Whole house water filter

[upnorth]

Anyone use one of those whole house water filter. We have been thinking on try one, but kinda wondering if they really do a whole lot. We tried a water conditioner, but wound up having to take it out when the skin on my hands started to crack and bleed all year round.

[paceman]

We have pretty hard water up here. I actually have a whole house water filter and another filter in my drinking water line. I think they work great. Change the filters every couple of months and that is an easy job. I would recommend one. It makes a big difference...

[Eric Wettschreck]

Upnorth, I'm assuming you have a lot of iron in your water, correct?? How hard is your water? If you are looking to get rid of iron and hydrogen sulfate I highly suggest a manganese greensand filter. If you have hard water I'd follow up with a softener.

I've built a bunch of these types of systems for friends of mine and they work great. Not the cheapest thing in the world, however.

[upnorth]

We tried the water softner route and my hands cracked so bad year round after a couple years we had to take it out. If I remember right the water hardness was around 15 grains. Surprisingly there is little iron on our water here in Chisholm, some but not as much as you would think. Chlorine and sulfur smell is probably the main issues.

We run a pur water filter on the kitchen sink for drinking, cooking and coffee. Just thought if the whole house removed at least some for the rest of the house it may be worth putting it one in. Or maybe even two with varying levels of filtering.

I am not looking to spend a whole ton of money on some exotic filtering system, the water just isn't that bad. Just looking to see if we can improve it a little without breakin the bank.

[sparcebag]

I use two inline just beyond the pressure tank,a corse filter then a finer filter,under kitchen another with a finer filter,and a pure faucet filter for coffee,drinking.The water softener went out a few years ago,same problem as you.We have lots of Iron and LOTS of manganese.

I like this more so than a softener,we still soap up and rinse without the greasey feeling

[upnorth]

Sparce, did the filters make much of an impact?

[sparcebag]

YES lots more than the softener,clean toilet bowl,less smell,kitchen after pure filter no smell.This place doesnt have copper lines (galv.)so I also bleach the lines and H2o heater once a year.

[Eric Wettschreck]

One thing guys have to know, if you don't already is that softeners and filters are 2 totally different animals.

Filters exist to remove suspended solids from the water. Depending on the micron rating of the filter is how fine of solids will be removed.

Softeners are nothing more than an Ion exchange unit who's sole responsability in life is to remove dissolved calcium and magnesium from the water. Depending on the resin some will remove small parts of iron also.

So, if your water contains a lot of suspended solids, filtration of whatever sort is the way to go. If your water is hard (calcium and magnesium present) then softening is the way to go.

If your water is like mine and full of suspended solids and hard, then a combination of filtration followed by softening is the way to go.

[upnorth]

I am thinking before I go ahead with the filters, I might have the water tested again as I can't remember exactly what outcome of the last test was.

[BobT]

I wonder what the possibility is that the chlorine added by the city is causing your cracked/dry skin issue? It does seem that they tend to go overboard sometimes with this.

We use a whole house filter because our well tends to bring up small particals of sand and I installed it to protect the rest of our equipment. I usually have to change it about once a year or so. I figure it's only a matter of time before I need to install a new well.

I think you can get filters that can remove the chlorine or render it harmless. Chlorine is bleach and imagine washing your hands in bleach. I'm sure it would have an effect on your hands.

Since I have my own well, I don't have the chlorine issue and fortunately we don't have measurable iron in our water, unlike our neighbors.

Bob

[upnorth]

Quote:

I wonder what the possibility is that the chlorine added by the city is causing your cracked/dry skin issue? It does seem that they tend to go overboard sometimes with this.

The drying/cracking started after we put in a water softner. We took it out and within a week my fingers started to heal up. Yes it is normally the other way around.

The water is not terrible, but it could use some improvement. I am just trying to find an alternative to a water softener that won't totally break the bank. I don't really expect the whole house filter to clean things up as well as a water softener, but would be nice to clean it up a little.

[sparcebag]

With the H2O softener,when we added water to our humidifier we would get large amounts of a white solid clogging the wick.It tasted like salt.At that time boiler said it shouldn't, something was wrong with the softener.

We rented a softener with the same results,and yet had dry itchy skin.I then went to the filters,no itchy skin,no buildup on humidifier wick,just better tasting and smelling water.

the small amounts of chlorine added shouldn't harm or have negative effects PPM,Fluoride may be added also but in such small amounts,and only in municipal supplies. Any allergies?

[upnorth]

I am seeing an ENT for nasal and throat congestion and she thinks I am allergic to something, but has not been able to pin it down. Maybe I have some sort of an allergy to salt that is just not showing up.

[BobT]

If my research has been correct, I don't believe a water softner should be leaving any salt residue in the water supply. To my understanding the salt is used to provide the ionic charge and is or should be flushed out of the system by the time the unit has completed cycling. I'm thinking that the last function of the cycle is to rinse?

Bob

[sparcebag]

Thats true bob,not sure if its for ions or rinse out what was filtered (back wash),But like what boilerguy said it shouldn't be salt the unit isnt working properly,when I tried a different unit same thing white solids salty tasting in my humidifier.Without softener no junk in wick.?????

[upnorth]

I have read where they softeners do leave trace amounts of salt in the water. But is also could be that they took too many minerals too.

[Eric Wettschreck]

Softeners, in a nutshell, are an ion exchange resin bed. Magnesioum and calcuim have stronger ionic bonds than Sodium. As water passes over the resin beads, the calcium and magnesium boot off the sodium ions, and stay attached to the resin. During regen, the resin bed is saturated with sodium. Even though it has a weaker ionic bond, it's kind of like going to war with China. Eventually the sheer numbers will win.

First stage of regen is backwash. Pretty much to remove the suspended solids in the bed and "Fluff" the bed. Then comes brine, then slow rinse and fast rinse. These rinse cycles are to remove all the brine from the resin bed. Finally comes refill for the brine tank.

If your water tastes salty, there is a problem with the rinse function. Normally a leaking head valve that is causing brine to suck through the ejector during the rinse cycle.

Many rental softeners have not been worked on. They just go from house to house. So, there is a possibility that it has a faulty head.

If there is calcuim (the white flakey stuff) in your humidifier, the softner is not properly removing all the calcuim. If there is sodium in your humidifier, the softener is not properly rinsing.

Whole house filters work well if your water isn't too bad, and you just want to remove a small amount of stuff. If you wish to remove the chlorine from your water then follow the sediment filter with a carbon filter. Softeners only job in life is to remove hardness. (Calcium and magnesium) If your soapy water makes nice bubbles, and you don't have a lot of hard water deposits in your shower, there's a good chance a softener will do you no good.