Question for installing sediment filter and water softener.

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HiccaBurp

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First, hello all.. newbie from the great commie state of northern Illinois!!

Second, I purchased my house about 3 years ago. Submersible, pressure tank and culligan water softener. We did not like the taste of our water especially during season changes. Needed to bleach the well. Last year I purchased a Aquasana water filtration system. I also added an iron filter as we do have 2 ppm iron. I installed this system after the pressure tank. It has a 5m pre-filter, iron filter, aquasana rhino filter, and .35m post filter. Love the taste of our water!!! Btw, we bypassed the water softener. However, due to our hardness(high 20's??), the plumbing fixtures are building up ?scale?. The wife hates how the dishes come out cloudy from the DW. The tubs and showers are all building up a film. So..

1. I was going to install the water softener I have just on the hot water side? This way the DW is softened, and the plumbing fixtures only get half the hardness during baths/showers? Or..
2. Do I soften the whole house and have one line before it's softened go to a specific faucet to use for drinking water? We don't like the taste of softened water for drinking.. plus the minerals from harder water is a benefit? What do you guys think?

Thirdly, my PT started loosing pressure and I had to fill it up with air every couple months. Also, my 5m pre-filter was turning dark orange very fast and clogging up pretty quick. I purchased a newer wellmate fiberglass PT. I also wanted to install a 20-30 or even 50m pre-filter before the PT. My plumber said no problem as long as you change it regularly and before it gets to clogged. I've read that it's not good to put anything between the pump and PT?

1. Putting the sediment filter before the bladder tank seems like a good idea. If there is that much crap going thru the PT, wouldn't it over time wear the bladder faster? It's like sandpaper water.. no? Also, wouldn't the sediment, rust, etc.. buildup in the PT nooks and crannies and eventually cause premature failure? I would also put pressure gauges before and after to follow pressure drop. I would think if you changed the filter before it ever had a chance to cause a problem with the pump?

2. Would putting another pre-filter between the PT and my water filtration system be good?

3. My plumber said the orange in my existing pre-filter was due to the water in contact with air in my bladder since it was compromised. He said with a new PT the iron wouldn't oxidize and would not turn orange like what I have. Is this true?

Thanks in advance!!!
Alex

Pic of pre-filter
IMAG0638.jpg
 

LLigetfa

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Welcome to the forum. I plumbed my iron filter and softer into both hot and cold. I plumbed one outside hose bib before the iron filter and three more of them after the iron filter but before the softener. Two more hose bibs provide hot and cold soft water.

I agree that the busted bladder exposed the iron to air and the water to the steel of the tank. Unless you are getting sand into your bladder tank, I would not worry about trapping anything before the tank. If you are getting sand, a Lakos sand trap would be in order.

We didn't like the taste of our water either and so installed a R/O filter with a spigot at the kitchen sink. I don't buy the argument about R/O water being bad for you, stripping out minerals. We get all the minerals we need from the food we eat. Soft water is not unnatural, hard water is. Before man evolved to drill wells and pull hard water out of the ground, we drank mostly rain water which is soft.
 

HiccaBurp

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Welcome to the forum. I plumbed my iron filter and softer into both hot and cold. I plumbed one outside hose bib before the iron filter and three more of them after the iron filter but before the softener. Two more hose bibs provide hot and cold soft water.

I agree that the busted bladder exposed the iron to air and the water to the steel of the tank. Unless you are getting sand into your bladder tank, I would not worry about trapping anything before the tank. If you are getting sand, a Lakos sand trap would be in order.
My current tank is fiberglass.. not steel. The plumber says it's orange like that because the busted bladder is exposing air to the water and making the iron rust. I guess when we put the new bladder we'll see if it's true.

We didn't like the taste of our water either and so installed a R/O filter with a spigot at the kitchen sink. I don't buy the argument about R/O water being bad for you, stripping out minerals. We get all the minerals we need from the food we eat. Soft water is not unnatural, hard water is. Before man evolved to drill wells and pull hard water out of the ground, we drank mostly rain water which is soft.
Our water tastes great now.. just can't stand the film on dishes and fixtures. The reason we don't like R/O systems is it makes the waters Ph acidic. Our water coming out of the spigot now is alkaline which is much healthier. I'm going to try soft on the hot side for now, and if it still bothers us, I'll soften the whole house and have one faucet not for drinking. Hope to do this soon.

Thanks for the reply,
Alex
 

LLigetfa

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The reason we don't like R/O systems is it makes the waters Ph acidic.
Before we installed our RO filter, we were distilling water which of course would be PH neutral. At the time, we kept fish and so had reason to test PH and were surprised that the RO filtered water tested acidic. I did a lot of research at the time into why that was. In our case, we have a an iron filter that entrains air to oxydize out the iron and the residual carbon dioxide formed a weak carbonic acid and was spiking the PH test. Just letting the RO water sit for a while would raise the PH.

WRT to health effect, I dismiss the myth that lower PH is unhealthy.
http://knol.google.com/k/nicholas-wise/reverse-osmosis-water-filter-guide/sgs2u4d4tbid/2
 
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