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...

 

[sagor]

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...

One further word of advice. Should you get one of these air iron filter units, try to have the backwash discharge straight into a long pipe (2 to 3 feet at least). Never into a pipe with nearby elbow (like 90 degree). What happens during the backwash is that the air is released first, like having 50psi of compressed air blowing into the pipe with water behind it. When it hits a 90 degree, you get a "bang" in the discharge pipe as the air expands. I found 3 feet of 1-1/2" ABS discharge pipe solved that issue. I discharge right into the end of the pipe. No more noise.

 

[RCW]

Can’t offer model-specific recommendations, but if the goal is filtering solids, etc., something like a cartridge filter @DustyRusty pictured is the ticket.

Iron (red) or manganese (grey or black) are difficult to treat. Exceptionally so at the household level on an individual well.

They are not harmful to your health, but are objectionable for harmless reasons. Same with calcium and hard water stains.

I dealt with some commercial systems that struggled with them years ago.

Sometimes, a pellet chlorinator at the well head can oxidize some before it’s pumped into the house. Not a prescribed application for pellet chlorination but I’ve had some success in my previous experience

 

[armylifer]

I have the Whirlpool Central Water Filtration System Model WHELJ1. It does an excellent job of removing contaminants from the water. I do not use a water softener with this unit. It is not designed to soften water, it just removes contaminants. It is programable for backwash times and frequency. It also has a vacation mode for shutting the unit off if you happen to need to shut off your water supply for some reason. I attached a pdf of the owner's manual if you are interested in it.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

I'm a 'suburban boy' by birth and had no previous experience with "water treatment" before we got a place "up north"


When we got our place "up north" the previous owners had a some sort of "softener" system. It was rented and therefore removed, before we got the joint, so I have no idea what type of system it was.

Anyway, all the drains are absolutely destroyed.

This bad, on an 18 year old house.

I blame the "softener salt" for the damage.


So when we "moved in" the water smelled like a nasty fart, and the toilet tanks looked like a "beach" because of all the sand in them.

I decided to install one of these systems from Water Express. (bleach bottle is for size reference)

After the install, we still got the "occasional" nasty fart smell. So on the first filter change, (about a year later) I decided to switch to 2 charcoal filters and the sediment filter.

So I went from the original [ SED, KDF, ACB] filter trio, to a [SED, GAC, ACB] trio. The second charcoal filter helped a lot.


Odor is totally gone, and tastes great and I do not have to add "softener salt" as a bonus.

My daughter uses the same system and loves it as well but I think she uses the "original filter" trio.

Things I like.........

1. uses "standard" 20 inch filters
2. No salt usage.
3. water tastes and smells great.


Cons.

1. filter changes are a tad messy, but not too bad.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

The smell could be sulphur, easy to treat. Obviously not as bad as a friend 23 miles from here..his water is BLACK...and PYOU too !

 

[johnjk]

I had issues with the hot water only smelling like rotten eggs. Easily solved by pulling the metal anode rod and replacing it with an electric anode. Runs a low current through the metal anode. Works great. Lots of great options here. Time to do some research. Thanks all!!

 

[DaTow'd]

We live in a small valley in British Columbia Canada . The water we had for the last 50+ years was from a glacier -clean and clear, with a boil water advisory.
This month the government will be install a chlorine system.

Is there any in house system that will remove the chlorine?

When visiting other places I didn't even like brushing my teeth with their chlorinated water differently not drink the stuff.
We would bring a few gallons of our water for drinking.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

We live in a small valley in British Columbia Canada . The water we had for the last 50+ years was from a glacier -clean and clear, with a boil water advisory.
This month the government will be install a chlorine system.

Is there any in house system that will remove the chlorine?

When visiting other places I didn't even like brushing my teeth with their chlorinated water differently not drink the stuff.
We would bring a few gallons of our water for drinking.

The KDF filter in my link claims to filter out chlorine.

Caveat Emptor: I am not a water purification specialist, nor do I claim to be an expert.....just a guy that uses (and pays full price, but is happy with the product listed above so far).

Furthermore, I have no idea "how much" chlorine it will filter out, nor do I know "how much" chlorine they are putting in.

Good Luck!

 

[GreensvilleJay]

Chlorine will evaporate from standing water in about 24 hours...
The attached paper is from BC !!!

 

[RCW]

We live in a small valley in British Columbia Canada . The water we had for the last 50+ years was from a glacier -clean and clear, with a boil water advisory.
This month the government will be install a chlorine system.

Is there any in house system that will remove the chlorine?

When visiting other places I didn't even like brushing my teeth with their chlorinated water differently not drink the stuff.
We would bring a few gallons of our water for drinking.

Don't know the type of your water source. Some are more susceptible to contamination (of many sources) than others depending on season, periodic weather events, etc.

Glacially-fed gives me pause, as I'm not familiar with what that entails.

"Clean and Clear" means nothing. You can't see microbial pathogens.

Lacking disinfection, your water could be bacteriologically safe today, and not so much tomorrow. Betting that is the case with a glacial based system.

Chlorination will make it bacteriologically safe every day.

If treated at normal levels of 0.2+ ppm, chlorination will not be objectionable at the user's tap.

There are systems to remove chlorine.

The filter media in those systems can host the bacteria that the chlorine is designed to eliminate.

Once the media in the removal system is inoculated by bacteria, it will ensure the water is bacterial unsafe 100% of the time.

Inoculation can happen by interruptions in the system's disinfection system, system damage causing loss of pressure, repairs to the household system, among others.

I've seen "good" water coming into those systems and "bad" water coming out to the faucets probably 100+ times.

Guessing now, but e. coli was the predominant culprit.

I grew up on a poorly designed house/farm spring. Fed the house by 300 yards of lead piping. If it wasn't for that lead line, I might have been a lot smarter....

The number of times I pulled snakes, frogs, and wasp nests out of that thing I couldn't count on two hands....for me that means 12...... Just kidding....

 

[DaTow'd]

Thanks guys
that was a good read
my wife already uses the Brita and we will continue to boil our water
I think a in house system to cover the bathing would be a good idea
Hank

 

[GreensvilleJay]

You can use a UV light to sterilize the water. Old school was a tube type, today they use LEDs.
RO water is bad as it doesn't have the necessary minerals in it we need.

 

[RCW]

You can use a UV light to sterilize the water. Old school was a tube type, today they use LEDs.
RO water is bad as it doesn't have the necessary minerals in it we need.

Don’t think so.

UV sucks if there’s hard water, iron or manganese causing staining of the reaction area of the UV system.

This water sounds like it’s got a lot of issues that would not be a good candidate for a UV system.