Got hard well water? How are you treating it?

[Joel]

Water from the well at the prospective new Team Schnauzer HQ has tested relatively hard, and with iron and manganese in the higher ranges of "normal." Currently, there is no filtration or softening system installed. I'm leery of softening it too much, but some kind of treatment will probably be needed. I'm curious about folks' experiences with this kind of equipment, and also with reverse osmosis systems for drinking water. Any recommendations or warnings? What are you using, and what is working well (pun intended) for you?

 

Yeah, I know, its a deep subject.

[David]

We have a reverse osmosis system (downstream of a water softener) at our home. Taste and quality is outstanding. Two downside issues are these. First, it uses a fair bit of water to give you that one gallon of good water. Second, filters (replaced yearly) are pricey.

[Gregori]

We've got high manganese and iron here as well. (So to speak.)

 

In fact, both are actually higher than the normal range, but far from hazardous.

Within bounds, when dissolved in water, both are considered 'secondary' and 'esthetic' issues.

 

The water may smell funny (manganese smells like sulfur) and the iron will cause staining/rust accumulation. We've got a .05 micron particulate filter to catch the "big" stuff, but getting iron out of the water is tough and potentially pricey. So we don't worry about it much, and drink store-bought bottled water, though we use tap water for cooking, coffee, etc.

 

Keep in mind that softened water is bad for plants, so you won't want to put in a softener where it'll end up going out to irrigation lines.

[DiggerJim]

but some kind of treatment will probably be needed.

Why? Hard water isn't poisonous. I've got it, have had it for my whole life (grew up with it & my houses since have had it too). Except for the stains it can make in various places (like the toilets or wherever it evaporates) it hasn't hurt me. The kids who went off to college come back and say that one of the things they miss is the taste of the water - which isn't strong or smelly or anything, just different than mass produced & bottled pablum.

 

Try it for awhile before you go buying a lot of hardware. Also, be careful of softeners - the chlorides used can be harmful to some people's health.

[ShovelStrokeEd]

Taste the water, if it doesn't gag you, forget about all the treatment b.s..

 

If you can't pull a lather in the shower, then you have a little problem but, most of the time, that can be fixed by changing soaps.

 

There is a whole industry dedicated to pulling money out of your wallet to get soft water. Is it needed? Sometimes, as in funky tasting water. My criteria is that if it tastes OK, don't worry about suds. You and your laundry will still get clean.

 

There can be an issue with hot water heaters building too much calcium carbonate deposits and losing efficiency and, depending on how they are powered, burning out. There are chemical solutions which can be applied annually to resolve this without going through the PITA of a water softener. I could never get one of those to work right for me, I either wound up with no lather or something that took 50 gallons of water to wash off/out.

[rob1100r]

We have one of those 'yarn' type filters for ours...change it every month or so...worst part with hard water is the long term damage to the copper pipes. Lost a pipe once in the middle of the night, thank God I heard it! I would love to do the pipes over with pvc...

[ltljohn]

I have lots of iron and use a product called a magnetizer, it is two strong magnets clamped on the pipe from the well tank and another set on the output side of the water heater. I do not know how they work but a month after installation the rust stains in the toilets and dishwasher went away, and the shower heads do not clog nearly as fast. It was about $50.

[Woodie]

Well, we have hard water. Lot's of iron. Matter of fact, I think there should be a gosh-darn MINE under my house.

 

Anyways..we had a water treatment system when we bought the house. Replaced it last summer, much improved water taste, and going through about 1/4 the salt as before. The softener removes the iron, then we treat it to normalize the pH. (I assume it's acidic, but I don't exactly remember).

 

W/o the treatment, we get stains, rust in the tanks, and nasty taste/odor.

I think we got "taken advantage of" last summer, as we replaced everything from the well to the faucet, except the copper pipes inside the house. (~$5,000 for the water treatment part!)

[hANNAbONE]

wE'VE gOT a Culligan type softner...had it ever since I moved to Dull Moan back the first day of 1995.

 

It was a b!tch to move when we pulled into the new home in 2003 - but it's still doing it's thang.

 

I love soft water - and per the "pipes and water heater" talk, I really believe it saves ya money in the end...plus you get all the goodies whilst doing that.

 

YMMV

[Agent_Orange]

Culligan bites. One of the worst experiences I ever had! If you are gonna use a softener try http://www.kinetico.com/ (usual disclaimers)

[Joel]

but some kind of treatment will probably be needed.

Why?

 

Mainly to minimize mineralization and corrosion in the supply lines over the long term.

[Mister Tee]

Most softeners will also remove iron and manganese as well, but of course at the expense of loading the water full of sodium.

 

You can get small, home-version pressure filtration systems with manganese greensand media, and either a liquid or tablet hypochlorinator if the only problem is iron and manganese and not excessive hardness. In fact, if it's just iron, and not manganese, you can just use a standard sand pressure filter with a preoxidant.

[T__]

Water from the well at the prospective new Team Schnauzer HQ has tested relatively hard, and with iron and manganese in the higher ranges of "normal." Currently, there is no filtration or softening system installed. I'm leery of softening it too much, but some kind of treatment will probably be needed. I'm curious about folks' experiences with this kind of equipment, and also with reverse osmosis systems for drinking water. Any recommendations or warnings? What are you using, and what is working well (pun intended) for you?

 

Yeah, I know, its a deep subject.

 

 

Joel, the water hardness will probably stay close to the same as time goes by but the iron content will more than likely lower somewhat..

 

My current home has moderately hard water & had a fairly high iron content when the well was first installed..

 

I decided to use the water softener to remove the organic iron as they will but that is hard on the softener bed.. In fact the company I bought the water softener from told me that I would probably need a new rosin bed every few years.. To date I had to re-bead the softener bottles only once in 25 years.. That cost me about $90.00 for media as I did the rebuild myself..

 

If you choose to use a water softener I would suggest a softener that bases it’s regeneration times on actual water used than a given time period.. That way you use the least salt for a given time period..

 

I’m sure there are many good water softeners but I chose the Kinetico brand as that was a very good rated unit from plumbers & water softener supply companies.. It was a good choice as I have had 0 problems with it in 25 years..

 

 

Having soft water in the household is a very big issue around my house as it makes the dishwasher,, washing machine,, ice maker,, about any water use appliance work better & last much longer.. Hard water is very destructive on appliances & faucets.. Hard water will leave water spots all over a washed vehicle,, leave nasty spots on the shower door,, leave stains in the sinks,, make your washed clothes look dingy.. Probably eventually shrink the inside of your plumbing pipes to a small diameter.. Soft water also greatly prolongs the life of your water heater as it keep the darn thing from plugging up with calcium (just be sure to remove anode from the water heater as soft water will make that anode give you smelly water fro quite a while).. I get about 15 years form a water heater..

 

In my case the salt usage isn’t too bad as the softener only softens the water we use.. There really isn’t a salt issue either as the soft water doesn’t actually contain salt only exchanged sodium ions.. I did leave the kitchen sink cold faucet as unsoftened water for drinking & plant watering as you use mostly hot water on that sink anyhow & the dishwasher does most of the dishes..

 

Personally I couldn’t (or wouldn’t) want to live without a water softener.. Had a house without one & now a house with one & night & day difference in the water quality..

 

Twisty

[Rob_Mayes]

We live in a rural area and have both well water and cistern water. For soft-water we trap all of our roof area and keep a 2000 gal cistern full. We use that inside for most of our washing/bathing needs. We use the hard well water for outside watering/swimming pool, and ice/water (refridgerator). We also have bottled water for drinking. I have a water softener, but decided I did not want all of the salt compounds accumulating in my septic system and latterals, thus polluting the yard.

[notacop]

I live in a community east of Los Angeles called Temple City and it relys on well water for it's needs. We have several wells about the water system. What gets pumped out of the ground goes directly into the distribution pipes and what isn't used gets backed up hill to a couple resivoirs. The water that leaves the reservoirs is chlorinated due to it's exposure to the atmosphere at the reservoirs. Tastes just fine.