Rust/Iron in water...help!

[Fishing Dude too]

Re: Rust/Iron in water...help!

I would go with 1 gallon for every 100 foot (maybe a bit more for this one as it sat for a year) in depth for the well and after I had poured in the bleach run all the taps till you smell bleach at each one, then let sit for about 48 hrs and see if the bleach does its job.

I guess I use the figure of 3 gallons because use to shallow wells. We had this in house grw up in and we did once a year to help, had all copper lines from pump, plastic to pump.

 

[dingbat]

Re: Rust/Iron in water...help!

Call or e-mail these people for a test kit. They will test the water and get back to you with their recommendation in a week.

http://www.aquascience.net/

 

[bigdee]

Re: Rust/Iron in water...help!

I guess I use the figure of 3 gallons because use to shallow wells. We had this in house grw up in and we did once a year to help, had all copper lines from pump, plastic to pump.

I repeat, Do NOT pour bleach in well with high iron content!!!!

 

[rbh]

Re: Rust/Iron in water...help!

I repeat, Do NOT pour bleach in well with high iron content!!!!

While I understand chlorination of the well is the preffered method of shocking the well, the well book says that bleach can be used in a pinch.

Whats your thought on "Why" not to use bleach??

(AM I forgetting some basic chemestry???)

 

[bigdee]

Re: Rust/Iron in water...help!

While I understand chlorination of the well is the preffered method of shocking the well, the well book says that bleach can be used in a pinch.

Whats your thought on "Why" not to use bleach??

(AM I forgetting some basic chemestry???)

Read post #13 bleach, sodium hypochloride is fine to shock well for bacteria but not to get rid of iron

 

[PiratePast40]

Re: Rust/Iron in water...help!

Bucks45, you mentioned that you had a filter that is supposed to remove rust. If that's a cartridge type filter, it won't do much of anything for dissolved iron. Perhaps might do a very little bit if you have filters at every tap but again, those will only remove particulate. If it looks like a smaller resin bed, then it needs to be regenerated. We can all make some educated guesses but without an actual water sample and knowledge of your system, people are shooting in the dark. Solutions may include a green sand type of filter like I mentioned above or you may need to go to an extreem with a chlorination and precipitation system. If you have galvanized pipes, you may be cleaning up the inside of the pipes for quite some time once you start to clean up the water.

 

[foodfisher]

Re: Rust/Iron in water...help!

Magnets?

 

[Nightfisher-]

Re: Rust/Iron in water...help!

Any chance it's just the water heater? He mentioned showers and clothes washing, both of which are hot water users. When we moved in here we had a problem with massive amounts of white sand like particles in our water. Turned out to be coming from the water heater. Replaced it and all is well. I know nothing about plumbing though. Just hoping for a "Slingblade" moment...."Aint got no gas in it!" lol

 

[mscher]

Re: Rust/Iron in water...help!

Rbh..... I really appreciate the help! Again, didn't give enough info. The house sat empty for over a year. I haven't hit the well with bleach, but I have put an "iron out", water combo straight in the brine well twice. The faucets have probably ran a total of 1 1/2 hours since. I'm not sure if the softener has a rust filter or not. I had a plumber out. He said its a good softener and told me to use the "rust out", but it didn't work. What's the bleach in the well process? Again, thanks a ton for the help.

He must be a good plumber, if he can look at a water softener and tell it's working properly.

The resin beads in a softener can wear out and no longer attract the iron particles out of water. Adding "iron out" will only help release iron buildup on the beads, doing nothing to help, if the resin beads are shot. Adding other chemicals will only make things worse.

Rural water wells, are usually pretty hard on water softeners. If the softener is run without salt for a very long time, there can be rust buildup in the pipes, washer, etc., in addition to overloading the softener resin beads. If the house is repo, the softener may have been run witout salt for along time.

You might see chunks of rust in galvanized pipes, but you w will never see "rusty water".

Not sure what a softener add-on "iron filter" is, since thats exactly what a water softener is - an iron filter.

You can get water hardness test strips, for less than $10 or so.

Test the water directy out of the softener. If it's hard, then the softener is not working properly.

Good luck.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Rust/Iron in water...help!

Is the water discolored before the softener and after? If so, you have an iron oxide (particulate) problem from the well. Iron oxide is a suspended particle not a dissolved ion. Water softeners are NOT iron 'filters'. Any filter creates a physical barrier that will only remove suspended particles of a certain size. A water softener is an ION exchanger, not a physical barrier filter, and will remove both Hardness (dissolved limestone), dissolved Iron (clear water iron) and dissolved manganese. Most all small particles will pass right thru the small, smooth uniform, non interlocking resin beads.

Water softener resin is virtually indestructible. You can leave it unregenerated til the end of time and it will not hurt it. Simply give it a sodium bath and it will be back to new. It is true that you can foul a resin bed with various substance such as silt and iron oxide but it will not quit exchanging ions if properly regenerated. It is also true that an unregenerated resin bed can convert dissolved iron to iron oxide and leave the water to run discolored into the home. If this is the case, just regenerate the unit and you will be off and running.

Also worthy of note is that if a resin bed is unregenerated it will most likely just pass dissolved iron without converting any of it to oxide. In this case the cold water, in the house, would be clear until it is left to sit in sinks and toilets. Dissolved iron, once mixed with oxygen will convert to iron oxide. Also water heaters speed the conversion of dissolved iron to iron oxide. In this case your cold water could run clear (but stain or discolor later) while the hot water runs discolored.

 

[mscher]

Re: Rust/Iron in water...help!

Is the water discolored before the softener and after? If so, you have an iron oxide (particulate) problem from the well. Iron oxide is a suspended particle not a dissolved ion. Water softeners are NOT iron 'filters'. Any filter creates a physical barrier that will only remove suspended particles of a certain size. A water softener is an ION exchanger, not a physical barrier filter, and will remove both Hardness (dissolved limestone), dissolved Iron (clear water iron) and dissolved manganese.

Water softener resin is virtually indestructible. You can leave it unregenerated til the end of time and it will not hurt it. Simply give it a sodium bath and it will be back to new. It is true that you can foul a resin bed with various substance such as silt and iron oxide but it will not quit exchanging ions if properly regenerated. It is also true that an unregenerated resin bed can convert dissolved iron to iron oxide and leave the water to run discolored into the home. If this is the case, just regenerate the unit and you will be off and running.

Also worthy of note is that if a resin bed is unregenerated it will most likely just pass dissolved iron without converting any of it to oxide. In this case the cold water, in the house, would be clear until it is left to sit in sinks and toilets. Dissolved iron, once mixed with oxygen will convert to iron oxide. Also water heaters speed the conversion of dissolved iron to iron oxide. In this case your cold water could run clear (but stain or discolor later) while the hot water runs discolored.

Interesting.

We have about 15 ppm iron in our well water. We have no filtration, other that the water going through the water softener, which then comes out of the taps rust free. The only time the water becomes "rusty", (which it does big time) is when the softener has run out of salt, for some time.

FWIW, I would consider a filter, a physical medium that removes something, irregardless of the methodology to do so.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Rust/Iron in water...help!

Interesting.

We have about 15 ppm iron in our well water. We have no filtration, other that the water going through the water softener, which then comes out of the taps rust free. The only time the water becomes "rusty", (which it does big time) is when the softener has run out of salt, for some time.

FWIW, I would consider a filter, a physical medium that removes something, irregardless of the methodology to do so.

mscher, we don't need to git into no stinking p*ssing match on this subject but there is a distinct difference between a filter and and ion attractor cum exchanger.

It is misuse of the terms that are recognized in the industry that get so many DIY'rs into trouble. btw, here is a description of a filter copied off of Dictionary. com. Please note the use of 'suspended impurities' as opposed to 'dissolved impurities'.

"any substance, as cloth, paper, porous porcelain, or a layer of charcoal or sand, through which liquid or gas is passed to remove suspended impurities or to recover solids."


In your case, at 15 ppm iron (very high) I am going to have to assume that if your water softener is removing it successfully, it had to have entered your water softener as dissolved, clear water iron.

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Re: Rust/Iron in water...help!

Google the term Hard water or artesian water it's nasty stuff..i know il grew up in south dakota. Here are some question's... are you rual..how deep is the well..ask you neighbors how good there water is and what type of softner they use. Coming out to the west coast and having good soft clean water was eye opening. Your probably going to end up buying a fully automatic super duper water softner..Hence the term Hey Culligan man.

http://www.ca.uky.edu/agc/pubs/ip/ip7/ip7.htm

Umm by the way old Boomer does understand this topic...just dont ask him about dizzy's...

Id almost be willing to bet you have a surface well and you overpumping it. Back in the day we would let it the pump run at 2 gals per minute until she ran clear and upped the flow until it clouded...Dont be surprised if you have a well that only flows at a few gallons a minute. As matter of fact if this a new property to you that is the very first thing you need to do..how fast how clean can it run.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Rust/Iron in water...help!

....Umm by the way old Boomer does understand this topic...just dont ask him about dizzy's.......

Hey, after that episode, I have become Mr Distributor as well as Mr Water!

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Re: Rust/Iron in water...help!

I need some help. My wife and I just finished a complete remodel on a house we bought. It's in the country and has a lot of rust/iron. I have a softener (it's working), I use pellets that are supposed to help remove rust, and a filter (I'm using filters that are supposed to remove rust). I've also shocked the system a couple of times with "Rust Out". I can't get rid of it. Showers feel like crap and it's starting to stain clothes. Any help would be appreciated!

Are you saying there is visible debris in the water that you can see If so turn down the volume of water out of the well and let it run at 2-3 gph until it clears. If it does clear open up the gph until it becomes cloudy then fiind the sweet spot. That is how many gallons of water your well flow's clear not all are equal..even wells 75' apart.

If you just have hard water you need a larger softwater cond that automatically regenerates @ night.

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Re: Rust/Iron in water...help!

Hey, after that episode, I have become Mr Distributor as well as Mr Water!

Soo Mr water whats the solution..it's been over 25 years i have had hard water problems....Now its just liberal looney tunes..:facepalm: One just cant have it all.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Rust/Iron in water...help!

Soo Mr water whats the solution..is....Now its just liberal looney tunes..:facepalm: One just cant have it all.

Sorry, Mr Water is not allowed to wear his other THIRD hat here!

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Re: Rust/Iron in water...help!

Sorry, Mr Water is not allowed to wear his other THIRD hat here!

Stick to the matters at hand...iron calcium and so fourth

 

[puddle jumper]

Re: Rust/Iron in water...help!

Look in to Texas blue sand as a filter element.

 

[CharlieB]

Re: Rust/Iron in water...help!

Bought this place 16 yr ago, the softener check valve could not be seen as the chamber cover was coated with iron. The resin beads in the softener were also covered and the softener would NOT work, no matter how much salt you set it to use, or how often you recycled the system.

Local Water service Co told me to add 1 cup of Iron Out to the salt bin at every regeneration cycle until the check valve chamber cleared, then only add only once a month to keep it clear.

It worked. The Iron Out dissolved the iron coating the chamber and the resin pellets, as the water is very soft now.

I do have a cartridge filter in-line before the softener, but that only takes out the solids, keeps the faucet screens clear.

Iron Out powder, works great, but be very careful as the 'dust' created when pouring the powder can be EXTREMELY DAMAGING TO YOUR LUNGS.