Well water

[Guest Moon Reefer]

I just moved to a house that has well water.  I was shocked to find the ph out of the tap (after the softener) at 4!  Anyway, I replaced the carbon and sediment filter cartridges in my RO/DI, and after the DI process, I'm showing 10ppm on the TDS.  I was able to get down to 0-2 on the city water before changing the cartridges.  Could I have gotten the wrong cartridges?  What are others' experiences with well water?

 

Thanks!

[michaelg]

maybe the DI portion needed to be changed as well?

The sediment block I used is the smallest pore I can find.  I think it is 5 microns?  

What are the tests on the water?  I'd check pH, alkalinity, and phosphates, and nitrates/nitrites.

[scott711]

How long have you run the water through the filters? I just changed mine and had a similar problem. After running it for a while(a couple of hours) it tested 0 PPM

[ReefMon]

I used to do residential/commercial water treatment, and VA well water runs from fantastically clean to ridiculously nasty.

 

What colors are the stains in your bathroom fixtures?

Green = Acid

Red = Iron

Brown = turbidity

Calcium deposits = hard water

 

I'd suggest you call a water treatment company for a free analyses (Sears, Culligan, RainSoft, etc), but if your handy with a torch & pipe cutter you can buy & install the filtration equipment yourself for a fraction of thier price.

 

As for the RO/DI water:

What is the TDS of the incoming water?  

 

The RO should bring it down 90%-95%.  So if the well water is running 1000 PPM, you will be in the 100-50 PPM output which is good, but running 100-50PPM through your DI carts is going to eat them up super fast.  

 

You may find after adding a water softener & acid filter things will improve.

 

HTH

Glenn

[Guest Moon Reefer]

We're already running a water softener, but aren't really sure if it's working properly.  We still have the metallic smell, especially in the shower.  The stains in the sinks/toilets appear brown-to-reddish. Our soaps all suds up just fine though.  The DI cartridge is about a year old - guess it would be a good idea to change that as well.  We were wondering where we could send a sample of the well water for analysis (without going to a treatment company).  Any ideas?

 

Thanks for the help!

[ReefMon]

You might be able to get your county to do a free water analysis for you, but don't hold me to it.