Well water treatment/purifier/softener?

[NAMASafetyDirector]

I have an older water softener at my home that is a salt eating monster. I am in the market for installing something new to treat the water. Just wondering what some of you with well water use? I have not had the water tested as of late but have lots of iron for a fact. Would be nice to not have to deal with salt at all if possible. Thanks in advance!

[311Hemi]

If you have a lot of iron in the water will most likely benefit/require an iron filter, and then you will probably still have to use a softener after it.

If you are using just a softener at this point and you have high iron, you will most likely need to be using a lot of salt as you should be back washing fairly frequently(4-5?). Water softeners are programmable (mechanical or electric), so you could program it to use less salt but doing may cause use to have hard water at times or could foul your resin bed because of the iron. Your softener should be programmed based on your water usage as well (number of people in the house).

I don't think your going to get away from the salt, however you could probably use a lot less of it if you install something to remove the iron (there are different approaches to removing iron).

First step is to get your water tested to see what your current levels are for hardness, iron, pH, etc.

I have around 3 ppm iron in my water and I am using a Cuno high-iron water softener and it has been effective in removing the iron. I backwash every 5 days currently to keep the media bed from fouling from the iron. How long it will last doing this, I don't know. I treat it with iron out every time I fill it with salt, and layer iron out in the salt as I fill it as well. Iron is not a water softeners friend!

[delcecchi]

A water softener can handle a fair amount of iron. My buddy on Vermilion just put in a well and had a fair amount of iron. Turned everything red. Talked it over with a water treatment guy and he can get away with just a regular water softener.

Seems like it would be worthwhile talking to Culligan or equivalent before doing anything.

I am skeptical about any of the softeners that don't use salt. My new softener doesn't use much salt, a few pounds for 750 gallons, hardness is like 20 grains here in Rochester.

[aanderud]

I have an older water softener at my home that is a salt eating monster. I am in the market for installing something new to treat the water. Just wondering what some of you with well water use? I have not had the water tested as of late but have lots of iron for a fact. Would be nice to not have to deal with salt at all if possible. Thanks in advance!

Some water softeners run basically every other day or every third day or whatever the schedule that you put it on, regardless of how much water you have used. Other water softeners actually meter the water and run when they have to, based on the hardness of your water. Since you said it's using obscene amounts of salt, I assume you have a schedule-based one and not a meter-based one. You definitely want to upgrade to a metered system.

Also, depending on who installed it and their preference for softened water for washing cars, etc, there's a possibility that your outdoor spigots are tapped off of the post-conditioned water. This is usually a big waste of soft water (and thus a waste of salt), ESPECIALLY if your sprinklers are using soft water. Make sure that isn't the case.

[311Hemi]

A water softener can handle a fair amount of iron.

That may be the case and like I said I am using mine to remove iron, but the longevity of the resin is affected by iron and it requires more salt use to keep it from having issues (along with iron out).

If you get a new one, I would make sure you have your water tested and program the new one accordingly. There is info out there that can assist you with what the settings should be at.

A softener only uses the amount of salt it's set up (programmed) to use, and that should be based on how much water is used in your household. The size of the softener also affects this, and you don't want to go out and just buy the biggest softener you can. It should be sized based on water usage.

NAMA, most likely you can adjust your valve to use less salt (assuming your water usage allows)....you just need to find out what king of valve is on it.

[NAMASafetyDirector]

As it is right now I have to have the particular unit I have pretty much cranked to see decent results. It regenerates once a day basically and rips through a bag of salt a week. It's not the best unit on the market and for certain doesnt solve all the rust and hard water issues however it does help. I should mention that I am only person at home using water.

[311Hemi]

I think your on the right track with replacing it. Sounds like your resin bed could be fouled. Again, I would have your water tested (before being softened) to see what the iron, hardness, etc is. You should not be regenerating every day.

From what I have read and people I have talked with, anything over 4-5 ppm iron is tough for a softener to handle.

Before you do anything though, you could try doing two back to back manual regeneration with your current unit. For each regeneration use super iron out diluted in water per the instructions, and pour that in the brine tank (not on the salt). Do not use any water until both regenerations are done. Then, try decreasing your regns again to like every 4-5 days and see how your water it. If it's not soft, then your resin is most likely fouled and you either look at replacing the resin or buying a new softener or treatment system. There are resins out there that can handle iron better than others.

If you buy a new one, make sure it's sized according to your use. If you have or will have more people every living in the house, take that into consideration when sizing the unit. And use iron out in the system all the time if you have high iron (this can be sprinkled over the salt as you fill it with salk).

[311Hemi]

A water softener can handle a fair amount of iron. My buddy on Vermilion just put in a well and had a fair amount of iron. Turned everything red. Talked it over with a water treatment guy and he can get away with just a regular water softener.

Seems like it would be worthwhile talking to Culligan or equivalent before doing anything.

I am skeptical about any of the softeners that don't use salt. My new softener doesn't use much salt, a few pounds for 750 gallons, hardness is like 20 grains here in Rochester.

I will be curious to know how long it lasts! Most water treatment people I have talked with, and what I have read up about, say high iron is not handled well by water softeners. Depends how much iron your talking.

Do you have any iron on top of the 20 g hardness? How many people in the household?

[bigtimeelectric]

NAMA, We had very bad rust even with a 90' well. We went to Mills Fleet Farm and got a water boss for about $400.00 and I installed it watched the dvd and it cleared all the rust up.Let me know if you have any questions

[delcecchi]

I will be curious to know how long it lasts! Most water treatment people I have talked with, and what I have read up about, say high iron is not handled well by water softeners. Depends how much iron your talking.

Do you have any iron on top of the 20 g hardness? How many people in the household?

No iron. Rochester city water. Water department says 19 for hardness. Water softener guy set it for 25. There are two of us. The problem with too big a softner is that it can be too long between regens and the brine tank gets skunky or something, is what the guy said.

Most softeners these days measure usage, and regenerate as needed. At least the ones I looked at.

My buddy got unlucky and has a 350 foot well that had to be fracked. He has, if I remember correctly, like 10 (ppm?) of iron. Culligan fixed him up with a regular water softner, no iron filter or anything. They have a lot of experience (located in Virginia). So far so good but it has only been like a year for him.