to around the 7 level. If you use a calcite-type system, as explained above by H20man, it will raise your hardness by 1-2 grains per gallon. Then a softener will be advised.

Andy Christensen, CWS-II

A sacrificial mineral AN filter will add more than 1-2 gpg of hardness with a pH of 6.0.

The point is that the Ph of the water must be raised in order for any iron reduction method to perform as advertised.

Another point is that he probably already has a means to do that and may not need to buy more equipment.

The point is that the low Ph was overlooked and the water problem has not yet been fully addressed.

Ok. Thank you for your help. Here is what I can tell you better. I will try and cover all questions.

The well is 25 ft from the house. The water that comes out of that spiget has a very heavy sulfur smell. From there the water goes to just outside the house where there is a holding tank (at least 120 gallons and only a year or two old). Next to the holding tank is a Pulsatron Chlorinator (about a year old) which sends the chlorine solution to the carbon tank. The carbon tank (also fairly new) is 48" tall with a dial on the top, no brand. Looks like a Fleck with dial (nothing fancy). It appears to be working because you get a chlorine read before the water comes into the house and no chlorine read at the faucets.

I think I get the smell and discoloration when we have used a lot of water in one day and no backwash has happened. It smells the worst in the laundry area.

I would like to get a softener because my son's skin is very bad, but, I don't know what will work best. I am thinking a dual tank. I would like to get rid of the clorinator because I think its a pain.

I can provide pictures or please email direct at
[email protected].

submersible

I add the chlorine liquid 1.2 gallons to a 15 gallon tank of water. That was what I was told.

Thanks to all of you for your help.

It sounds as if you don't have a retention tank. When you say holding tank, you mean the well pressure tank right?

The injector for the chlorine, is it installed in the line from that tank and just ahead of the carbon filter? If not where is it installed in this description; the well, the pressure tank, the chlorinator, the carbon filter?

That sounds like the solution tank that your chem feed pump draws from and injects into your water line.

I have a "bladder tank" at the well. From there the water goes to a holding tank.

Then a "holding tank" by the house. The water comes from the well into the tank and is injected with chlorine, goes thru the carbon tank and into the house.

yes, that is correct.

OK.

I recommend that you have a 10x54 Acid neutralizer installed between the bladder tank and the retention tank just before the point of chlorine injection.
This filter needs to automatically back wash ever or every other day and Mag Oxide needs to be mixed in with the calcite.

Now confirm that the chlorine feed pump is working and that you have at least 120 gallons of retention.
You should flush sediment from the bottom of the retention tank every month or so.

Make sure the carbon filter has fresh carbon, no more than two years old.
This needs to be a filter that back washes automatically and holds at least 1.5 cubic feet of GAC.

If you ad a softener it will be the last piece of equipment before water enters the home.



Can you post a picture or email a picture of your set-up?

Where is the line from the solution feeder pump attached to the water line? Is it between the pressure tank and the retention tank, what you are calling a "holding tank" or does the chlorine go into the water in the tank?

What size is that retention tank in gallons?

What size is the carbon filter in cubic feet? There may be a label on it with a model number like 948 or 1054, that would tell me the amount of carbon.

How frequently does the carbon backwash?

Has this equipment ever worked right, meaning there was no odor or iron staining?

With a pH of 6.0, you do not need a mixed bed, calcite and corrosex (Flo Mag) acid neutralizer filter.

And again, no one can tell you what cubic foot size carbon or AN filter or softener until they know how many people, how many bathrooms and what type fixtures are in them like large tubs or showers etc.. That's so they can calculate your peak demand water flow gpm. Then any filter or softener must be sized to be able to treat that gpm. Otherwise they are just throwing equipment at the problem, and you're suffering now because of the previuos guy doing that, so don't let it happen again. Doing that is like a car salesman selling you a F-250 pick up because you say you want to haul manure for your organic garden and he doesn't ask how big the garden is or how much manure you have to haul, and you actually need a F-450.

Solution feeders are a major PIA to get to work right and maintain and that's why I have refused to sell them for over 10 years.

Gary,

The water comes from the well. The feeder line from chlorine pump goes into line. The line then goes into Amtrol retention Tank (size unsure). It says model 282, but, I can't find that on the website. It is six feet tall and 40 inches around. I believe it is 120 gallon. The carbon tank has nothing on it. It has Lasco on the inlet and outlet but, it is generic on the outside. Underneath the timer it has Brookfield, WI. It backwashes everynight at 1am. There are three of us in the house. We tend to use a lot of water. We have a washer, a dishwasher and a child on the way. The discoloration has always been there. It seems mostly when the we have used a lot of water.

Any help is appreciated