Whole house water filter recommendations

[johnjk]

What you got and what are your likes/dislikes. Our well is off the hardness scale. Lots of calcium and iron too. Looking to do a whole house filter off the pressure tank before the softener. Out of the softener it’s not too bad but calcium and rust builds up on faucets and fixtures. We have a RO for drinking water. Does a good job. Just looking to get some of those solids out earlier.

 

[sagor]

I pre-treat my water with an air injection tank (before water softener). That oxidizes the iron portion of the incoming water. It purges every second night. Air injection has different designs, but they all have a vertical tank with a bed to filter the oxidized material.
I originally had air injection with a venturi valve in the main incoming line, but did find it was "noisy" whenever the pump ran. I went with a self contained tank system, which is quiet. Sorry, can't find the name of it right now, but water treatment people will know what to look for.
These tank only work with things that can be "oxidized", like iron or magnesium in the water. Not sure what you need for calcium...

 

[DustyRusty]

I installed a Braukmann sediment filter about 15 years ago and it is great at removing sediment from the water supply. I usually service it ever 3 or 4 months by shutting off the water pump power, unscrewing the plastic cartridge at the bottom of the filters metal top. I then bring it up to the kitchen faucet and empty out the sediment into a large pan, and fill the cartridge again with water from the faucet, and dump that into the pan. Then I disassemble the filter and flush the screen in the pan with the sediment and water until it is clean. Rinse the cartridge housing again and reassemble it and put it back together. There is a gauge at the top of the metal housing that you can set to the pressure of the water entering from the pump. I reset that to the current pump pressure and when I see that the pressure drops quite low I know that it is time to clean the filter again. When I first installed it there was so much sediment in the water that I was cleaning it every week. I changed the filter to a less micron setting and it reduced the amount of sediment that it was capturing. What gets past the filter is so little that I don't notice it except in the 1st floor toilet that collects the sediment in the tank. No sediment ever makes it to the second floor bathrooms. It is a Braukmann (3M company) model FS1023S1023. I bought mine off of eBay at the time.
Mine is a 1" model and the 3/4" model is Honeywell F76S1015, and the 1/2" is F76S1007 - Water Filter. Braukmann and Honeywell are both the same. Shop around for the best price. It is a once in a lifetime of your home purchase.

 

[DustyRusty]

I pre-treat my water with an air injection tank (before water softener). That oxidizes the iron portion of the incoming water. It purges every second night. Air injection has different designs, but they all have a vertical tank with a bed to filter the oxidized material.
I originally had air injection with a venturi valve in the main incoming line, but did find it was "noisy" whenever the pump ran. I went with a self contained tank system, which is quiet. Sorry, can't find the name of it right now, but water treatment people will know what to look for.
These tank only work with things that can be "oxidized", like iron or magnesium in the water. Not sure what you need for calcium...

I did a quick Google search and found this unit for $866.95 with free shipping.

The Nelsen AIO™ iron removal system is equipped with a Fleck 5600SXT air injection control valve, 3/4” by-pass valve, black Structural mineral tank and all necessary Birm media and support bed for the removal of iron and sulfur odor from well and household water.

The system features a single tank system, and is an efficient and cost effective system for the removal of both iron and sulfur. The Nelsen AIO™ technology maintains an “air pocket” in the top of the tank while the system is in service. As the water passes thru the air pocket, iron and sulfur are oxidized. Additionally, dissolved oxygen is added to the water.

The Nelsen AIO™ filter media bed then removes the iron and sulfur from the water. A daily backwash will remove accumulated iron and replenish the filter media bed. The regeneration process also adds a fresh air pocket to the system.

Nelsen 5600AIO Air Injection Iron and Sulfur Odor Removal Filter System

The Nelsen AIO™ iron removal system is equipped with a Fleck 5600SXT air injection control valve, 3/4” by-pass valve, black Structural mineral tank and all necessary Birm media and support bed for the removal of iron and sulfur odor from household water.et to the system.

www.aquapurefilters.com

 

[GreensvilleJay]

friend used a swimming pool sand filter to tap the iron. even then he backwashes once per month. You can buy enclosed magnets to toss into toilets(never tried it but seems gimmiky...but, hay it might...)
calcium should be removed water softener, replaced with sodium.
RO / DW is NOT good for drinking or cooking with as NO essential minerals in it.

 

[DustyRusty]

Had to Google the name of the product since my old memory bank have some gaps in the data recovery system.

Here are some alternatives to salt in a water softener system:

• Potassium chloride
  A low-sodium alternative to salt that's safe for people who can't or don't want to use salt. It's also a nutrient that plants and flowers need to grow. However, it's more expensive than salt and may require the water softener to regenerate more often. If you use potassium chloride instead of salt, you can try increasing the water hardness setting by 20–25%.

 

[sagor]

I did a quick Google search and found this unit for $866.95 with free shipping.

Yes, that is similar to what I use. Regular "filters" do not get rid of dissolved iron in water, one has to inject air (oxygen) to have the iron react to form an oxide of iron which is then "solid" (your red staining), which can then be filtered by the bed in that filter.
I had mine serviced after about 7 years of use, the bed was still in good shape. This depends on how much iron you have in the water of course...