clarksvilleal
New Member
We have a well with moderately acidic water. I am planning to get an upflow neutralizer soon. Main reason for upflow is that our well has a very low recovery rate - less than 1 GPM. So the well would likely run dry in a backwash cycle at least some of the time.
Laboratory water test shows the following:
pH - 6.4
Total hardness - 66 mg/L CaCO3
Calcium hardness - 40 mg/L
Magnesium hardness - 26 mg/L
Iron - < 0.02 mg/L (after sediment filter)
Total Dissolved Solids - 143 mg/L
Manganese - .006 mg/L
We have a large house with 4 full baths; however most of the time there are only two of us are living here. Once or twice a year we have guests or children/grandchildren from out of town staying with us for a week or two. We occasionally have had one of our children and their family staying with us longer - up to several months.
Based on all that, the plumber recommends a 2.5 cu. ft. upflow calcite/gravel bed neutralizer. However, in reading specs of upflow neutralizers and various recommendations on forums or from neutralizer suppliers, there often seems to be an implication that larger size upflow neutralizers require a higher average water flow rate to work properly, though they never give a specific reason why that would be the case. Is that true? Is there any reason a larger upflow neturalizer won't work well with a low average flow rate? I do understand that with backwash neutralizers the flow rate must be significantly higher when actually backwashing the larger units. But why wouldn't a 2.5 cu. ft. upflow neutralizer work just as well with a low average flow rate as a 1.5 cu. ft. upflow unit?
OTOH, I have seen a couple of web sites selling upflow neutralizers that state that it doesn't hurt to have a larger size upflow neutralizer; plus, they say, a larger neutralizer has the advantage that it won't have to be serviced as often.
So which is correct?
Laboratory water test shows the following:
pH - 6.4
Total hardness - 66 mg/L CaCO3
Calcium hardness - 40 mg/L
Magnesium hardness - 26 mg/L
Iron - < 0.02 mg/L (after sediment filter)
Total Dissolved Solids - 143 mg/L
Manganese - .006 mg/L
We have a large house with 4 full baths; however most of the time there are only two of us are living here. Once or twice a year we have guests or children/grandchildren from out of town staying with us for a week or two. We occasionally have had one of our children and their family staying with us longer - up to several months.
Based on all that, the plumber recommends a 2.5 cu. ft. upflow calcite/gravel bed neutralizer. However, in reading specs of upflow neutralizers and various recommendations on forums or from neutralizer suppliers, there often seems to be an implication that larger size upflow neutralizers require a higher average water flow rate to work properly, though they never give a specific reason why that would be the case. Is that true? Is there any reason a larger upflow neturalizer won't work well with a low average flow rate? I do understand that with backwash neutralizers the flow rate must be significantly higher when actually backwashing the larger units. But why wouldn't a 2.5 cu. ft. upflow neutralizer work just as well with a low average flow rate as a 1.5 cu. ft. upflow unit?
OTOH, I have seen a couple of web sites selling upflow neutralizers that state that it doesn't hurt to have a larger size upflow neutralizer; plus, they say, a larger neutralizer has the advantage that it won't have to be serviced as often.
So which is correct?
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