Iron Filter bad smell

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Kelvin Rempel

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Hey Everyone,

First time posting here. I have a Novo 465-100 Chem free iron filter in my house. I had the system installed 3 years ago. For the first year the system wasn't working well, every time it did a regeneration cycle we got air in our water lines. We contacted the manufacturer and were told we had a defective control head. A new one was installed and the water issues got a lot better but we still had slight staining in the sinks and toilet bowls. For the last year the system seemed to stop working altogether. I had the plumber back numerous times to fix the issue but he didn't have much success.. So I finally took the entire unit apart myself. I found all the ports in the control head were completed plugged with iron bacteria. Also the tubes in the media tank and air tank were clogged as well. There was also a fairly thick layer of iron bacteria built up on the sides of the tank. I took everything apart, cleaned all the bacteria out of the air tank and fave it a wash with a bleach and water solution. I also cleaned out as much of the iron bacteria I could from the resin tank but some fell into the resin and I couldn't get it out. Anyways the filter is now taking all the iron out of the water, but I have a slight iron odour in the water. I've tried injecting a bleach water solution in the the air Venturi to the tank and let it sit for a while then flushing it, but still have the odour. I've also used some Res Pro care chemical to clean the resin. Anything else I can do to remove the smell? Do I need to replace all the resin since the tank was so dirty or is there a way to flush the resin tank??

Thanks for any ideas you guys can come up with!
 

ditttohead

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Honestly, that system is not one I would bother repairing. It was a unique design that has way too many problems. I would be very surprised if the giraffe head adapter weren't leaking yet. Everyone I have seen in the field has the same leaking problem after a couple years. Even the prototype I used in my own house had to be replaced due to the constant leaking issues.

If you have iron bacteria, then you really should get a system that is designed properly, not cheaply.

If you want to repair it, I probably have the old manuals somewhere in my computer for these units, but they are basically just cheap knockoffs of the older Fleck products.
 

Kelvin Rempel

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Thanks for the advice. We haven't had any leaks in the neck yet. If you have service manuals for it that would be great. What would you suggest to get rid of the iron bacteria? I flush the well with bleach 2x a year to try to control it.
 

ditttohead

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Chlorine or H2o2 injection with a properly sized contact tank with an automated purge would be a good start. Then a simple carbon tank or Katalox Light tank would be a good finisher.
 

Kelvin Rempel

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Thanks everyone for your replies. It looks like everything is up and running 100% now. No iron staining and no smell. Yesterday I decided to empty the resin from the resin tank. I gave the tank a good scrubbing and cleaned it with a bleach/water solution. I put the resin in buckets and washed it all with Pro Res Care. The amount of iron coming off the resin was incredible. Once the resin was cleaned I put it back in the tank and did 3 regeneration cycles to flush any remaining contaminants from the resin. I also put a bit of the Pro Res Care in the resin tank before I closed it up. Very happy this has worked.
 

Bannerman

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I also put a bit of the Pro Res Care in the resin tank before I closed it up.
Normally, the resin cleaner is added to the brine tank prior to regeneration.

As you mentioned adding cleaner directly within the resin tank after specifying 3 regen cycles, it appears you may have added that after the 3 regen cycles. If so, I doubt you would want cleaner that is within the resin tank, entering your plumbing system so that you would be consuming cleaner and exposed while bathing.

If the resin needs a strong cleaning, since Pro Res Care is a liquid, the brine line can be disconnected from the top to the brine tank and the cleaner drawn straight from the bottle full strength by advancing the controller to Brine Draw.
 
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Bannerman

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I think this is not a softener, and I expect the media is not a resin
I hadn't re-read the initial post but proceeded to comment on Kevin's prior post. The 'resin' and 'regeneration' terms lead me to consider he was referring to a softener.

As the media contained an excessive amount of remaining iron, then perhaps the backwash flow rate needs to be increased from its current 5 gpm (US).
 
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Kelvin Rempel

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The cleaner was added before the 3 regeneration cycles. If it's not Resin what would it be? I believe the reason the bed was so fouled was from the system being totally clogged with iron bacteria for a long time, the system wasn't working at all until I totally cleaned it out..
 

Reach4

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Maybe Greensand, Birm, manganese oxide, etc. Your system seems to be proprietary and does not tell you. So it would be hard to know what backwash rate or frequency it needs and how long the media is expected to last. Some of the media need very high backwash rates. Upsizing of the drain line might be needed.

Search for "Iron Out" in this forum for past discussions of another iron cleaner. It is a bit stronger than ResCare, which I presume you used. Res Pro does have "Rust Out" which I suspect is similar to Iron Out. Iron Out has been renamed Super Iron Out, but a search for Iron Out in quotes would find references to both. Super Iron Out has more smell, so you want ventilation. It is a powder, so you might consider dust filtering or air pattern control. It is widely available, and I think it is cheaper than ResCare. The active ingredient in ResCare is mostly phosphoric acid. http://www.cpccatalog.com/images/Brochures/Pro_Products/Rust-Out-Data-Sheet.pdf http://www.summitbrands.com/Data/Accounts/Files/1/MSDSSuperIronOut.pdf
https://www.cleanwaterstore.com/technical/water-treatment-manuals/ProProductsResCareMSDS.pdf

Klean-Strip Phosphoric Prep and Etch is also phosphoric acid. I bought that locally as phosphoric acid for some cleaning. I would do some label and MSDS study before using that. I don't know how the strengths compare.
 

ditttohead

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What did it look like? Dark sand, light colored sand, small spherical beads?

Most iron reduction medias are simply a manganese dioxide ore coating over a substrate of sand or other media. More recently Katalox Light has been the preferred media as it is a Manganese Dioxide ore impregnated and coating a clinoptilolite media. This provides a lighter media with higher filtration capabilities. Older popular medias were basically manganese dioxide ore without a substrate. These medias worked well but were very difficult to backwash.

Some companies make "proprietary blends" which is usually a way of making a less expensive iron reduction media by cutting the iron reduction media with a lower cost media like filter ag or filter ag+. Others use calcium carbonate which raises the pH facilitating the iron turning from ferrous to ferric and allowing it to be filtered out mechanically. This works well but raises the hardness and pH.

Class dismissed. :)
 

ditttohead

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Black sand would indicate it is likely some type of manganese dioxide ore based media. Here is a very abbreviated version of one of the class sessions I do regularly for those companies dealing with iron, manganese, H2s.

Using Manganese Dioxide Ore Media

Manganese Dioxide (typically 10-80% ) based medias for hydrogen sulfide, iron and manganese removal work on the principle of a catalyst reaction. This reaction is accompanied with the formation of intermediate compound or compounds, such as higher oxides of manganese and iron (ferrous iron converts to ferric iron). This precipitate is then physically removed as it is too large to migrate through the media.

Manganese dioxide ore works on a principle whereby the hydrogen sulfide, iron and manganese are oxidized on the media and simple backwashing cleans the bed. No chemical regeneration is required under ideal conditions. Nothing is imparted into the drinking water and the media has essentially an unlimited capacity for low containment concentrations.
Potential Problems and Solutions
LOW pH
A 6.5 pH or higher is considered ideal. A lower pH than 6.5 may require extra media for contact time. A more logical approach may be a pH neutralizing filter in front of the Manganese dioxide ore which will bring any pH up to the 6.5 to 7 ideal pH range.
Iron Bacteria and/or Manganese Bacteria
Manganese dioxide ore will not work well with iron and/or manganese bacteria as it keeps the media from its oxidation capabilities. Shock sanitizing the well and plumbing and a continuous injection of chlorine with adequate contact time will be necessary.


The actual ppt presentation I do is typically 1 hour and goes into great detail about alternative methods for treatment, but this is the most important part.

We highly recommend h202 injection or chlorination if the customer wants it to work 99% of the time. We also recommend equipment that can handle the injection later if it needs to be added.

Hope this helps!
 

Kelvin Rempel

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I've attached a picture of the dried out media, it has a bit of a red colouring when it's dry..
 

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