Rust/Iron in water...help!

[Boomyal]

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.

btw, dissolve iron does not foul resin or associated mechanicals. Only iron oxide does that. Dissolve iron does not convert to particulate iron inside the softener. The well has to be delivering a stream of oxide for fouling to take place. If you have sufficient iron oxide coming from the well, the softener will get plugged up and or fouled.






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.

Iron oxide fouling of a resin bed does not inhibit it from exchanging ions, ie, softening the water or removing dissolved iron ions. Iron fouling of softener mechanical components, that draw salt brine, may keep the resin bed from being regenerated. Just because you set the unit to use lots of salt and or go thru the regeneration cycle frequently, does not mean that it uses that salt.

 

[CharlieB]

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

I'm simply repeating the advise given to me by the water guy, that the iron 'coating' the inside of the check valve chamber was also coating the pellets. I never took the softener apart to physically see the pellets. Salt was being dissolved in the brine tank and was drawn through the system but was not effective in cleaning the pellets as the water stayed hard until after the repeated treatment with Iron Out. I saw the clearing of the check valve chamber and 'assumed' the same of the pellets as the water at the faucets did get soft after the chamber cleared. So something worked!!

It make take a chemist or something to properly explain the how's and why's, all I KNOW is my water softener now works like it is supposed to!

 

[mscher]

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

Iron oxide fouling of a resin bed does not inhibit it from exchanging ions, ie, softening the water or removing dissolved iron ions. Iron fouling of softener mechanical components, that draw salt brine, may keep the resin bed from being regenerated. Just because you set the unit to use lots of salt and or go thru the regeneration cycle frequently, does not mean that it uses that salt.

I'm afraid I don't follow you.

Why does my softener quit removing iron, if I let the salt run out for a long period of time? The softener keeps regenerating, depending on water usage, whether it has salt, or not.

 

[Boomyal]

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

Why does my softener quit removing iron, if I let the salt run out for a long period of time? The softener keeps regenerating, depending on water usage, whether it has salt, or not.

When a softener runs out of salt or becomes unable to draw salt brine into the resin bed, that bed soon reaches capacity and has no more sodium ions to exchange for ions of dissolved iron, calcium and magnesium. When that point is reached the resin bed literally passes untreated raw water until such time the bed is properly regenerated with a sodium bath. The raw water gradually begins to bleed thru in the bottom 10% capacity of the resin bed.

 

[rbh]

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

I wanted to post this for awhile, finally got around to flushing the line.
It is something I should do every 3-4 month because it does make a big difference in the water even though we have an iron filter and a softener.

It takes about 10 minutes to clear 350 feet of 1.1/2 pipe/line

 

[Boomyal]

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

rbh, what kind of pressure tank do you have? Is it a captive air or bladder style. The majority of 'stuff' coming out of that hose would not be trapped by an iron filter, let alone a water softener. That is what I refer to as 'tomato' soup.

 

[rbh]

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

rbh, what kind of pressure tank do you have? Is it a captive air or bladder style. The majority of 'stuff' coming out of that hose would not be trapped by an iron filter, let alone a water softener. That is what I refer to as 'tomato' soup.

We just have an old captive style (could have had bladder in it at one time)
The line you see is just Tee'd off the main for about 20 feet and alot of iron collects there as well we have an outside hose outlet plumbed just before the softner.
Our usual flush, turn of pump open the taps flush out/empty preasure tank open tap at house and the garden point.
till the preasures gone.
Put about 90 PSI down the line till its empty.
Close taps, air charge fill, open taps and let run once more till water runs clean.
Good for 4-6 months before return of the rust soup.

It is amazing on how much just settles to the bottom of the line.

 

[Boomyal]

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

....It is amazing on how much just settles to the bottom of the line......

It is also amazing how much of that crap settles in your captive air pressure tank. Most likely you have one or two water lines into or out of the side wall of the pressure tank. They would be several inches above the bottom of the tank. This is an area that that crud settles and even if the water coming in is clear, it will roil that settled crud and send it up or down the line, depending where your faucet is.

Bladder tanks have one inlet/outlet which is usually dead center bottom of the tank. There is no space for that crud to accumulate. What comes in, goes right out.

 

[rbh]

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

It is also amazing how much of that crap settles in your captive air pressure tank. Most likely you have one or two water lines into or out of the side wall of the pressure tank. They would be several inches above the bottom of the tank. This is an area that that crud settles and even if the water coming in is clear, it will roil that settled crud and send it up or down the line, depending where your faucet is.

Bladder tanks have one inlet/outlet which is usually dead center bottom of the tank. There is no space for that crud to accumulate. What comes in, goes right out.

Just one inlet/outlet at the bottom T fitting, if there is a bladder in there we have never used it since we bought the place just put a 40-45 PSI air charge in at the tap fitting.