Iron filter and softener advice

[mrtmills]

Hi,
I've been on here before trying to find information on fixing my well water but I've not purchased anything yet. My water has a sulfur smell mainly in the hot water but some in the cold- both dissipate after a few seconds. I've had two tests, one found tannins, the other didn't mention them. The iron does not oxidize easily, if left on the counter it takes a few days to turn color and doesn't sink for many days. If i bleach the water it still takes a few hours to precipitate out- please see pictures. I'm in nova Scotia and any opinion on a Canadian online supplier would be appreciated. I should mention that the recovery rate on my well is 0.5 gpm and my in house flow rate is about 9gpm. If I leave my well running for 1-2 hours on an outside house the water turns brown and it takes a few days to right itself. The test results are below:

Test#1-a few years old
Iron: 1.1 mg/L
magnesium: 31 mg/L
manganese: 0.7 mg/L
sodium: 44 mg/L
Hardness (CaCO3): 354 mg/L (21 gpg)
pH: 8.1

Test#2- this year
Hardness: 20 gpg
Iron: 2.07 ppm
Manganese: 1.2 ppm
pH: 7.3
TDS: 460 ppm
tannins: 1.2 ppm

Here are some pictures of the water before and during some bleaching

Thanks a lot.
Travis

 

[Gary Slusser]

You should look up and then check to see if you have IRB (iron reducing bacteria).

 

[Sponsor]

 

[mrtmills]

You should look up and then check to see if you have IRB (iron reducing bacteria).

Thanks for the reply.
The toilet tank definitely has lots of crud but it's hard to tell if it's slippery. There is a slight oily look to the surface, here's a photo. The well is 360ft deep.

Travis

 

[Gary Slusser]

Thanks for the reply.
The toilet tank definitely has lots of crud but it's hard to tell if it's slippery. There is a slight oily look to the surface, here's a photo. The well is 360ft deep.

Travis

Flush the toilet and as the water goes down in the tank, wipe the palm of your hand on the inside of the tank below the water line. If it is slippery/snotty/jelly like (clear to black), you probably have IRB. IRB can cause fluctuations in soluble iron content in your water. When done, clean the toilet tank until all the "rusty" it is gone.

Raise the temp on the water heater to like 140f and leave it that high for say... 4 hrs and then turn it back to where it is now (substantially longer if hot water is used during that time). All types of water borne bacteria found in domestic water heaters will be killed. That will get rid of the odor if it is being created by IRB etc.. If my memory serves me right... Iron and Manganese Reducing Bacteria can cause an oily film.

 

[mrtmills]

The stuff in the toilet is not slippery and the smell does not go away after turning up the heater. The smell is in both lines. There is a water company around here that pushes the ozone system called iron blaster, any experience? Due to the water's stubbornness to oxidize I worry that some of the iron filters may not work. Add to that the possibility of bacteria and the possibility of tannins and I'm hooped. Thanks again for taking the time, I appreciate it.
Travis

 

[Gary Slusser]

No iron filter will work until you get rid of the IRB/MRB and/or Sulfate reducing bacteria.

Ozone is a very powerfull and fast acting oxidizer when ya have enough of it generated with whatever means you are creating it but.... it is very expensive to purchase and maintain. Many things effect its ability to remain strong enough or a large enough volume to oxidize whatever. I have treated a lot of IRB etc. and chlorine works every time you use enough of it in the proper manner but...I did not use liquid chlorine, I used an inline dry pellet chlorinator and special mixing tank equal to a 120 gal retention tank. Then Centaur carbon to remove the 'dirt' and odor of chlorine from the treated water.

 

[Reach4]

There is a slight oily look to the surface, here's a photo. The well is 360ft deep.

I thought tannin was something associated with shallow wells or surface water.

 

[montelatici]

If you have IRB you might want to explore the potential for this stuff to help:

http://www.lavalunderground.com/ind...yar0vHZS-8X9VwVYQP1J_txtdlEaXxOyZgaAhNi8P8HAQ

In my amateur, non professional opinion, based on my experience, I would consider a Katalox backwashing iron and sediment filter, feeding a salt softener and a final backwashing carbon filter for final treatment.

 

[mrtmills]

Thanks for the responses everybody. The tannins thing is confusing. One test found it, the other did not. The water appears clear and if there is yellowing, it is very hard to see. I've heard that colloidal iron can lead to a false positive tannin result. The iron is colloidal, which is not easy to understand either. Some say that there must be organics in the water to create colloidal iron, others say the iron can be complexed with naturally occurring clay or silica and become colloidal. Either way, traditional oxidizing iron filters may not work. I'm going to look into chlorination and ozone and hope to finda solution there. And thanks for the well treatment reference, I may need that. The well is still very new.
Thanks again,
Travis

 

[Reach4]

The well is still very new.

It is at least a few years old.

the recovery rate on my well is 0.5 gpm and my in house flow rate is about 9gpm.

If you don't have a device to shut the pump off for a while if the well runs dry, you probably should get one. Cycle Sensor and Franklin Pumptec are such devices. http://www.cyclestopvalves.com/products.html The power to the pump runs through the device, which detects the change in current that occurs when the pump runs out of water.

I am not a pro, and I have no relevant experience. It seems to me that developing a 0.5 gpm well would take a long time. I suspect that the drillers dug deep hoping to find a productive aquifer and did not hit one. So the well bore serves to collect drops of water and to store the water that seeps in.

I am suspecting that your well does not have much casing and that some of the water is entering the bore from fairly close to the surface. That would explain the appearance of tannins and drop in pH. I hope water is not bypassing the casing and coming in from the actual surface without passing through a lot of soil first.

 

[mrtmills]

Thanks for the pump shut off info. That would make a big difference. Especially when it comes to accidentally leaving the outside tap on like my son did. You are right about the well, they just went deeper and deeper and eventually stopped. There is a lot of casing, about 80 ft. Interestingly I had a new well drilled a few weeks ago, must have been feeling hateful towards myself. Lots of water but just from the bleach test it has far more iron and junk than my current water. I haven't even hooked it up yet because I know now that no new well will fix my problems. I'll keep on working on the problem, see what the local water guys think. Thanks for your time.
Travis

 

[Reach4]

Regarding the new well, it is common to "develop" the well by running water full blast for a day or two or whatever it takes.

Iron can be filtered out with a backwashing filter. So if you have the pump, it might be worthwhile to get a water test on that water.

I am not familiar with "the bleach test". I you are saying that you let the water sit with bleach, and the ferrous (clear) iron turns to ferric (rust) iron. How about taking your red water and running that through a couple of coffee filters. If that takes out your color, great. There are backwashing filters that clean themselves periodically that can take out the ferric iron. Some media can both turn ferrous to ferric and filter out the ferric at the same time.

Another classic system chlorinates the water, lets it go through a "contact tank" to let the reaction happen. Then an activated coconut carbon backwashing filter mechanically takes out the precipitate and the chlorine. The chlorine can be inexpensive unscented chlorine bleach.

I am pretty ignorant of tannins. I see some say that chlorination can handle that too.

 

[ditttohead]

Chlorine is commonly used for Tannins with varying degrees of success. Like all Tannin issues, each case tends to be a little different. Some Tannins are easily bleached by the chlorine and the odor from them is also neutralized sometimes. A good dose of chlorine is usually needed and proper contact time is crucial . Tannin selective resin is also a popular option but has it own quirks and is effective only sometimes. Tannins are made of organic compounds and each region will have different compositions of tannins. Tannins is a very generic term so pilot testing is usually recommended or the local water treatment dealer usually knows what process works best for your area.

 

[Bannerman]

Lots of water but just from the bleach test it has far more iron and junk than my current water.

So, what is the recovery rate for the new well?

Perhaps the new well maybe able to support the flow rate required to backwash a Katalox filter.

 

[montelatici]

Agreed.

 

[Bannerman]

Here's a link to information regarding colloidal iron removal:
http://www.purolite.com/RelId/606878/ISvars/default/Colloidal_Iron_Removal.htm

 

[mrtmills]

Hey, thanks everybody for all the responses. The well has 5 gpm recovery and maybe it doesn't have colloidal iron so I'm going to get it tested (the test takes forever so I was hesitant). I did run it hard on and off for a few days. Hopefully the new well will show promise, then I didn't waste $3k. I'll post my results when I get them. Thanks
Travis