Clack Valve WS1 reversed water flow in iron filter.

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Brasstown

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Bought the house about a year ago and was replacing a carbon filter cartridge (after the iron filter).
Decided to look up the iron filter specs to see if their was some maintenance I needed to do and noticed the water flow into and out of the filter appears reversed. I'm not a plumber but this looks backwards to me. Is this configuration usable or did someone make a mistake. The filter system was installed in 05 and I have no idea who originally installed it. wT8HeEt.jpg dY8leoj.jpg
Do I need to have it "fixed" or is the media depleted to the point of being useless?
 

Reach4

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Nice find. I guess you don't know what the media is. Is this well water or city water? I would presume a well. If so, I suggest a water test and system sanitizing.


Most installers put a sticker somewhere. Look around. Of course it may have been DIY with no sticker. An installer might own up to it and correct the hookup out desire to do a good job.
 

Brasstown

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We actually had a water test on the well before we moved in. Everything was pretty good except for the iron at 2.1 p.p.m.
The technician said it was bacterial iron and that the only thing that would really take care of it was an ozone system that cost around 4 grand. He and I both looked at the existing system and never noticed the water inlet and outlet pipes were backwards. The thing is, it took some effort to route the pipes in the wrong order. It feels like they knew something about what they were doing but I can't figure it out. I don't know if reversing the pipes to "normal" would be dangerous. I guess I should just call one of the local well drillers to look it over.
 

Gary Slusser

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Iron filters usually do not use top dome hole type tanks.... but AN (acid neutralizer) filters do.

How did you determine that the flow is backwards?

On what you call the outlet line, there is something installed on a tee above the line coming from the control valve. The thing looks like a thing used to allow air to escape from water.

Which line on the water heater is the cold water inlet to the water heater?
 

Brasstown

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I don't know if the flow is actually backwards. The water runs fine in the house but I don't know if the filter is actually being used correctly if the pipes are routed wrong. The "out" line from the filter has that thing used to allow air to escape from water. The pipe is routed under the the other line to the particulate filter and then to the cold water inlet. I've put the system on bypass for a week or so and couldn't tell a difference in water quality. I don't know if the filter is working as intended, not working because the flow is backwards, or if the media may need to be changed. From my very limited understanding of filters is that the water is forced down through the media and up into a central pipe out of the tank. If the inlet/outlet were backwards does the water get filtered? What happens when it regenerates if it is backwards? Thanks for your replies and knowledge, I am totally lost!
 

Reach4

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We actually had a water test on the well before we moved in. Everything was pretty good except for the iron at 2.1 p.p.m.
What was the pH?

Image below is from Clack WS1 manual.
 

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Brasstown

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hardness 3 GPG
Iron 2.1 PPM
PH 7.0
dissolved solids 70 PPM
Manganese 0
Nitrates 0

I actually have a hydroquad filter system from a previous location where the water was hard. I also have a iron filter that looks like the same size as the one installed. It has a mix of media (KDF, Birm, Pyrolox and Calcite) but I have no idea the ratio or if it would be effective here.
 

Reach4

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With pH=7.0, you will not need calcite.

I don't know what the effect of backwards hookup would be, but I am suspecting that backwash might work the right way, but service flow would be up instead of down.

According to the manual, the Drain Line Flow Control (a special rubber-washer looking thing) in the drain line fitting has a 3-digit number molded into it. Divide that number by 10, and that is the GPM. That number, along with the tank size, would give the backwash rate, which would suggest the media.
 

ditttohead

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Backwards is not correct with a backwashing vale but... in some applications it is unlikely to be noticed. It is likely a calcite filter which can be installed in an upflow configuration without a backwash valve, or in a downflow w/ backwash valve. Your system is upflow w/ backwash... not recommended but I doubt you would notice in most applications. Calcite is crushed marble, it is a very heavy media and upflowing the water through it will have little affect except for less contact, and less correction.

Long story short, your system is backwards, but it probably does not matter. It would be a good idea to correct it, but I doubt you would notice...
 

Brasstown

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Thank you all very much. I spent about 4 hours reading all the guides and forum posts to get myself educated on various topics! Now I'm off to flush my water heater and change the anode out for a alum/zinc too see if that helps with the iron problem.
 

Reach4

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I don't expect the anode swap to help with iron, but maybe I have missed something. That is normally done for sulfur smells, and it can only affect the hot water anyway.

Sanitizing your well might help, and it should be done anyway. My favorite method is http://www.moravecwaterwells.com/index.php/maintainance/disinfection-and-testing but most people get sufficient improvement with a lesser method.
 

Brasstown

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Anode swap for iron reduction, please let us know where you read that.

Doh! I had iron on the brain, I meant swapping out the anode might help the smell.

I noticed a bit of plastic tubing with a mesh cap attached to a brass fitting. Any idea what it is for? It is directly after the main water line inlet cutoff. Pictures attached.
 

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Reach4

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Some sort of injector. Somebody will recognize that.

I bought a powered anode for the water heater.
 

Gary Slusser

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I don't know if the flow is actually backwards.

The water runs fine in the house but I don't know if the filter is actually being used correctly if the pipes are routed wrong.

The "out" line from the filter has that thing used to allow air to escape from water. The pipe is routed under the the other line to the particulate filter and then to the cold water inlet.

I've put the system on bypass for a week or so and couldn't tell a difference in water quality. I don't know if the filter is working as intended, not working because the flow is backwards, or if the media may need to be changed. From my very limited understanding of filters is that the water is forced down through the media and up into a central pipe out of the tank. If the inlet/outlet were backwards does the water get filtered? What happens when it regenerates if it is backwards? Thanks for your replies and knowledge, I am totally lost!

So why are you assuming the (AN) filter is installed backwards? I say AN filter because of the top dome hole plug tank.... used to add neutralizing mineral periodically but, I do not recall ever hearing of adding air/oxygen to water before an AN filter.... although doing so may increase the pH slightly. BTW, the thing you mention in your last post with the mesh thingy.... it is an injector that adds air to water - usually to help in oxidizing things like H2S, iron and/or manganese. Usually that type system has a contact tank ahead of a backwashed filter but not always

You need to do a pH test on the raw water and the best place to get the sample is the drain on your pressure tank. If the test shows 7.0 pH you may not have an AN filter. If lower than 7.0 you have an AN filter or maybe Birm after air injection that has increased the pH slightly (to 7.0).

Where the line from the filter connects to the cold feed line above the water heater.... doesn't it connect to that line coming down from above the top of the picture with a Tee instead of an Elbow? If the fitting is a Tee... I think that is where you have a problem; you'd be back feeding the cold water line above the Tee.
 

Brasstown

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I only assumed it was backwards because of the direction arrow markings on the bypass, but according to Dittohead it could be of no consequence. The cold water line is indeed connected to a tee.
I am going to drain the tank and do the quick peroxide fix tomorrow. Is it safe to add he peroxide to the Pentek filter and allow the cold water to feed into the HWH? I would bypass the iron filter, add peroxide to the empty Pentek housing and turn the main supply back on long enough to push the peroxide into the HWH. Just curious if that would work if I couldn't get into the HWH otherwise (not being lazy, just an idea!)
 

ditttohead

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umm, not exactly no consequence, it should be corrected. The system is designed for downflow with intermittent backwashing. If it is plumbed backwards, you are upflow backwashing. The backwashing will have little affect since you are always backwashing anytime you flow water, and the effectiveness of the media is decreased in an upflow configuration vs. downflow.

Hope this explains it better.

The housings is fine with an intermittent dose of hydrogen peroxide.
 

ditttohead

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Since I have received several PM's and I don't want to keep typing the same response over and over... :)

If a simple softener or backwashing system is plumbed in backwards, (this excludes systems with no treated water bypass etc.) the inlet and outlet of the valve are separated by the media during the service position only.

During backwash, brine/rinse, rapid rinse cycles, the valves allows the inlet/outlet to be connected (Hard Water Bypass). The piston (or flappers, or disc etc) direct water in different directions, but it does not know or care if the water is coming from the inlet or outlet, since they are the same anyway during regeneration.

So therefore, backwash will still be backwash, not reversed, and the same goes for fast rinse, brine/rinse.

FYI, I have been out to softeners that were installed backwards for ten years, the system worked... obviously some problems can occur, but the homeowner was always happy with the water quality even though the system was plumbed in backwards. Obviously the electromechanical 5600 would not work in this manner, but most systems with electronic meters would. Assuming the top screen did not fail and the house would become filled with resin...
 

Bannerman

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Thanks for clarifying.

Since any sediment and debris present within the incoming raw water is entering the filter at the bottom, within the gravel under bed below the media while 'In-Service' mode, will the debris be effectively flushed from the filter during back-wash, especially if caught within the heavy, immovable gravel?
 
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ditttohead

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The gravel is not much of a filter. It is for water dispersion, media displacement, and screen protection. Sediment freely flows through it. The bottom screen would be more of a filter than the gravel. Most sediment would simply flow through the screen and gravel, and out the top during service or backwash.
 
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