Water Softner or Iron Filter?

[Steelrain]

I just recently purchased a house that has well water. The water has a clear metallic smell and taste to it. A water test showed the following:

Hardness - 37 mg/L
Iron - .503 mg/L (.4 mg/L was Ferrous)
Manganese - .056

I had the local Kinetico dealer go come out and they recommended a water softener (I don't have the quote with me but it was a dual tank system with a mechanical head), they quoted me $3,400 for the softener and install (which include 300' of pex because it can only fit in the laundry room).

I spent the weekend emailing back and forth with their Rep. regarding the need for a softener instead of just an iron filter and finally she admitted that they also sell a greensand iron filter and quoted me $2,800 for the iron filter (10 x 54 tank) and install.

I was under the impression that anything under 60 mg/L meant "soft" water. So why the softener and the use of all that salt when an iron filter would seem to be a better fit? Are they trying to upsell me?

 

[Reach4]

Are they trying to upsell me?

Ya think?

Any sulfur smells? Some cures are good at taking that out in addition to softening.

A softener would be some advantage with such light hardness, but it is not needed. Most people with three times your hardness would not get a softener -- although they would benefit.

A softener can remove that level iron, but it needs extra maintenance and salt to do so.

I suggest you read prior posts. I also suggest that you get an independent water test from a lab. I like Kit60 from http://www.karlabs.com/watertestkit/ for nice testing, speed, and reasonable price. They pay postage both ways. You could have results in a week or two.

I am not a pro, and I don't sell anything.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Steelrain]

Thank you Reach4. I was worried about the upsell, it didn't make sense to me - but then again I have no background in any of this.

I had the water test done myself before I reached out to the local water treatment company.

I also have pH levels of 7.75 mg/L and my rated gpm is 6 on my well pump and when I did my own test it came out as 7.

 

[ByteMe]

Looks like low hardness and low iron.

I am guessing that this is the fairly rare situation where a softener would work well.... Size to backwash every 4 or so days.

Edit; to not confuse, I am guessing

 

[Reach4]

Thank you Reach4. I was worried about the upsell, it didn't make sense to me - but then again I have no background in any of this.

I had the water test done myself before I reached out to the local water treatment company.

I also have pH levels of 7.75 mg/L and my rated gpm is 6 on my well pump and when I did my own test it came out as 7.

Ideal pH. What is sulfate level? Manganese? Silica? Any smells? Check inbox.

 

[Gary Slusser]

I just recently purchased a house that has well water. The water has a clear metallic smell and taste to it. A water test showed the following:

Hardness - 37 mg/L
Iron - .503 mg/L (.4 mg/L was Ferrous)
Manganese - .056

I had the local Kinetico dealer go come out and they recommended a water softener (I don't have the quote with me but it was a dual tank system with a mechanical head), they quoted me $3,400 for the softener and install (which include 300' of pex because it can only fit in the laundry room).

I spent the weekend emailing back and forth with their Rep. regarding the need for a softener instead of just an iron filter and finally she admitted that they also sell a greensand iron filter and quoted me $2,800 for the iron filter (10 x 54 tank) and install.

I was under the impression that anything under 60 mg/L meant "soft" water. So why the softener and the use of all that salt when an iron filter would seem to be a better fit? Are they trying to upsell me?

I've never heard of or seen a Kinetico dealer/salesperson test for mg/l (or ppm), only gpg. In this case your compensated hardness is a bit over 5 gpg. That assumes 37 mg/l hardness.

I see you mention smell and taste but nothing else, and that could be coming from a steel well casing so... if you asked me I'd suggest a water filter at the kitchen sink that would improve smell and taste but.... how much salt do you think a correctly sized softener would use for 5.x gpg? What size softener do you need?

 

[Steelrain]

Those water results came from my own private test I had done before I closed on the sale of the house.

There is staining on the porcelain, but thankfully no staining on the laundry. The last homeowner apparently was fine with the water as the house/well is 20 years old and there is no water treatment in the house other than a sediment filter. But the smell and taste of metal is driving my wife crazy.

 

[Gary Slusser]

Thank you Reach4. I was worried about the upsell, it didn't make sense to me - but then again I have no background in any of this.

I had the water test done myself before I reached out to the local water treatment company.

I also have pH levels of 7.75 mg/L and my rated gpm is 6 on my well pump and when I did my own test it came out as 7.

I didn't see this until after my reply to your first post.

What did Kinetico say your hardness and iron was? pH is not stated as mg/l or ppm etc., it is a number between 1 and 14 with 7.0 being neutral.

How did you come up with the output of your well pump/system?

 

[Steelrain]

The Kinetico Rep. just told me that she "confirmed" my hardness and iron levels, but did tell me that .4 of the .503 iron level was "ferrous iron."

My water test is only about 60 days old and misread the ph, it only says 7.75 S.U. (and not mg/L as indicated earlier - sorry about that).

The label on the well pump indicates 6 gpm. I did the test recommended online (counting the gallons drawn down and the time between cut in and cut off cycle of the well pump) and calculated 7 gpm.

 

[_John_]

I'd look at a 1 cube (9x48") Katalox Light system if that were my water.

I'd personally prefer my water to be that "hard" than be soft anyway.

 

[montelatici]

I second the Katalox suggestion. It solved my iron problem. But I do have a standard softener downstream of the Katalox.