Well troubles..

[Mike Johnston]

Hi there, I am a clueless homeowner who lives in a small town where there is only one well service guy..
He does not know why my PH will not raise and that is not an option for me as I have a 6 month old baby who is starting to drink the bath water.. and the bath tub has blue stains which means she is ingesting copper..

Anyways, any suggestions or anything I would appreciate it..
Info I gathered:
My system works like this:
Well Pump > water softener tank > Calcite + Corosex tank > pressure tank > House

A couple years ago I noticed red stains in the tub and in the toilet. I called the well guy and he installed the salt system which corrected that problem. About a year ago I noticed blue stains in the shower and sinks.
He came and installed a Calcite and corosex tank which seemed to make the blue go away. It worked for a couple months then the blue came back. He dumped the media and put new media in. He didnt measure it, just eyeballed each one and filled the tank half way. Again, it worked for a while, but now the blue is back.
He is talking about putting an air pump in my well, saying it will raise the PH? Is that possible?

Out of the tap in the house:
390 ppm x 500 scale
5.6 PH

Outside the house and the water treatment system:
260 PPM
5.7 PH
( I have calibrated digital meters)

Any suggestions would be helpful and greatly appreciated.

 

[Reach4]

My system works like this:
Well Pump > water softener tank > Calcite + Corosex tank > pressure tank > House

That is not right. The pressure switch needs to be at the pressure tank. The pressure tank needs to be before the softener. I think the Calcite+Corosex should be before the softener. I am not a pro.

Out of the tap in the house:
390 ppm x 500 scale
5.6 PH

Outside the house and the water treatment system:
260 PPM
5.7 PH

I don't know what "Outside the house and the water treatment system" means. Does that mean raw water, or does it mean after your conditioning equipment and before the house? Does your Calcite+Corosex filter backwash, or is it an upflow unit with no controller?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Mike Johnston]

That is not right. The pressure switch needs to be at the pressure tank. The pressure tank needs to be before the softener. I think the Calcite+Corosex should be before the softener. I am not a pro.


I don't know what "Outside the house and the water treatment system" means. Does that mean raw water, or does it mean after your conditioning equipment and before the house? Does your Calcite+Corosex filter backwash, or is it an upflow unit with no controller?

Raw water, before the conditioning equipment.
No it does not backwash. Up flow no controller.

 

[Reach4]

No it does not backwash. Up flow no controller.

With a system like that, I think you are supposed to flow water at a high rate at intervals to fluff up the media. That would serve like a backwash. I don't know what that interval is. I don't know how to tell if your media is cemented together.

 

[Mike Johnston]

With a system like that, I think you are supposed to flow water at a high rate at intervals to fluff up the media. That would serve like a backwash. I don't know what that interval is. I don't know how to tell if your media is cemented together.

I'll mention that to him when he comes out next week. Do you see the point of adding an air system? It sounds pretty much like hes putting an air stone down the well.

 

[Bannerman]

You are relying on a 'well service guy' for water treatment advice? Was it the well guy who had advised or installed your existing treatment equipment in the incorrect order and without backwash capabilities?

A water treatment specialist is most appropriate for water treatment matters.

To obtain advice on this site, you'll need to post the full lab analysis results for your raw water.

 

[Mike Johnston]

Ok, I will get a test done. On a side note, I bypassed the water softener and now the ph is 6.6..? I ran the water for a while throughout the house and checked it and its slowly been climbing for the past hour.
I will phone tomorrow and find out about the test and post it when I get the results.

 

[Mike Johnston]

The results of the water test. The water was taken straight out of the well for the test.

 

[ditttohead]

Calcite/corosex goes before the softener.

What is your water flow rate through the calcite/corosex system?
Backwashing is highly recommended over upflow.
Lower water temperatures will reduce the effectiveness of the calcite/corosex... water temperature?

once we have some basic info we can help you a little better.

 

[Reach4]

The results of the water test. The water was taken straight out of the well for the test.

This test shows shows pH of 7.11. That says you don't need the calcite or corosex. This is pretty shocking since you thought you had pH 5.6.

I think you need to check the calibration on your pH meter with an appropriate buffer solution. Maybe get some pH test paper such as Hydrion (O67) Urine & Saliva pH Paper 5.5-8.0. I found that it took a few seconds to get the color I expected rather than the right color being instantaneous. I figure the pH paper will be a sanity test to choose which pH reading may be right. The number 5.6 and 7.11 pH are wildly different.

Manganese is high. I think the softener should be able to remove that.